Skipper Tips For Every Day
By Fridtjof Gunkel
2021; 204 pp; Adlard Coles; Paperback $20
A friend of mine who served in the Marines used to say that the motto of his branch wasn’t Semper Fi so much as it was, “improvise, adapt, and overcome.” We sailors are a resourceful and thrifty lot, always searching for new ways to kludge a solution to the myriad problems that arise on our boats. A little PVC here, a boat pole there and a whole lot of bungee cord wherever it does the job; that’s how you turn a one-design boat into your own custom-made wind machine.
In Skipper Tips For Every Day, Fridtjof Gunkel, a lifelong sailor from Hamburg, Germany, and editor at Yacht magazine, has assembled a compendium of nautical knowledge and practical tips from 365 European sailors who each contributed a tightly-worded chestnut for boat owners who want to make life onboard better with inexpensive DIY creations.
“We encouraged readers to send us ideas, gadgets and experiences for a column in Yacht,” stated Gunkel. “So it is a collection of these things from our readers to our readers.”
Topics cover anchoring, cockpit, rigging, stowage, deck, living aboard and others, and hover around simple projects for anyone with a toolbox and basic mechanical skills. My favorites were the creative ways to store boat hooks and assemble things in tight spaces.
