Blue Water, Green Skipper

A Memoir of Sailing Alone Across the Atlantic

By: Stuart Woods

Narrated by: Steven Collins

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Stuart Woods had never owned more than a dinghy before setting out on one of the world's most demanding sea voyages, navigating single-handedly across the Atlantic. How, at the age of 37, did this self-proclaimed novice go from small ponds to the big sea?

Now with a new afterword that looks back at how one transatlantic race changed his life, Woods takes listeners on a spectacular journey not just of traveling across the world, but of being tried in fire, learning by accepting challenges, appreciating the beauty of the open water, and living to tell about it.

©2012 Stuart Woods (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A well-told tale of adversity and triumph on the high seas, this fine work deserves a new and wide audience." (Booklist)

SUPER!!! Book

Great book: you will not be disappointed.
Story and performance are great.
I have enjoyed it very much.
Great help in preparing for the voyage.
.......DN.

good book

book is from the mid-70s. but I still found everything really interesting. it was a good story.

Good stuff

loved it, easy to listen to and it paints a really clear image in your mind.

great read

I'm not a sailor but found this a great read for those who want a feel for the gentleman's art of sailing.

Well told story.

This was put together very well. Stuart starts in the beginning and you must be amazed at how he finishes.

great story

love the story and had a great narrater. recommend if your into real life adventure books.

Interesting read

Better than some of the other sailing audio books I recently listened to: especially the narrator was very pleasant to listen to.

a good sailor's story.

I very much enjoyed this story. an interesting tale of someone becoming immersed in the sailor's world. it might not be a book for someone who isn't already fascinated by sailing, the sailors will enjoy this great deal.

For the Hardened Sailor, Novice, and Dreamer Alike

This was an outstanding book that depicts the author’s real-life adventures related to sailing. Starting with a small sailing dingy in Ireland, and ending with sailing in a race across the Atlantic, this was a great description of what sailing is really like including all of the learning, hard work, unexpected failures, boat repairs, and scares along the way.

The author starts in a small town in Ireland where he joins the local sailing club and learns to sail a small mirror dinghy. After buying his own, he starts to compete in local sailing races. Shortly after this, his grandfather and long-time mentor dies. Out of this tragedy he learns that his grandfather left him a rather large sum of money. He decides to use this money to buy a brand new sailing yacht to compete in the long-distance sailing races he is now so enamored with.

He contacts a nearby shipwright to build a custom sailing yacht that he will use for single-handed long-distance sailing. After extensive modifications to the yacht, he enters a sailing race from England to the Azores. While crewed for this race, he sails the yacht back to Ireland on his own.

His journey across the Atlantic in a world-famous annual sailing yacht race is full of adventure, perilous waters, equipment failures, and supply shortages. However, it is out on the ocean that the author discovers more about himself than he ever thought possible.

By now, this author has written dozens of excellent books. However, I will not say that this was the best book I have ever read. You can tell that he was a young and inexperienced writer at the time. BUT, this book is an excellent representation of what sailing is really like, with the good and the bad. I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure.

Narration was very good as well. I hope to hear him narrate other similar adventure stories.

Anyone interested in sailing, whether you’re an experienced sea captain or just dreaming of sailing someday, will enjoy this book. 5 stars!

If you love the idea of sailing.

This is a good book for those of us who dream of being out on blue water. It's not a tension filled tale of high risks or a razor close finish to a race or even a long vicarious experience such as Joshua Slocum's excellent story of sailing around the world alone. As you listen, you'll journey with the author through the fun as well as the many lessons involved in progressing from novice dinghy sailing to preparing and engaging in an ocean crossing in a large single handed boat. It was enjoyable for providing yet another view into a watery world that for me has so far existed only in my dreams.