Check out Bernard Cornwell's books especially his books about sailing. I loved the one titled "Stormchild", his historical fiction is excellent as well.
Fred
This guy has written a huge number of excellent books on a range of topics. If you like historical fiction he will have you busy for a while. He covers history from the building of Stonehinge, King Authur, English French wars, to modern day sailing. I think he has written about 50 books.
