London Goes to Sea

Not only does Baumgartner obviously love the sea and nautical and natural history, he also takes enormous pride in having retrieved an abandoned 27 ft. Cape Dory in Massachusetts for $10,500, and in having restored it to its former glory. He meticulously documents his work on the boat (named LONDON) and his cruises off the New England coast. Financial Times Peter Baumgartner recounts in precise detail his four-plus year project of resurrecting an elderly and long ignored Cape Dory. The 27-foot sailboat built in 1977 had languished outside for 10 long years when Baumgartner, looking for a salty way to spend a recent $10,000 windfall, came across her in a Quincy, Massachusetts boatyard. It was 1998...To say that Baumgartner quickly became obsessed would be a mild description of the state he quickly achieved by becoming a dilapidated-boat-owner. LONDON Goes to Sea is a carefully detailed account of a meticulous boat repair which makes it useful to anyone considering or already foundering in the long haul of bringing an old boat back to life. The accounts of the sailing trips taken by the author the ostensible reason got all the hard work pale somewhat in comparison to the descriptions of the repair tasks. Baumgartner is an engineer not a poet and he has done a fine job of sharing his passion. MaineHarbors.com Peter Baumgartner calls LONDON Goes to Sea a book of mistakes. The 224-page book (Sheridan House, March, 2004, $19.95) recounts Baumgartner's efforts to restore a 1977 Cape Dory 27 named LONDON. It chronicles his triumphs and misadventures in making LONDON seaworthy again, then sailing her in the waters of New England. LONDON's cruising grounds ranged from Block Island, R.I., to Mount Desert Island, Maine. Rather than a how-to tome, Baumgartner has written a narrative that contains practical advice. His experiences over the four years spanned in the book are recounted, from his near miss with a cruise ship off Cape Cod to details on the life cycle of a jellyfish. Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Peter J. Baumgartner grew up in New Jersey, but at age 10 he moved with his family to England. Their 5 day ocean voyage made a lasting impression, and he has since been powerfully drawn to the sea. When he finally bought his own boat, a neglected 1977 Cape Dory 27, he named it London.