Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Blue Water, Green Skipper


I love a good book.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been contacted by a few publishers of nautical books and have been granted complimentary copies of these books to read.  I just finished, Blue Water, Green Skipper by New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods and now I kind of want to race solo across the Atlantic.  Yeah.  It reminds me of the way I felt after I watched a particularly compelling documentary about people who climb Everest.  Buoyed by emotion, I thought to myself as the credits rolled, "I want to do that!!" and for a hot minute there was honestly contemplating how to go about doing so. Obviously my overzealous enthusiasm faded...  I will not, most likely, climb Everest and I probably will not sail solo in a race across the pond (but you never know?)... My point is, I was inspired.

Having never before owned anything so much as a row boat, Woods decided to pursue the peace of the open sea as he set out to single-handedly navigate the Atlantic during the 1976 Single-Handed Transatlantic Race...

The book covers Stuart's two year evolution from total newbie to full-blown solo sailor.  Rather than a dry, run of the mill "sailing memoir", this story has a definitive arc and the pages are colored with Stuart's natural charm and sharp wit.  His metamorphosis is (obviously) not without foibles and from embarrassing mishaps while learning to sail a dinghy (the only crew that would have him was a twelve year old) to a misbehaving wind vane (appropriately named "Fred", like his dog), the self-deprecating, dry humor peppered between the pages will make you chuckle.  Humor aside, what Wood's sets out to do is no small feet and his book is the perfect illustration of where a crazy idea, unwavering determination and a little luck can take you.  This story has all the guts of a true adventure tale (as it should, Wood's is a prolific author and has written fifty novels!) from controversy to tragedy, from inspiration to triumph, you best beware: Wood's memoir might just make you want to sail solo across the Atlantic...

And once again, I believe a good book is better if shared!  If you would like a chance to win this book, do the following: [Note: This contest is over, sorry!]
  1. Comment on this post with something you have done that might seem crazy to the outside world (you will notice I have removed captcha and made it easy for you!)
  2. Share our blog with like-minded family and friends; you can either share us in your own blog in the form of a post or send a link to our blog in an email (make sure you copy us on the email so we know you did it and can enter you!) AND/OR Share our Facebook Page by clicking "SHARE" on the link to this post and commenting below it. (Don't forget to comment or else I might not see that you shared us!)
BONUS:  If you do all three (i.e. share by email, blog post and share our FB page, you will be entered three times and therefore increase your odds of winning!)

Once you do one or both of those things, you will be entered to win.  I will select TWO winners on Friday morning and ship the books shortly after. 

Happy reading!

Love,
Brittany, Scott & Isla

27 comments:

Chris W - S/V Radio Waves, Brighton, MI said...

Hmmm...something I've done that might seem crazy to the outside world? Not crazy compared to what some folks have certainly done (and certainly not crazy in my eyes!), but many thought I was crazy when I followed my high school sweetheart to college, and then after graduation, followed him across state lines where he had accepted a new job. We did end up marrying at the ripe old age of 23, which some thought was crazy as well. Next year it will be 25 of the best (and sometimes craziest!) years of my life!

Windtraveler said...

Awww...that is so sweet Chris...and yeah, a little crazy. If I think of myself being married at 23...well, it would not have been good! Congratulations on following your heart, your love and beating the odds!! That is so great! (and you are entered in the contest!! - I will need your email address though!)

Brodi said...

At the time it seemed crazy, but with only 10 days notice I flew to London...alone...right after my junior year of college. I stayed in a hostel in Hyde Park and had the time of my life! Most of my family still thinks I'm nuts for travelling solo, but it's actually quite liberating.
:-)

Phone Photo Project by Kim said...

I have been racking my brain trying to think of something crazy I have done. I think the biggest thing I have done (for me) is moving out of my parents house at 17...holding two jobs all the while still making sure I made it to my last year of high school every.single.day. I graduated, not with honors or anything but with good grades. I guess what makes that crazy is I did it without taking the easy way out and going to some alternative high school. I stuck through school, work, and paying rent/bills. I did it on my own with no help from anyone. I will be sharing your page after I post this on facebook. I don't have a blog anymore, so won't be going that route. :)

Christine said...

Well, I just quit my job eight weeks ago so I could work on my art and writing as well as start a small vegan business. After 20 years in the corporate world with a regular paycheck, it sure felt a bit crazy when I turned in my resignation. Still feels a bit crazy on a daily basis!

Lisa B. said...

Hmm...haven't done it yet but considering buying a sailboat. I guess you wouldn't think that was crazy but I've never even been on one and I get dreadfully seasick. I would LOVE to live on a boat though and learn to sail. Maybe I can find a boat with sailing lessons included ;-)

Lindsay @ Me, Ed and Pea said...

I recently crossed a 150 ft high suspension bridge and then climbed a 280 ft vertical rock face. Doing this with zero rock climbing experience = crazy enough for me!

Pat Sixbey said...

Being from the South, hiking half way across Yellowstone National Park in February was questionable, or jumping in a Walmart plastic raft minus life jacket in a class V river at flood stage seemed pretty nuts, or trying to land a Cessna 172 on a Mexican dirt airstrip with zero training hours may be loco. But the craziest thing I have ever done, without a doubt, is to spend FIVE YEARS rebuilding an old boat!

Lindsay @ Me, Ed and Pea said...

Also just posted on my blog :) meedandpea.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I bought a Whitby 42 (Plenty of room by the way) after 5 days of sailing classes, met my girlfriend and talked her into quiting her job (during a reccession) and joing me on the boat down in Mexico. Spent a year on the Pacific side of Mexico and married my girlfriend on the bow of our boat. Now back on land in the Vancouver area for a few years creating crew (first is due Aug 9) and plan on returning to the boat in a few years to continue the cruise.


Dan

Shawna said...

Just found your blog. Super cool! Added you to my own piddly blog. http://escaperoot.wordpress.com

~Shawna

Sheri said...

Hi Brittany! This doesn't seem crazy to me, but did to our family and friends! My husband and I decided one day to leave our jobs, sell our house and cars and buy a Toyota Landcruiser to Overland through Africa. We bought/outfitted the truck in England and started our three year journey there, traveling down the West Coast of Africa to South Africa and then back up through East Africa. We slept in a tent on our roof most nights and had many crazy/scary experiences on the way (especially in Central Africa!) It was by far the most amazing time in our lives yet...but we aren't finished, as we are going to leave it all behind again in 2 years, however this time to travel on a sailboat

NatGeoWannaBe said...

Other than scooping out the strawberry and leaving the vanilla and chocolate from the Neapolitan Ice Cream, the craziest thing I've done in the eyes of my family is...um...er...well, there was that time I...eh, no that wasn't very crazy...never mind.

The craziest thing I AM going to do though is leave the rat race and go cruising with my wife and daughter.

sailinglunasea said...

So happy to have found your blog! I have lots of catching up to do :)

Lesiya Manifold said...

Would you consider buying little boat beneteau 21 in Grenada, flying from England and sailing around the island with NO experience Crazy?? There was VERY little or NONE comfort on such a little boat…heat and humidity, no kitchen (galley) or toilet (heads)…but it wasn't the Craziest, by far, The Craziest was to see my mind opens UP and my poor soul ENJOY EVERY MINUTE of this experience. In a modern world when we are all used to comfort we reserve ourselves from making steps that are not up to our standards.

If I didn't get myself out of my comfort zone I would never realised what sailing is about…now I have a dream and plan for my dream to come true!!!

We have shipped our boat back to England on the container and now we regularly sail it on lake Windermere. I am learning every day…totally addicted to your blog, collating any information possible to, hopefully, set our sails on a bigger boat across Atlantic one day.

I am a Green Skipper and I will set sail in the Blue Water…with the help of Universe! :)

Lorry said...

I guess we're crazy as well as we'll hopefully soon be purchasing a boat and sailing away with no experience... Oh well, I never have liked the "norm", except for that one guy in the bar.

Tillerman said...

I already have the book so don't make me a winner.

But one of the craziest things I ever did was to write to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell them that they had made a mistake in the definition of "water".

I also write to the chairman of the US Sailing Racing Rules Committee to to point out that there was a logical error in the wording of one of the US Sailing Prescriptions to the Racing Rules.

I am really wild sometimes!

Beverly (s/v Fugue) said...

I guess the craziest thing I ever did was as a kid living in
Costa Rica. My brothers and I kept a poisonous snake in a large container and would let it out to play with it - letting it bite a stick, etc. (Didn't keep it long as someone ratted us out.) Seems pretty dumb now!

Jessica said...

The craziest thing I've ever done is to think that I could sand the bottom of my 34 ft Sabre alone. 3 months of work later it was finally finished. I think I'd pick up a second job to pay someone else to do it for me next time.

raz said...

I decided to build a mahogany skiboat from scratch. It took 3 years and a lot of energy I didn't know I had. It taught me that even if I don't know, I can find out. Not knowing is not scary. Anyway, I'll post on my Fb page "Sailing Around The World ". Love the posts. Keep em coming!

Leah said...

The craziest (I like to think of it as the bravest) thing I ever did? I bought a sailboat having never sailed before, because ever since I was 11 years old I have wanted to sail around the world! The first sailboat that my husband and I were ever on was the C&C 27 that we bought 8 years ago and learned to sail together in the hopes of someday buying something bigger and sailing away! We're not there yet, but we still own and love our boat and are still planning and saving toward our goal of sailing around the world.Your blog is such an inspiration to us and reading it keeps us focused on what is important in life!
Congrats on the new boat!

Tyler said...

Just wanted to say I loved this book. In fact, I liked it so much I got my hands on a first edition copy and had Stuart sign it!! Glad to see its being released again.

Really enjoy the blog!

Jake DiMare said...

I'm crazy about rescuing animals. It may sound endearing...Until you are the person living with me and I come home with a 3rd and 4th pet...But, I take good care of them. Now I just need a boat big enough for 2 people and 4 cats...

Smilicus said...

I love reading any book that is related to the ocean, sailing or just water in general. Some of my favourites are from Sam Llewellyn (sailing murder mysteries), definitely worth a try.

Only problem is, it is so difficult to get good sailing books in our stores in South Africa, so I have become a on-line book shopper of note and blog reader.

Great blog, keep the articles coming.

Johan
False Bay
South Africa

Unknown said...

Windtraveler,

I am closing in on sixty and don't have an adventure that is quickly or easily measured. I have always wanted to sail around the world and it is on my " bucket list" so to speak. During the last twenty or more years I have dreamed this amazing dream and reviewed and imagined every boat the was in the sailing magazines.

Around the world was the key to my dream for a certainty.

But on with my adventure. I grew up in an Air Force family and wanted to fly, couldn't though had to go to work , family, debt, all the mundane things that stop a guy like me from my dreams. Well one day I just signed up started to learn to fly, got my license and an airplane. My travel lust and search for adventure led my to purchase a difficult and exciting aircraft, a STOL or short takeoff and landing plane, a Maule.Well about two-thousand flying hours later or several years in human terms I met a man who wanted a plane delivered to what was a just liberated East Germany. He wanted a single engine Piper Arrow to be exact. My dream of going solo around the world was starting to look up,, not in a sailboat but maybe a little different method. So, I planned and studied and worked with e the Canadian North Atlantic Crossing administration or NAT. I was going to go the way my Pop went in his B-17 in 1943. I was excited to say the least. Up through Maine, Newfoundland, south of Greenland and into Reykjavic, Iceland. Launch from there to Scotland to refuel again and to Norwich England. My next leg was to Liepzieg, yes I know it took my Pop a little longer than me to get to Liepzieg but ended this flight in a small old East German town Lingenfeld to deliver the aircraft. Since then I went to Alaska to go the other direction to effectively add the rest of the "world". So a large part of my dream is met, now on to the ocean, the fates willing.

Mark B

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