Cruises with Kathleen

By Donald Hamilton

Book Overview

Matt Helm creator Donald Hamilton gives up power boats for sailing and advises readers on everything from hull design to electronic gadgets. His cruises begin in Vancouver and conclude in the Bahamas. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679509615
• ISBN13: 9780679509615
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: D. McKay Co
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.

Customer Reviews

From Canada to Cuba with Kathleen

It came as a surprise to me that Donald Hamilton, famous for the "Matt Helm" series of action thrillers, had written a book about sailing back in 1980. The book is unfortunately out of print but I was eventually able to find a used copy. In "Cruises with Kathleen" Donald Hamilton describes various cruises that he has taken with his 27-foot sail boat Kathleen during the years 1976 to 1979. This includes: - a shake-down cruise for the brand new boat from Vancouver, B.C. (where Kathleen was built) to Seattle, Washington and back to Vancouver. - a 1000-mile offshore cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles, during which he was hit by three violent storms. - sailing Kathleen from Houston, Texas (to where Kathleen had been moved by truck) to the Florida Keys via the Intracoastal Waterway and off the shore of Florida. - a cruise to Miami and back, with and against the Gulf Stream. - a cruise to Cuba together with a group of other boats, the first permitted for American yachtsmen in several decades. - a cruise to the Bahamas, two weeks of island-hopping, and back to Florida. A few of these cruises were done by Donald Hamilton alone, but most of them were done together with either his son Gordon or his wife Kay. There are a fair number of photographs illustrating the book, including several pictures of Donald Hamilton himself and one of his son Gordon. Some of the material in this book had previously been published as articles in various boating magazines, and it shows, in that there is a lack of smooth flow from chapter to chapter. At the time covered by the book Donald Hamilton was in his early sixties, and had not done any wind-powered sailing since his youth. However, he had become disenchanted with power boats (his previous boat had sported twin 115 hp. outboard motors!) and felt the urge to return to real sailing. It is this situation, and the fact that Donald Hamilton is a very individualistic and opinionated person, that makes the book interesting. He describes why he wanted Kathleen to have certain attributes and how he went about finding a designer and ship yard with the proper basic boat design and willing to cater to his desires. He also writes eloquently about various other, sometimes controversial, positions on various topics. I found one particular quote to be very interesting, on the subject of whether or not it was a good idea to visit Cuba considering the then-current American policy towards that country: "I won't argue the point beyond stating, speaking only for myself, that I've visited a number of foreign countries, and even some U.S. states and cities, whose politics turned my stomach, without ever feeling that I was showing approval of the governments involved." This book is written by a sailor and the intended audience is other sailors. As a non-sailor I found myself both mystified and bored by a lot of the long descriptions of various kinds of equipment and sailing techniques. So as a non-sailor I'm not re

Donald Hamilton at sea

If you are a Donald Hamilton fan as I am, you will want to read this exciting non-fiction book as you join him on his sailing yacht, "Kathleen." The boat is named after his wife Kathleen Hamilton and the book gives you an insight into the intriqueing and often opinionated Mr. Hamilton. In this book, Hamilton shows the boat knowledge that is displayed in many of his Matt Helm books. This book is an interesting look into this wonderful author.