Sails Full and by

Yacht broker and freelance writer Degnon's breezy account of his extended voyage provides entertaining adventure and a refresher course in geography. One unidentified year, with Celia Lowe as crew mate, he set out from New England in Taku, a 41-foot ketch; first stop, the Caribbean, where they picked up additional crew before sailing through the Panama Canal and on to Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. In every port they met other ``yachties''--long-distance, blue-water cruising has its own culture. They spent six months in New Zealand, fitting Taku and sightseeing. Next, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia, where they had a rough time finding their way through the Great Barrier Reef in a storm. Then they headed home via Indonesia (Bali), the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Everything that can happen on a cruise did--equipment failure, groundings, split sails, storms. Sailors will cherish this book. Photos. (Mar.)