Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Michael Sails the Mud Hen by Peggy and Gordon Aymar & Illus by Robert Smith


This is a neat little book about sailing. It is called a "story-guide" on the title page. It is the story of Michael and his little brother Tim as they learn to sail. Gordon Aymar was an accomplished sailor with a few sailing books under his belt, when he and his wife teamed up for this book. This is actually based on an old abandoned boat Peggy and Gordon Jr. found when Jr was seven. 


Here sit Michael and Tim. And if that isn't a picture of summer boredom, I don't know what is. 


Meeting Captain Harry


When they are poking around the marshes, they find the Mud Hen. The man who owns the property says it isn't his boat, it just drifted up there, so they are welcome to her.


Captain Harry takes Michael and Tim on, to teach them to sail. 


First, they start with rowing. 


I love these nautical diagrams. 


Every good sailor needs to know a few knots.


Michael on his maiden rowing journey.


Bailing out the Mud Hen after a storm.


Another storm.


They graduate to sailing!


LOVE


I also love this. So 1960's vacationing housewife.



Michael gets to try out the rudder.



After some close observation and practice with Captain Harry, he lets them go up the inlet by themselves for practice.


Finally, Michael is approved for open bay sailing. The sheet breaks, but Michael handles it quite well.


And sails into harbor safe and sound.

This is a pretty good learning book. Some books are so heavy on the learning, they forget the plot, making them very heavy handed and clumsy. This one is quite a pleasant mix of plot and pointers. 

No comments:

Post a Comment