8  Reviews and Plaudits

CRUISING CONVERSATIONS with A DARING DUO

By Charles and Corinne Kanter

Sailco Press

2905 S. Greenleaf Circle

Boynton Beach, FL 33426

323 pages

Maps, photos and a color photo center section.

Reviewed by Chas. Hague, Des Plaines, IL

This book by Charles and Corinne Kanter, the Daring Duo of the title, is the ninth they have written about their life (married 57 years!) spent mostly sailing, mostly catamarans along the East Coast and the Bahamas. The book is a somewhat randomly thrown together collection of anecdotes, responses to questions asked at boat shows, sea stories, advice pieces, and other goodies.

    The Kanters have survived hurricanes (four of them), overcome bureaucracies, made numerous boat delivery trips, and traveled in the Caribbean islands—including Cuba. The longest vignette, “The 13^th Trip,” is a yarn about taking their 32-foot catamaran, La Forza, up the Intracoastal Waterway with a gremlin named Murphy as stowaway.

    Along the way, they’ve met people such as the couple in Charleston, North Carolina, who, seeing them standing in the rain wearing foul weather gear, casually invited them for coffee. On a different stay in the same gracious city, a smack upside the head by a jibing boom ends up at a shore side BBQ. Then there are the three Bobs, and Tristan Jones…

    Included with the yarns is a lot of practical advice, such as how to finance a liveaboard lifestyle (don’t sell the house, rent it out), how to anchor (“where did all the other boats go?”), how to steer a course (“but it sails much better if we go this way!”), and how to get an engine fixed (“all the good mechanics are working for the smugglers”). The Kanters learned a lot in their 100,000 miles of sailing, and the lessons are given clearly and with humor. Several of the pieces are illustrated with cute cartoons by Joe O’Brien.

    Reading this book is like sitting in the cockpit with two experienced sailors, listening to their adventures and learning about how to avoid their mistakes. A good, light, and informative read.

Reviewed for Good Old Boat Magazine