• Sailing a Serious Ocean

  • Sailboats, Storms, Stories and Lessons Learned from 30 Years at Sea
  • By: John Kretschmer
  • Narrated by: Sean Runnette
  • Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (966 ratings)

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Sailing a Serious Ocean  By  cover art

Sailing a Serious Ocean

By: John Kretschmer
Narrated by: Sean Runnette
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Publisher's summary

After sailing 300,000 miles and weathering dozens of storms in all the world's oceans, John Kretschmer has plenty of stories and advice to share. John's offshore training passages sell out a year in advance, and his entertaining presentations are popular at boat shows and yacht clubs all over the English-speaking world. John's talent for storytelling enchants his audience as it soaks up the lessons he learned during his often challenging voyages. Now you can take a seat next to John - at a lesser cost - and get the knowledge you need to fulfill your own dream of blue-water adventure.  

In Sailing a Serious Ocean, John tells you what to expect when sailing the oceans and shows how to sail safely across them. His tales of storm encounters and other examples of extreme seamanship will help you prepare for your journey and give you confidence to handle any situation - even heavy weather. Through his personal stories, John will guide you through the whole process of choosing the right boat, outfitting with the right gear, planning your route, navigating the ocean, and understanding the nuances of life at sea.  

Our oceans are beautiful yet unpredictable - water that is at one moment a natural mirror for the glowing sun can turn into a foamy, raging wall of fury. John knows our oceans, and he is one of the best teachers of taming and enjoying them. Before you set off across the big blue, turn to John for his inspirational stories and hard-learned advice and discover the serious sailor in you.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 John Kretschmer (P)2019 Tantor

What listeners say about Sailing a Serious Ocean

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A must read for any aspiring blue water cruiser.

John Kretschmer is a masterful story teller. His ability to convey both romance, and reality of the deep ocean in an informative, and captivating narrative is a joy to witness. You'll feel like you are right there in Quetzal's storm washed cockpit with Kretschmer, and crew while they brave one of nature's last truly untamed wilds. Sean Runnette gives a beautiful performance, and captures the spirit of Kretschmer's words with a strong, yet gentle style. Whether you and old salt, or greener than pond scum, "Sailing A Serious Ocean" will leave listeners longing for sweet reach, and an endless blue horizon.

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Wow

This book and performance are perfect.

Shortly after finding the YouTube channel
Millennial falcon episode with John Kreteschmer, i put his books on my “get one day list.” After a quick search and seeing the AMAZING Sean Runnette narrated this book I snatched it up. John is in fact a world class story teller, everyone from a seasoned sailor to novice with only dreams can enjoyed this book. Yes you will learn from this, but more importantly for a brief 10 hours you will get to share in John’s adventures. I can’t wait to get more of his books. I really do hope Sean Runnette narrated those as well. (PS for Runnette fans i almost lost it when Fire Brand showed up as the voice of the Plummer who bought the old steel boat)

Thank you to both John and Sean for this excellent performance.

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Re-listen again and again

The narrator has an amazing voice especially for the topic at hand. Just great cadence and perfect pitch to describe the stories within.

The contents of this book is so good, because you can listen to this again and again for different aspects. Whether it be for adventure or equipment recommendations or tales that make you realize how serious it is when you cross an ocean or take on a long passage. Just so well organized and worth it for anyone who loves sailing on any level. The vocabulary will help you grow! Experienced sailors can relate well too.

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A very interesting story

this was a very interesting story. I could feel the intensity of the storms, and when I close my eyes, I could see the breaking waves crashing around me. This may dissuade an aspiring sailor from setting sail but is also informative

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Details

Thank you for sharing priceless knowledge and I’m blessed Thank you Captain for your sharing your journey:)

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Fantastic book on ocean sailing

Loved listening to it while I'm working renovating my own sailboat. I'm relatively new to sailing, and this book made me dream of open oceans. Have dream to circumnavigate the globe some day, and this book have vital information and thougts on how to meet those challanges ahead on a serious ocean. Liked the narrators voice, calm and clear. Kretschmer possesses a ton of information. I also liked the chapter for suggested literature on open ocean sailing. Thank's for sharing your wisdom Kretschmer. I wished Kretschmer could discuss more about pros and cons between long keel boats and modern fin keel boats. Maybe a topic for a book in the future?

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very educational book.

we are getting ready to take our 38' hans Christian sailboat to Fiji.
this book was very informative

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Unexpected diamond

I realized how excellent this book was when one of the earlier chapters finished with a list of sailing terms. Typically reading I would have undoubtedly skipped straight over these pages and never paused to look back but listening to the reading of the terms' descriptions I honestly felt like I was missing part of the fireside chat if I skipped even one.
I could not put this down despite the fact that I am most definitely a landsman, and had this been a physical book I would have been turning pages late into the night (and did honestly do a few late night listening on the weekends). I gasped aloud multiple times and cried, yes actual tears, when Quetzal lost her mast.
That being said there was far more information and advice than just sea stories, which was all I had expected when I started it. I was less than half way through the book before looking John up on line and I haven't stopped dreaming about an off shore voyage in the last week since I heard the words: "Audible hopes you have enjoyed this program."
The casual, conversational feel of the story telling blends seamlessly and perfectly with the reader's voice to make this book truly come alive.
This book is for anyone whose bucket list includes someday going beyond the sight of the shore though I'll warn you, John will ruin any thoughts of a week long cruise across the pond in exchange for wet weather gear and a month of long nights and utter exhilaration.

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Poetic and instructional

John Kretschmer does a masterful job of matching the poetic with the instructional in this book. He gives straightforward, easy to understand, and highly practical advise while weaving in romantic descriptions of his trials and triumphs at sea. It is an imminently enjoyable experience to listen to him share his passion for sailing.

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Excellent

As an occasional 'book of lists' it would be nice to have them in the PDF. Other than that, fantastic! Makes me want to get back out there!

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