Jump to content

Winter reading


jwhipple

Recommended Posts

Apropos of cabin fever (inspired by Peter’s note about the party in January), who has reading to nominate for kayakers in need of winter distractions? Or maybe suggestions for friends or family to put under their favorite kayaker’s Christmas tree?

For those of you interested in coastal processes who’ve wanted to understand what forces have shaped (and are reshaping) our varied coastlines, I suggest BEACHES AND COASTS, by Richard Davis and Duncan FitzGerald. It’s a college text, so is chock full of content, from global influences like plate tectonics and glaciers to local processes like longshore sediment transport and formation of tidal deltas (both important factors in the Crane’s Beach area, I learned). One of the authors (FitzGerald) is local, and some of his research interests are local, so a fair number of the examples are from New England. My only quibble is that the book tends to focus more on changing shorelines than rocky coasts (my favorites), but I suppose the rocky ones stay put for too long to be as interesting to researchers, beyond understanding how they came to be formed. As an introductory-level text, it’s written in fairly plain English, though it’s more of a reference book than something you’d want to read through from cover to cover. Also, being a text, new copies are pricey, though used copies and an ebook version are readily available online. If you’re interested in checking it out, here’s a link with more info:

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0632043083.html

Another option: those of you 58+ with flexible weekday schedules might have interest in auditing FitzGerald’s spring semester undergrad course on the subject at BU’s Boston campus, through the university’s Evergreen Program (a fantastic program for auditors, by the way). The course, Introduction to Beach and Shoreline Processes, uses this book as its text, expands on it and makes the material very accessible. I audited the course last spring, and wallowed happily in the stuff all semester.

Okay, now, who else has reading suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love a good kayak expedition story. Here are some suggestions:

Wilson, Brian - Blazing Paddles (Around Scotland by Kayak). This guy did his solo trip long before drysuits and gps. Well told with humor and humility.
Turk, Jon - Cold Oceans. A series of trips in various cold oceans, the first of which (around Cape Horn) he attempted, solo, having never been in a kayak before.
Turk, Jon - In the Wake of the Jomon. Heck of a good story.
Foster, Nigel - Stepping Stones: Of Ungava and Labrador. I stand in awe.
Campbell, Ken - Around the Rock: A Newfoundland Sea Kayak Journey. Amazing trip, done to promote literacy in the province (and also for adventure!)
Holdridge, Desmond - Northern Lights. This is a sailing journey but I can't recommend it strongly enough. This guy by all rights should have died several times over on this journey but somehow pulled it off. He maintains a sense of humor about his incompetence. One can't help but appreciate his drive for exploration and adventure though.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first winter as a beginner, I greatly enjoyed reading and was greatly influenced by:

Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble: True Stories and Their Lessons from Sea Kayaker Magazine Paperback – May 22, 1997

For the video crowd, I was surprised to greatly enjoy Justine Curgenven's “This is the Sea” series.

Nobody who knows me will be surprised to learn I'm requesting even more rolling videos on my X-mas list again this year!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boon Island less than 10 miles off the coast of York, Maine was the shipwreck on December 11, 1710, of the British merchant ship, Nottingham Galley. All fourteen crewmen aboard survived the initial wreck, however two died from their injuries and another two drowned attempting to reach the mainland on an improvised raft. The remaining ten crewmen managed to stay alive despite winter conditions with no food and no fire for twenty-four days, until finally rescued. They resorted to cannibalism which gave the incident a notoriety that it retains even today. The story also features a conflict between the captain and members of his crew, who had mutinied off the coast of Ireland prior to wrecking on Boon Island. A vigorous public relations battle ensued in London the following summer between the Captain and members of his unhappy crew, which also helped make the story famous in its day. The only non-fiction history of the event, "Boon Island: A True Story of Mutiny, Shipwreck and Cannibalism," by Andrew Vietze and Stephen Erickson, appeared in 2012. It is said that after the Nottingham Galley disaster, local fishermen began leaving barrels of provisions on Boon Island in case of future wrecks.

This was a great read!

Edited by GCosloy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't remember where the list came from (?National Geographic), but you should be able to find a title that piques your interest here, under the broad category "adventure".

bestbooks.doc

gary

PS my wife and daughter always get a chuckle when they see titles of books in my lap that contains words such as "survival", "alone", "Alaska", etc.

My all-time favorite is "Endurance" by Lansing (Shackleton's Antarctic expedition).

Edited by gyork
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I am enjoying "Haunted Damariscotta: Ghosts of the Twin Villages and Beyond" and "Ghosts of the Boothbay Region", both by Greg Latimer.  There is some fascinating history included and some ideas for Things to look out for on your visits up this way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished "Ten hours Until Dawn". It finally came up on my reading list and it was a good read. Too bad it was such a tragic story. Never realized the details of the story and how the tanker crew could have rode it out as speculated by some.

  So next season I am planning a Can Do memorial paddle to the spot of the tanker and the area where the Cando was found.

   The re named Can Do was moored in Salem harbor or nearby for sometime after being bought and rebuilt. Does anyone know if it is still in the area or what it is being used for now?

  Now reading "Desperate Steps" by Peter Kick. A good compilation of what can go wrong on a mountain even when you know what you are doing.

  For a rock and roll story with a local connection and a great story, I really liked Al Koopers "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards" He got around the business more than anyone I ever heard of. Amazing life....

  For a story of a slightly twisted, kind of sad and tormented singer read" I'll Sleep When I am Dead". Written by Crystal Zevon. It is a compilation of stories from his friends and business acquaintances. It was hard to read at times partly due to the way it was written and because he was very troubled and often took it out on those around him.

  Happy winter,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS-the extraordinary story of the last true hermit  Michael Finkel.

How long have you gone without human contact?  52 hours, if I can include the modern convenience of texting.  Otherwise, 24h.  Imagine living in the Maine woods for 27 years, only 3 minutes from civilization, with only 2 brief encounters from outdoorsmen.  Was he really a TRUE hermit, if he depended on the scarce provisions he stole from the camps surrounding the lake?   Perhaps Pru can assign the proper DSM-IV code, though the complex mind of Chris Knight is hard to define/understand.

 

gary

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Where You'll Find Me-Ty Gagne

A quick read of a fit, young woman with an overzealous plan to hike the Northern Presidentials on Valentine's weekend.  The back-story of the numerous search-and-rescue personnel involved in the perilous search is a reminder of how bad decisions can place so many others at risk.  An article from Business Week is a still shorter version of the story:

Matrosovva.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Lost in the Wild by Cary Griffith

Eagle Scout and trip guide Dan Stephens disappears without a trace in the summer of 1998, after a quick dash into the woods in search of a portage in Quetico Provincial Park.

Not far south from Dan, 3 years later, medical student Jason Rasmussen follows an abandoned path on his October solo backpacking trip, becomes lost and confused.

Read about what they each did to survive 3 and 7 nights, respectively, in the unforgiving landscape of Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and, like Where You'll Find Me, the devoted efforts of SAR responders from near and far.

 [Brought to my attention from Prudence's recommendation in NSPN Trip Report dated 3.3.19]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick.  True story of a whaling ship that was rammed by a sperm whale then sank and the journey of the surviving crew to get back to land.  Supposedly this historical event inspired Herman Melville to pen Moby Dick.  And don't forget the classics.  For one thing, they are free on https://www.gutenberg.org/.  Moby Dick is a spectacular read, 200 pages of plot and 600 pages of square-rigger and whaling trivia.  With all the kitchty pirate pop culture, I decided to go back to the original and am currently reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/24/2019 at 9:58 PM, gyork said:

Lost in the Wild by Cary Griffith

Eagle Scout and trip guide Dan Stephens disappears without a trace in the summer of 1998, after a quick dash into the woods in search of a portage in Quetico Provincial Park.

Not far south from Dan, 3 years later, medical student Jason Rasmussen follows an abandoned path on his October solo backpacking trip, becomes lost and confused.

Read about what they each did to survive 3 and 7 nights, respectively, in the unforgiving landscape of Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and, like Where You'll Find Me, the devoted efforts of SAR responders from near and far.

 [Brought to my attention from Prudence's recommendation in NSPN Trip Report dated 3.3.19]

Glad you liked the book, Gary.  I have to thank Dan Foster, whose copy I scooped up at the First Annual NSPN Book Swap at the winter. party.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/14/2016 at 4:43 PM, Paul Sylvester said:

Just finished "Ten hours Until Dawn". It finally came up on my reading list and it was a good read. Too bad it was such a tragic story. Never realized the details of the story and how the tanker crew could have rode it out as speculated by some.

  So next season I am planning a Can Do memorial paddle to the spot of the tanker and the area where the Cando was found.

   The re named Can Do was moored in Salem harbor or nearby for sometime after being bought and rebuilt. Does anyone know if it is still in the area or what it is being used for now?

  Now reading "Desperate Steps" by Peter Kick. A good compilation of what can go wrong on a mountain even when you know what you are doing.

  For a rock and roll story with a local connection and a great story, I really liked Al Koopers "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards" He got around the business more than anyone I ever heard of. Amazing life....

  For a story of a slightly twisted, kind of sad and tormented singer read" I'll Sleep When I am Dead". Written by Crystal Zevon. It is a compilation of stories from his friends and business acquaintances. It was hard to read at times partly due to the way it was written and because he was very troubled and often took it out on those around him.

  Happy winter,

Hi Paul, 

Here is a link about the Can Do, aka Grampus. For many years, it was moored in Danvers River between the Kerwood and Beverly/Salem bridges. I never saw it leave the mooring. Before I knew its history, I found it eerie to paddle past.  I had a conversation a while back with an older gentleman, who recalls the Blizzard of '78 and the men on the Can Do. He told me the Can Do was sold to someone in the south. This link suggests she is out of commission. 

http://www.tugboatinformation.com/tug.cfm?id=3813

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lisa, Thanks,

  Interesting that it was underwater until 1981 and then raised. I don't know anything about boat propulsion but it says it was rated at 200 HP but that sounds low for a boat of such size. Never did the "Can Do memorial paddle" Maybe this year.. thxs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I haven't read it yet but for Xmas I received -- https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Water-Patterns-Puddles/dp/1615193588/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=how+to+read+water&qid=1578494129&sr=8-2

I'm in the middle of another book but as soon as I finish that one, I'll start the above.  I flipped through it and checked out some of the pictures and diagrams and it looks comprehensive and facilitating.  It covers things from how you can tell how clean a small stream is by looking at the insect larvae under a rock to determining which way the waves were breaking during the last high tide by looking at the ripples left in the sand.

 

-K

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...