Sailing to the Heart of Japan: A Cruising Adventure and How-To Guide
By Nicholas Coghlan
Diplomat and long-distance cruiser who now makes his home on British Columbia’s Salt Spring Island, Nicholas Coghlan had been curious about Japan ever since his father, a veteran of infantry fighting in Italy and Greece, confessed to him a dread of being sent to the Japanese front when the war in Europe ended in the Spring of 1945. Starting from New Zealand, Nicholas and his partner Jenny navigate Bosun Bird, their Vancouver 27, north through Pacific Island nations where memories of the war linger. They make their landfall on Kyushu, in southwestern Japan. Over a period of fifteen months, they venture to the remote and depopulated archipelago of Goto Retto in the East China Sea, through Kanmon Kaikyo narrows and into the island-scudded Inland Sea. “Sailing to the Heart of Japan” is a voyage of personal discovery as the author’s preconceptions are challenged. It’s also a unique account of one of the world’s least-known but most attractive cruising destinations.
Price: $25 Seaworthy Publications » www.seaworthy.com
Tugboat Sand Man
By Lisa Nickel and Chuck Fowler
For Pacific Northwest maritime history buffs, tugboats are a fond topic that have graced many harbors and lives throughout the years. Sand Man is one of those. For over a century, the Olympia harbor tugboat Sand Man has worked on Puget Sound waters. Built in Tacoma in 1910, Sand Man towed such commodities as sand, gravel, oysters, logs, and more to and from Budd Inlet. The tugboat was owned by three commercial companies and one private owner. In 1997, the Sand Man Foundation formed, took ownership, and placed Sand Man on multiple historic registries. Through fundraising efforts, the deteriorating Sand Man was miraculously saved and rebuilt after three sinkings. Over the years, the vessel participated in many Olympia Harbor Days activities and vintage tugboat races and was the festival’s first logo boat in 1983. Sand Man, a workhorse and survivor, is known as “Olympia’s Tugboat.” This is the story of Sand Man, the little tug that could and did.
Price: $24.49 Arcadia Publishing » www.arcadiapublishing.com
Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery
By Mark Synnott
In 2022, climber and adventurer Mark Synnott realized there was a dream he’d yet to achieve: to sail the Northwest Passage in his own boat—a feat only four hundred or so sailors have ever accomplished—and in doing so, try to solve the mystery of what happened to legendary nineteenth-century explorer Sir John Franklin and his ships, HMS Erebus and Terror. In this pulse-pounding travelogue, Synnott paints a vivid portrait of the Arctic, which is currently warming twice as fast as any other part of our planet. He weaves its history and people into the first-person account of his epic journey through the Northwest Passage, searching for Franklin’s tomb along the way—all while trying to avoid a similar fate. In “Into the Ice,” Mark and his crew race against time and treacherous storms in search of answers to one of the greatest mysteries of all time.
Price: $33 Penguin Random House » www.penguinrandomhouse.com
