I'll admit that I have something of a love hate relationship thing going with Lin and Larry Pardey but I'll go out on a limb here and say if you are cruising or planning to cruise and you have not read at least a couple of Lin and Larry's books you just may be interested in buying this really neat tower I can sell you in Paris, and if you buy it in the next 24 hours I'll throw in the London bridge for free!
Seriously, while I don't agree with everything L&L say, there is no denying that it has worked for them for something like 120,000 sea miles and we'd be foolish not to take advantage of their experience.
It takes a special kind of person who can pull off sailing 120,000 miles in boats less that thirty feet and do it with style and panache.
Of course, anyone as well known as the Pardeys, will have their share of detractors and I keep hearing the oft repeated story that somewhere at some time Lin and Larry accepted a tow to get into some harbor... Pointing out that as a result the whole engine-less thing is hokum and it does not work! Well they mention the odd tow here and there in their books so it is hardly a secret and not having an engine is not a religion, it is simply a choice they made and if you had the choice between sculling your boat a couple of miles when a tow in was offered it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what I'd do. That said, over the years I have seen no shortage of sailboats with engines being towed (often when the wind was favorable and they could easily sail to port) and what does that say?
Personally, I think a lot of the L&L detractors are simply unwilling to develop the skill set that any person sailing long distances should should have and aspire to and L&L are just too much of a reminder of that.
Bruce+
8 hours ago
