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A cruising [boating] guide has many purposes. Of course, the first
and most overriding is to give the information for getting around the area being
covered. However, there is a lot more to a good guide than that. It needs to be
a guide to services, people, history, politics, the economy, customs, weather,
how to get to the area, communications, travel, etc., etc. It needs to give
you—a complete stranger—the "feel" of the area from many facets so
you can make a judgment as to whether you want to go there or not. The larger
the area covered, no matter how conscientious one may be, the more difficult it
is to do the thorough job that is called for—therefore, something has to give.
Nothing had to give in the case of this book. The
delightful area of the Abaco Islands has been thoroughly covered for the first
time by Julius Wilensky. Mr. Wilensky is recognized as one of the foremost
cruising experts in the U.S. Those of you who have used his popular cruising
guides "Where to Go, What to Do, How to Do It on Long Island Sound" or
his "Cape Cod—Where to Go, What to Do, How to Do It" know why these
have become standard reference books for anyone sailing those areas.
In 1967 Julius started writing regularly for Rudder
Magazine doing a popular cruising series. In 1969 he started a question and
answer column "Ask About Cruising" and became a Contributing Editor of
Rudder Magazine in 1970. You have probably read many of his articles in other
publications. He can answer just about any question on cruising anywhere in the
world from his own experiences buttressed by the extensive library that the
Wilensky's have accumulated over the years from all over the world.
Through his own experiences and those who are always
writing him to ask questions, Julius has developed an unusual sensitivity to
what the needs are of you and me who want to know everything about an area.
We, at CSY, have been fortunate to interest this former
Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut to take time out to put together not only this
guide but his extremely successful "Yachtsman's Guide to the Windward
Islands" which was published under our auspices in 1973.
Of all the guides that we have done to date, this one
presented the most difficult challenge since the only marine charts [ maps ]which are
available, except for a few areas, are on a very small scale and over the years
have become outdated. Therefore, Mr. Wilensky had to start from scratch and use
the British Overseas Survey Charts which cover the land areas for the local
government and these were used to plot the marine areas from his own soundings
and many others. As editor, we have followed through from Mr. Wilensky's charts
to produce some sixty plus sketch charts which carefully detail all of the
information that you will need to cruise this great cruising ground. This has
been done as carefully as we know how giving a latitude and longitude on every
chart so that within reason, with a protractor and parallel ruler you can plot
your own bearings and lay courses on these charts. We cannot and will not accept
any responsibility for the accuracy of the charts but we have tried to be as
precise as we could within the limitations that we have to work with.
Cruising [boating] in the Abacos may be a great deal different for
most of you than cruising your own waters or the Caribbean since the entire area
lies on a relatively shallow bank of water protected by the off-lying islands.
This can be both a joy and a challenge. It can be more than a challenge when the
chart tells you are in deep water but you are aground or even visa versa.
We have tried throughout this book to indicate on every chart a one fathom line
according to our own soundings and information so that you can clearly see when
you should be out on the bow to look into those crystal clear, unpolluted waters
and make your own judgments. Otherwise you are in "deep" water by
Bahamian standards.
In this book we have departed from the standard 5 1/2"
x 9" format to the larger 8 1/2" x 11 ' format, so that we can get a
larger scale to our charts and so that you can more easily read them. We have
also included some 16 aerial photos in color which not only add another needed
dimension to navigation but also add horrendously to the cost of this book.
However, we think you will agree that it is worth every penny of it.
Whether you read this book in your armchair and never come
near the Abacos or, we fondly hope, you read this book and it is the instrument
that brings you there to partake of what these great islands have to offer, you
are the person this book was written for.
John R. Van 0st,
Editor
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