Category: Publishing update

Details of the Lerwick book launch, a talk where it all began 50 years ago, and all about how we measured distance run at sea aboard The Aegre.

The Voyage of The Aegre book will be launched in Lerwick, Shetland, just before the Tall Ships Festival on Tuesday, 25th July, in the Lerwick library at 5:30 pm, where I will be ‘in conversation’ with local ocean voyager Andrew Halcrow. The Shetland Times bookshop will have copies of the book on hand for sale.

I’ll be in Lerwick all week, then on Saturday 29th July, travelling to Scourie, on the west coast of Sutherland. Julie and I lived and worked in Scourie from February to July 1973 while local boatbuilder Bob Macinness decked The Aegre, and we conducted sea trials. We sailed away on 24th July 1973. Fifty years ago this month. I’ll be giving a talk on The Aegre voyage in the Scourie village hall at 7:30pm on Saturday 29th July. Iona Shaw, in Scouriemore, has copies of the book for sale. Half the proceeds from book sales in Scourie will go to the local school.

People in Scourie gave us a lot of help back in 1973, elderly local boatbuilder Bob Macinnes particularly so. He and I had many long discussions about our proposed voyage and every aspect of it, which is how he came to lend us a precious antique from his boatshed. Read about it in a new page I’ve added to the ‘Artifacts’ tab on the website about the book, titled ‘Measuring Distance Run at Sea’

Where to buy the book: in the UK from good bookshops and Central Books; in the US from Amazon. In Australia and NZ contact Nicholas Grainger

The book is now available in the UK/EU, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and many other countries. A Yachting World magazine review of the book will be out in mid-July.

In the UK and EU, The Voyage of The Aegre book is now available through good bookshops and online from Central Books and other online stores. In bookstores, you’ll probably have to order it until stocks arrive.

In the US and Canada, The Voyage of The Aegre is available on Amazon. There are two versions available. They have exactly the same content. One is printed in the US and is available with a local P&P fee (or Prime) and a relatively quick delivery time. The other is the original edition printed by Gutenberg Press and published in the UK. To bring that one into the USA/Canada costs much more in freight and takes longer. Check the source, freight fee and delivery time to distinguish them. The small differences between the books are detailed below. The US version is not available in the UK.

All regions have access to a Kindle version on Amazon. For less than the price of two coffees, the Kindle version has all the content, the maps, diagrams and photos.

Sorry folks, in Australia, New Zealand and many other countries, while both the UK and US versions are now available on Amazon country websites, all currently incur international freight charges, raising the price and leading to longer delivery times. I will bring into Australia a limited number of the UK version in mid-August and mail them directly to purchasers in AU and NZ. Please contact me to reserve one. We may do a short print run in Australia if there is enough interest.

In Japan, the book is available through the wonderful Kinokuniya book store.

Small differences between the US and UK versions of the book.

• Both are 6″x 9″ paperbacks with 271 pages and have the same content, including all maps, diagrams and photographs.
• The UK version has cover flaps that open out to reveal charts of the Atlantic and Pacific with the course of The Aegre marked. The US version doesn’t have cover flaps but has the same maps one page in at the front and back of the book.
• The UK version is on creme paper, the US version on white paper.
• The UK version has a sewn binding, the US version has a glued Perfect Binding.

Both are lovely books.

If you buy the book through Amazon, please post a review after you have read it. This helps the profile of the book, and more people will see it.

Yachting World magazine review of the book

Watch out in mid-July for Yachting World magazine. The August issue, out mid-July, will contain a review of the book by yachting journalist, sailor and author Tom Cunliffe in his ‘Great Seamanship’ column.

For more on The Voyage of The Aegre see the book website.

Good News! The Voyage of The Aegre book is now available. An eBook can be downloaded from Amazon. A Print on Demand (POD) version is coming.

Full details on the The Aegre Voyage website.

Printing progress, eBook, Yachting World review, Book tour, and navigation charts that survived.

Printing of the book of the voyage of The Aegre is complete. Yes finally!

The book will soon be in Central Books, the distributor in the UK, and available from them online. Bookshops will soon be able to source it from Gardners (book wholesalers). More details of where and when you can buy a copy in the UK very soon.

eBook

For readers outside the UK (and in), an eBook and paperback will soon be available on Amazon. Details coming.

Yachting World review

Well-known sailor and journalist Tom Cunliffe has written a review of the book, which will appear in his ‘Great Seamanship’ column in the August edition of Yachting World magazine, out mid-July.

Talking about the book

In late July and early August, I’ll be in the UK to help promote the book.

• Lerwick (Shetland), 25-28 July (during the Tall Ships Festival)
• Scourie, Sutherland (where we sailed from), 29-31 July, with a talk on the 29th of July.
• Falmouth, 1-4 August.
• London, 5-9 August.
• Other places to be confirmed.
• Back in Australia, I’ll be talking at the Wooden Boat Association Victoria meeting on 20th September.

Charts added to the book website

Luckily for us aboard The Aegre, a number of our navigation charts survived the capsize and swamping of The Aegre mid-Pacific. I’ve added examples of them to the Artefacts section of the book website with notes explaining them, including a tattered Pacific Pilot chart of the South Pacific, a sister of the one we used to plan and track our course to Samoa after the capsize. Also, the chart of our approach to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas (after sailing 4,200 miles from Panama) with my position fixes still showing, and more.

Visit the Navigation charts page in the Artefacts section on the website to see them.