The Care and Feed of Sailing Crew, Lin Pardey with Larry Pardey, 3rd Edition, Paradise Cay Publications, www.landlpardey.com May 2006, 416 pages, paperback $24.95

   Since previous editions of Lin's book have been around for years, many cruisers will be familiar with the editorial format. A 50 day passage from Japan to Victoria, Canada in 1979 provided Lin a base for discussing everything from menus to clothing, to choosing a fresh chicken, to dealing with port officials, to preventing sea sickness, to buying liquor abroad as well as the best material for underwear. The book, despite the title, is hardly a cookbook; rather it's a primer on successful cruising. Certainly, anyone contemplating, or preparing for, off shore passages would want to read and then keep this volume aboard.
   Lin and Larry have been full time cruisers and professional sailors for some 40 plus years, it's all that they do. They've learned a lot and a great deal of their wisdom appears in this book, where specific situations mix with general guidelines. As a bonus, Lin writes very well. She's able to seamlessly tie one subject to the next in a style that seems like great conversation rather than reading a how-to-do-it text. By structuring the flow of information in and around the process of food preparation while experiencing the joys and travails of a very long passage, she provides the reader with a good cruising tale enhanced with a thousand useful tips. It's a very clever trick!
   This edition of The Care and Feed of Sailing Crew offers expanded chapters of previous material, as well as discussion of new technology and gear. Tips vary from entertaining aboard to coping with money transfers. There are great tips on provisioning in foreign ports as well as a strong suggestion to only go a short distance before anchoring following a farewell party.
   Here are a few of the other tips: Fill your boat to the brim and re-supply every chance you get. Credit cards are safer to use than debit cards. Eggs can be kept up to 3 months without refrigeration. How you can determine which engine parts are likely to fail. Learn which plastic material makes the best water jugs. How Lin outsmarted weevils and learned to bake fresh bread. Find out which galley layout works best offshore. Rain water catchers - how to make the best kind. On board trash collection and dealing with "black water" in boats lacking holding tanks. Which cutlery and dinnerware holds up best. Standing watches, getting rest and using Dramamine as a sleeping aid. Really, the book covers everything from the value of "a little black cocktail party dress" to the safety of double sinks.
Finally, intertwined in the cornucopia of wisdom is meal after nourishing meal sure to lift the spirits of a weary crew. Those recipes and cooking tips alone make for a book of great value. All the other info is just priceless gravy.

Steve Bunnell

Stories written by Steve have appeared in Wooden Boat, Classic Boat, Northwest Yachting and International Yachtsman as well as 48º North. He races his Moore 24 throughout the Puget Sound and has cruised northwest waters when he owned a boat he could sit in rather than on.

Back to top