Fast Powerboat Seamanship : The Complete Guide to Boat Handling, Navigation, and Safety Hardcover – April 22, 2004

Old guy. Timeless advice. I drove 50 knot anti terrorist pursuit boats. Could have used this at the time.

Having been around boats since a wee lad with countless white knuckle fishing trips, in sometimes frightening conditions, off the east coast from Key West to Cape Hatteras......I've learned many of the techniques written here by experience. There are a lot of boating accidents each year that could be avoided with a basic understanding of the concepts presented herein, such as using trim correctly, running inlets, surfing waves, etc. Modern fishing boats can reach speeds of over 40 knots in 4-6 foot seas. When you land hard, the force can throw you overboard very easily or plant you into the dashboard. Without an applicable at-sea coast guard or power squadron hands-on course, this book is your best bet!

This is actually my third purchase of this book. I teach on-water powerboating and consider this a must-read for my students.

This is a short book to try to cover in deep the areas mentioned in its title. In general the book is a good and serious summary. The chapter explaining the different types of hulls is very interesting. Good print, graphs and explanations, but no colour pictures.

it is good for beginners

I was getting a little disappointed after the first couple of chapters as whist covering hull design and characteristics it was more a list rather than how they worked or didnt - more theory and background would have been a more interesting .However once you get to the wave theory and then how to handle them the book is excellent - but dare I go out to practice it in marginal conditions ?. The navigation and emergency sections are not as good as you will find in a RYA book- hence an overall 3 star, but 5 star for the seamanship in heavy weather- just hope that if I ever get caught out that I can remember it .