Sailing Memoir

Boat Girl is the heartbreaking memoir of growing up aboard a sailboat. Throughout the 1980's and 90's, Melanie's family lived aboard a 47-foot sailboat, spending their summers along the US East Coast and their winters in the Bahamas. But the cruising life was not all fun in the sun. The family had to work hard to pay for their way of life. They dodged hurricanes, overzealous federal agents and bullying land-kids. And they endured a boatload of family drama.

You will be challenged and inspired as you join Neville on board for this real-life, white-knuckle adventure on the high seas....A magnificent account of courage and perseverance as a young doctor takes time off from his busy practice to sail a 31' yacht (single-handed much of the way) from England to New Zealand.

In the spring of 1992 (eight years before the publication of In the Heart of the Sea), Nat Philbrick was in his late 30s, living with his family on Nantucket, feeling stranded and longing for the thrill of victory of a national sailing championship he had won 15 years earlier. Was it a midlife crisis? It was certainly a watershed for the journalist turned stay-at-home dad, who impulsively decided to throw his hat into the ring, or water, again.

Ben and Helen Harrison set aside their comfortable life in San Francisco and headed to Costa Rica to build a 38-foot sailboat. They had never built a boat before...Then they had to get it down a mountainside to the water, and from there sail to Key West, where they now live. It was a dauntless task and a challenge that put their marriage, their sanity, and their very lives on the line. A real-life adventure that will make you feel like you’ve got a berth on La Dulce Mujer Pintada, the Sweet Painted Lady.

As a young lad of only 10 years old, Jim Whitelaw is taken sailing with a friend of the family. Jim is totally enthralled, and from that day forward, Jim decides that one day he will buy his own yacht. It is 40 years later before Jim eventually keeps his promise to himself, and this book reflects the story and steep learning curve during Jim's 40-year journey. Jim buys his first boat without too much knowledge, and makes many mistakes and gets into quite a few scrapes. This book follows Jim's dream and nightmares.

An engaging and very funny autobiography of a New Zealand baby boomer, Pic tells the story of a privileged teenager unimpressed by the blandishments of a convention life. He taught himself leatherwork and handmade sandals and bags supported a nomadic, barefoot lifestyle that spanned small town New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, the hippy trail across North America and a winter sharing a derelict tenement with the homeless of London.

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 great vessel gently pulled away from the port of Seven Islands in Quebec, Canada into the mighty ocean. I heard a voice say to me loud and clear: This is the defining moment of the dream, so prepare to launch out into the deep. This was only a fraction of the mega dream that had been envisioned years ago. The water was raging and boisterous, but we sailed slowly and majestically to our next port of call where the test of desire and will would be applied."

The chance of a lifetime. The replica of Captain Cook's ship Endeavour is sailing through Hawai'i on her circumnavigation and asks for volunteers to sail her through the islands. How can a sailor from Hawai'i resist? This is the account of spending three days sailing in the 18th century.