Since it was first published, Sell Up and Sail has become the bible for those cruising as a way of life, whether short or long term. It asks all the right questions, and provides practical first hand advice based on thirty years full time cruising.
In short, how to get it right before you go and thus ensure that your chosen life is as relaxed, enjoyable, and stress free as it should be.
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When Bill and Laurel Cooper decide to spend the Winter in the South of France, they took a seaworthy but half finished Dutch barge Hosanna by an 'overland' route through canals and rivers of France. Climbing the watersteps of the Massif Central, they passed through some out-of-the-way places, made a wonderful variety of friends, and had a great many adventures before they arrived in time for Christmas in the peace and warmth of the Camargue.
Here are the French, their Folklore, customs and food seen through the eyes of two seasoned travellers who are always ready to take a fresh view of the unexpected.
The eagerly-awaited sequel to Watersteps is the spellbinding story of the Coopers' voyage by barge across the North Sea, eastbound through flooded France, down the Rhine in full spate, through the new Rhein-Main-Donau Kanal, and down the Danube to the Black Sea.
As it floods, whirlpools and groundings were not enough, vandals cast them off in Germany, and the flooding Danube swept them inexorably downstream like a cannonball on an escalator. Bureaucratic delays in Hungary pushed them over the Yugoslav border on the very day of Operation Storm. They were boarded by Serbian patrols and evaded diesel pirates, only to become bogged down in the massive bureaucracy of Romania and the Ukraine, where sailing your own boat is not yet a citizen's right
Having travelled on their Dutch barge Hosanna through the French canals to the South of France — a journey delightfully described in their previous book, Watersteps Through France — the Coopers arrived in the Camargue in time for winter.
Moored a kilometre from the medieval walls of Aigues-Mortes, they evoke the atmosphere of a tightly-knit community centred firmly on the pleasures of its inhabitants — for generations hard-working, hard-riding farmer cowboys, salt-miners and shepherds — a race set apart from the rest of France
With their customary wit and affection the Coopers describe the local customs and festivals, food and drink, the vagaries of the phone system and the ever-present gardians with their famous horses and bulls.
Old sailors seldom die; they are too busy sailing. Most people would be amazed at how many retired folk are happily cruising into their eighties — whether pottering on rivers, dinghy racing on reservoirs, canal boating, chartering or cruising long distances. Sail into the Sunset has been written specifically with the particular needs of these elderly sailors in mind.
Bill and Laurel Cooper, themselves newly qualified pensioners, have drawn from their own experiences, as well as those of the many ancient mariners they have met during the course of a lifetime in boats of all kinds, to provide practical information, encouragement and advice to anyone approaching retirement with a love of the water, modest expectations and a twinkle in the eye.
After their journey south through the French canals, told in Watersteps Through France, the Coopers cruised their converted Dutch barge, Hosanna, around the Greek Islands. Needing a replacement engine they hurried back to the UK to refit, meeting all kinds of difficulties, delights and disasters on the way.
This is the story of their eventful 2300 mile voyage home via the Ionian Isles, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and then through the waterways of France, across the English Channel and up the North Sea to Great Yarmouth. On the way we are treated to the Coopers' lively insight into the manners, customs and frustrations of those whose paths they cross on their troublesome journey home.
Having lived afloat for over 30 years, Bill and Laurel Cooper share the wisdom of their experience in a practical and inspiring guide to the liveaboard lifestyle cruising inland canals, rivers and waterways in the UK. Europe and America.
Includes first-hand expert advice on:
With anecdotes from their own experiences to illustrate their points, as well as maps, sketches and photographs, the Coopers can help anyone dreaming of selling up and cruising the inland waterways to make that dream become a reality.