cover image Away All Boats: A Personal Guide for the Small-Boat Owner

Away All Boats: A Personal Guide for the Small-Boat Owner

John Cole. Henry Holt & Company, $25 (280pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-2706-8

Cole's obsession with boats began in childhood-- Emma was a 14-foot wooden rowboat from Macy's, owned by his grandparents. Here the author of Fishing Came First offers an engaging memoir about his life among boats. His first job after graduating from Yale was operating a launch between Stamford and the Fishers Island Country Club in Connecticut. For a few years he worked in and around Long Island Sound, first as a professional fisherman (work boats are described in loving detail) and then in a charter business with writer-naturalist Peter Matthiessen. Moving to Maine as a newspaper editor, Cole still made time for boats, including a Boston Whaler, a Hobie Cat and an Old Town canoe. Much later, he found himself in Key West, part owner of a johnboat. He notes that boating in the Florida Keys is not a casual pastime; it requires careful preparation, good equipment and precise orientation. Cole gives his assessment of small boats in a final chapter. Illustrations. (June)