Beach Haven

​​THE PRAIRIE
By James Fenimore Cooper
Amazon, 2017, 442 pages
​Reviewed by Michael Beach
 
Originally published in 1827, this is the last story chronologically in the Leatherstocking Tales. In this final portion of the life of Natty Bumppo, the hero saves yet another group of unwitting settlers in a new frontier. He helps several parties manage their interactions with local native people as well as helping those same settlers who fall victim to some of their own people.
 
In the end Natty dies at a ripe old age while living among the tribes of the prairie. In the former tales he was a hunter, military guide, and explorer. In this final phase of his life he is a trapper. He is no longer the young ideal of the other stories. Here he is old and failing, but still able to fight. In The Pioneers he was showing his age, but in The Prairie he is noted for his physical strength for such an old man. His aim and quickness with a rifle has lessened some as well.
 
Like the other tales, Cooper weaves romance and action adventure into a single story. The women also follow suit in that inevitably the damsels need rescuing. Native Americans are portrayed as both gallant and devilish, depending on their tribe. Whites likewise seem either incompetent but good, or deviant. In the end the bad characters always get their come-uppings. The stories are not so different from early Hollywood westerns. 

SAILING MADE EASY
Edited by Jo Weeks
American Sailing Association, 2010, 126 pages
Reviewed by Michael Beach
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This work is the manual used by the ASA for its basic sailing class and certification. It includes sections on boat and sail parts, the physics of sailing, basic seamanship skills, rules of the road at sea, how to rescue a "MOB" or man-overboard, and the like. There are lots of helpful pictures and graphics, as well as some memorization mnemonics. Occasionally the text stops and a short review quiz is offered.

I've been sailing on and off for decades, but have recently gotten back into it more heavily than in the past. A few years ago we bought a 28.5 feet long Hunter and have enjoyed sailing around the Chesapeake Bay with it. 

Reading the book alone will not help someone learn to sail. It is designed to work as a companion to actual small boat sailing experience. Since it is the text for a training course the instructor would be taking students out for some sailing along with the academic study. The book is pretty comprehensive for a beginner to get going and feel some confidence on the water.