Toy, a sailor who spent much of his childhood surfing and boating in Laguna Beach, says he wrote the book because he got tired of waiting for "someone (else) to write a book about books on yachting and related subjects." When he finally decided to do it himself, he thought the job could be done quickly and easily. But by the time he had accumulated enough titles to choke his first computer, he realized he was wrong. After that computer collapsed, he bought another and "it collapsed, too. I'm on my third computer now," he says. In order to finish the book, Toy had to rely on the help of his wife, Beverly, a retired librarian from UC Irvine. Using a desktop publishing system, she typeset the book's 1,193 pages and helped proof and edit the Gargantuan manuscript. Once the project was completed, Toy had no problem finding a publisher from among those that specialize in reference books and bibliographies. The two-volume set, which sells for $89.50, hit the market last January. So far, reviews have been good. A library publication that reviews reference books called it "a useful evaluative bibliography that will help sailors, even those who never leave their armchairs, navigate the English-language boating literature."