The Impractical Boat Owner is the remedy that cures our modern overdose of writing about expensive shiny new sailboats, sailing self-improvement, the quest for the best charter, and practical boating skills. It is a book with no practical purpose whatsoever. It won't make you a better sailor, and it won't provide any instructions on boat maintenance. But it will entertain: Selby's light but observational writings tap the rich well of all those things that sailors know but few dare admit.

The Impractical Boat Owner pairs Dave Selby's immensely popular columns from Practical Boat Owner with additional ?Lessons Not Learned?-in easily accessible hints and tips boxes-accompanied by Jake Kavangh's wonderful color cartoons. Taking us from Selby's first flounder-ings afloat to more recent, er, flounderings afloat, themes covered include:- First attempts at sailing- How not to sail single-handed- Mysteries of boat maintenance- How not to sail with a dog- The impenetrable mysteries of navigation and weather- How not to race

Careful, though, you might just find a useful piece of advice, or two, in all the laughs and flounderings.