Sailing a Serious Ocean

Sailboats, Storms, Stories and Lessons Learned from 30 Years at Sea

By: John Kretschmer

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

After sailing 300,000 miles and weathering dozens of storms in all the world's oceans, John Kretschmer has plenty of stories and advice to share. John's offshore training passages sell out a year in advance, and his entertaining presentations are popular at boat shows and yacht clubs all over the English-speaking world. John's talent for storytelling enchants his audience as it soaks up the lessons he learned during his often challenging voyages. Now you can take a seat next to John - at a lesser cost - and get the knowledge you need to fulfill your own dream of blue-water adventure.  

In Sailing a Serious Ocean, John tells you what to expect when sailing the oceans and shows how to sail safely across them. His tales of storm encounters and other examples of extreme seamanship will help you prepare for your journey and give you confidence to handle any situation - even heavy weather. Through his personal stories, John will guide you through the whole process of choosing the right boat, outfitting with the right gear, planning your route, navigating the ocean, and understanding the nuances of life at sea.  

Our oceans are beautiful yet unpredictable - water that is at one moment a natural mirror for the glowing sun can turn into a foamy, raging wall of fury. John knows our oceans, and he is one of the best teachers of taming and enjoying them. Before you set off across the big blue, turn to John for his inspirational stories and hard-learned advice and discover the serious sailor in you.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 John Kretschmer (P)2019 Tantor

Fantastic book on ocean sailing

Loved listening to it while I'm working renovating my own sailboat. I'm relatively new to sailing, and this book made me dream of open oceans. Have dream to circumnavigate the globe some day, and this book have vital information and thougts on how to meet those challanges ahead on a serious ocean. Liked the narrators voice, calm and clear. Kretschmer possesses a ton of information. I also liked the chapter for suggested literature on open ocean sailing. Thank's for sharing your wisdom Kretschmer. I wished Kretschmer could discuss more about pros and cons between long keel boats and modern fin keel boats. Maybe a topic for a book in the future?

Absolutely brilliant!

Absolutely one of the best audio books I've ever heard. I can't decide if the book was more entertaining or informative. I learned so much.. And I was glued to my Bluetooth.. Hanging on every word spoken.

Narrator

This narrator seems to have an annoying lisp I stuck with it because the book was worth it, but that lisp is distracting

Great book, practical advise

Great book that gives practical advise for those who yearn to get their own boat and sail over the horizon. A few minor mispronunciation by the reader.

A modern classic

As the fame is this book continues to spread, it will be read for generations to come. An excellent writer, storyteller, and educator, John Kretschmer will be remembered and spoken of long after the storm of his captaining has passed.

great listen

Alot of great story's and alot of useful information. Makes me want to drag up and sell everything to buy a sailboat for my self.

Delicious Arm Chair Adventures

Wonderful story telling...and filled with wisdom.
As an old sailor who has now washed up on the shore, this book lifted me up and rekindled dreams of adventures past. I couldn’t ask for more.

Eh, not-for-me

I certainly have less experience and stories to tell than Mr. Kretschmer, and my rating in no-way reflects adequately his capabilities at sea. While there are moments of great story telling here, there are also chapters where this felt like an itemized to-do list from planning yet another of his passages; like I was listening to a repair manual (no, I did not download all of the recommended materials first). Almost like a textbook someone reads aloud, where you can't see the arrows and references.

If your goal is to make a list of requirements for your own crossing, then this might just be the book for you; apologetically, it just wasn't for me.

best sailing book I've listened to so far 😊

I've heard 10 books or so on audible about sailing and this one is the best!

NARRATIORS VOICE FAR TOO ANNOYING AND PRECIOUS

AUTHOR GETS HIS SAILS WRAPPED AROUND HIS PROPELLER AND CUTS HIS FINGER OFF IN A GALE ?? WHY AM I LISTENING TO THIS SCHMUCK ??

Great book but poor orator

Unfortunately I found the orator difficult to listen to as he sounds like he has false teeth.

Even as a sailor of 45 years, not that interesting

A meandering recollection of events over the life of John Kretschmer with little to no structure, peppered with random and not very helpful "top 10" lists and heavily biased to North America.

The writing is overblown, disorganised, self aggrandising and occasionally contradictory.

The narration is oddly dramatic and would be better suited to a thriller; it really isn't suited to this book.despite the sometimes melodramatic prose.

I listened to nearly the end but felt it was a waste of time.

a bit of my way or the highway slightly spoilt

found him to have an air of aloofness. which i felt distasteful and big headed.

Worth with listening to

tapered off toward the end but still a fantastic read. convinced me to try at least another of his books

Terrible audio

Reader sounds strange. Like they have a very dry mouth. I can’t get over it.

You just can’t stop beeing invested!

I’m planning to cross the Atlantic Ocean in november next year, and this book just made me more eager to go on my adventure. There are so many tips and tricks together with references to other litterature on blue water sailing.
What a great book!

Really good mix

I must disagree with some other reviewers who criticised the orator — he was fine. He doesn’t distract from the story at all. It’s a great book. If you’re interested in sailing abs travel and human beings then you’ll like this book.

Great story, shame about the narrator

This is a great book with a mix of tips and sea stories. However whilst the sea stories themselves are vivid and gripping, the narrator has no real feeling in his voice. I just couldn't get properly into the stories with his lifeless rendition of them.

Made me want to goto Sea

I am a dingy instructor but never considered going into the big blue. Listing to this made me really want to take that step.

Useful advice and engaging stories.

very informative.

it was more informative than story, lots of detail on best boats in the authors opinion. Dealing with storms and rigging.