Spirit of the Wind

This audiobook is the story of sailing across the ocean from Guam to San Francisco on our wonderful sailboat, the "Spirit of the Wind", a 41 foot Taiwan-built Ketch designed by William Garden. A group of 20-something kids went to Guam looking for the meaning of life, bought a boat, fixed it up, and learned to sail across the ocean. It was a beautiful and spiritual journey, while at times was totally and completely terrifying. It introduced me to the South Pacific Islands and the wonderful and gracious people there - it was truly a paradise.

The warm trade winds that I can feel sometimes in my dreams, the feel and sounds of the wind in the sails and moving through fear. I learned to improvise in the moment, how to deal with life then there was no land for weeks on end, with just the horizon all around - as if we were sailing on a mirror. It introduced me to the wonders of the ocean and its inhabitants. This trip changed my life and what I thought the world was. It enabled me to see, feel, and do things that I didn't know I was capable of. It was a serious lesson in being with three other people, all men, in a 40 foot sailboat with very little privacy. It taught me that the weather goes on - it doesn't help to pray for it to change and is bigger than us. It was transformational in so many ways, facing death almost daily.