AMATEUR SAILORS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 173, 24 July 1941, Page 6

AMATEUR SAILORS

mtITI.SH COLUMBIA COAST "Three's a Crew," by Kathrene Pinkerton (Herbert Jenkins), is a rather amazing book to come from a London publisher this year of destruction, "blitzes" and blackouts. It is a handsome publication, well illustrated, and not a word about wars or rumours of wars. It was written probably several years ago, but its subject is ever new. and is of deep interest to our multitude of pleasure cruisers in normal times— many of them now engaged in sailoring under the White Ensign. Kathrene Pinkerton and her husband are writers who contrive to combine outdoor life with the earning of a living. This book describes the problems that beset those who are ambitious to become their own shipowners and navigators. The cruising scene was the grand fiordindented coast of British Columbia and Alaska.

The author takes her readers all through the painful yet delightful process of obtaining the boat they want, fitting it out and learning how to sail it and use the engine. Their blunders and narrow escapes are innumerable; nevertheless they succeed in winning their hearts' desire. The narrative takes the crew —the third party is the Pinkertons' young daughter—through some of the most wonderful sound and cliff, island and mountain scenerj' in the world. Like our New Zealand cruisers in the glorious summer times of peace, they work from anchorage to anchorage, aiming for sheltered and care-free nights. But there are encounters with far worse weather and far more dangerous coasts than those familiar to New Zealand yachtsmen. The tide rips, the icebergs they had to dodge as they ventured into Alaskan waters, the freezing gales they faced, were nightmares. There were entrancing weeks in quiet waters, penetrating into the heart of the great forest country, and threading their way through islands and groups of islets. "Three's a Crew" contains besides the lively narrative many useful hints about motor engines and the innumerable little mishaps that befall "innocents" lightheartedly pushing out afloat with machinery they don't half understand. Sharp experience is the best teacher.

FROM THE PUBLISHERS EDUCATING NEW ZEALAND, by A. E. Campbell Centennial Survey (Department of Internal Affairs). PRAYERS IN TIME OP WAR. compiled by the Archdeacon of Christchurch; WISHA. GOD HELP US! by Henry Jellett (Caxton Press Christchurch). CONGO DOCTOR, by W. E. Davis. M.D. (Hale). ITALY MILITANT, by Ernest Hamblock (D'lckworth). THE REVOLUTION IS ON. by M. W. Fodor (Allen and Umvin). KING'S MESSENGER. 1(118-1940. by Georee P Antrobus (Jenkins). KING EMPEROR: THE LIFE OF HIS MAJESTY ' KING GEORGE VI.. by Erica Bell: NOTEBOOK IN WAR TIME, by Lord Elton (Collins). BRAHMS, by Ralph Hall (Duckworth). [ HELL'S ACRE, by F. Horace Rose (Duckworth) MY ENEMY AND I. by Theresa Charles (Longman). FORMIDABLE TO TYRANTS, by Phyllis BottomeTHE SILVER DARLINGS, by Neil M. Gunri (Fabcr and Faber). i SICK HEART RIVER. by John Buchan- ' FINDERNES , FLOWERS, by Georee r' I Preedy: SHADOW OF WINGS, by Stella Morton (Hoddcr and Stoughton). SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS, by Edgar Rico Burroughs (.McUiucn). I