Sailing: Pocket Dictionary

With text by Henry Beard, founder of the National Lampoon and illustrations by Roy McKie, here is the New York Times bestselling lexicon of sailing--or, the art of getting wet and becoming ill while slowly going nowhere at great expense.

Sailing embarks upon uncharted waters, diving authoritatively into terms like adrift (a boat that is drifting), aglub (a boat that is sinking), and flotsam (anything floating in the water from which there is no response when the offer of a cocktail is made).

Full-sail ahead, flying the flag of obsession, the book lists close to 200 definitions and presents more than 50 full-page cartoons--to bring new meaning not just to the anchor and Aneroid Barometer, but to the boom, buoy, brightwork, and Beaufort Scale, too. The book plumbs the depths of the sea's rich traditions, providing a fix on the catamaran and dinghy, the gunwale and jib-boom, the mizzen, porthole, and ketch (a disagreeable clause in many boat-purchase contracts). 710,000 copies in print.