David, My rigging experience was just the opposite. I found a couple of broken wires at the top of my M15 side stays, symmetrical, with one broken on each side. Took one down the street to a sail shop in Sandysky and within 30 minutes I had the new stays rigged on the boat. Bill Riker M-15 #184 Storm Petrel -----------previous post ----------------- On Behalf Of David Fann Subject: Re: M_Boats: Good Book ! The Shadow in the Sands is a very good read for sailors. (Another is The Celtic Ring, by Bjorn Larsson.) There is a recent hard cover edition of The Riddle of the Sands. The indispensable maps and charts are quite readable, compared with the tiny ones in the paperbacks. No more Xeroxing and enlarging, as I had to do for the first six times (actually, I have lost count) I read the book! Definitely read Riddle before starting Shadow. The Shadow in the Sands is a worthwhile sequel and builds directly on the plot and characters in The Riddle of the Sands. Those three books will be the foundation of Dulcibella's library, when I finally get her launched.* David Fann *(I kinked a shroud when first rigging Dulcibella. A nearby rigger, who shall remain unnamed, found the task of duplicating a shroud for a 17' sailboat beyond his abilities, and it took him two weeks to admit defeat. I ordered a new shroud from Montgomery Boats. It should arrive soon.) On Thursday, December 20, 2001, at 10:38 PM, Larry Yake wrote: Todd, Richard Maury was 23 when he began the 3 year journey that became The Saga of Cimba. But it is obvious throughout the book that he had a lot of previous experience. He owned his first boat when he was 8 and by the time he was in his early twenties he had served before the mast on the full-rigged ship Tusitala. He spent most of his life as a deep water mariner and never completed another book. I have the sequel to Riddle of the Sands, but it is written by another author, Sam Llewellyn. It's The Shadow in the Sands and sounds good (Sam Llewellyn has written several good sailing books), but I haven't read it yet as I'm still trying to get a copy of Riddle of the Sands. Larry Y.