And Then We Hit a Rock

A hilarious true story about a family of 5, a dog, and a cat moving onto a sailboat

De: Greg Buenzli

Narrado por: Mark Smeby

A hilarious travel memoir about a man who moved with his wife, three kids, and two pets onto a forty-six-foot sailboat for a year. He expected it to be a yearlong version of Margaritaville, but what he got was shipwrecks, bad directions, hygiene calamities, and pirate attacks (sort of). Perfect for fans of Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, and David Sedaris.

Did you know that the remora fish will try to swim up a whale shark’s butt when they poop? The crew of Twig didn’t. It turns out there was an awful lot the family of five didn’t know when they decided to move aboard and set off for adventure on the high seas.

After decades of dreaming and planning, the explorers finally sailed off into the sunset. Yes, they found the palm trees and coconuts they had longed for, but they also glimpsed the other side of paradise. They ran from waterspouts, dodged hurricanes, got (sort of) robbed by pirates, and played chicken with naval warships. They found themselves making emergency calls to the Coast Guard in the dead of night and learning the exact purpose of a nut jiggler during a late-night beach bonfire.

Join as the inevitable is pondered after a meal of coffee and chili on a night watch in “What if I have to go poo?”. Commiserate the anxiety of the hurricane season and practice dodging rogue unmanned boats during a midnight tropical storm. Laugh at the captain’s intimate misfortunes with marine toilets, sense what a pirate smells like, and discover how not to get crabs in this page-turning journey of the East Coast. You are invited to follow along with the frustration and joy of a life newly discovered afloat a forty-six-foot catamaran.

Remember: If everything had gone exactly as planned...it wouldn’t have been much of an adventure.

adventure

a lot of mishaps on this boat. i think they are lucky to not have had greater catastrphes! it sounds like there were incidences that could have been prevented if the sailors had more experience with a 46’ catsmaran than just a few days training.i would have liked a story more about their adventures and fun.

Live aboard a sailboat

Excellent story. Humorous. Enjoyable even for non-sailors but interesting for sailors, cruisers, loopers, and live-aboards. Good glossary at the end.

Family buy a boat

Great story and narrator. It’s the funny parts of not knowing how to sail a boat and not kill yourself

Humor and adventure at sea!

I have over 300 audiobooks in my library & this is the first review I’ve ever written. This book is a hidden gem and an absolute joy from start to finish. The storytelling is engaging and humorous, packed with memorable moments—from unexpected challenges, to even the occasional victory. It’s a read that perfectly captures the chaos, humor, and magic of such a bold adventure. The narrator perfectly captured the tone, humor, and overall flow of the story and was a perfect fit for this book. Highly recommended for anyone who loves travel, family stories, or a good laugh!

Overall Great Read!

The subject alone is always entertaining, it is rare to go to sea in a small sailboat (small being a relative term) and come home and say, “we sailed there, we sailed back and nothing else happened”. That’s just not the way it works unless you are incredibly lucky. Even highly experienced sailors run into issues at sea that challenge their skills often to their limits. When you add kids and pets to the mix and a newbie crew and Captain, look out!

Mark Smeby did pretty good on his pronunciation of nautical terms but I did catch at least one mispronunciation I’m surprised that the editor and/or the author missed. In the “What if I Have to Go Poo?” Chapter at the 3:44:18 mark, Mr. Smeby pronounces the word “bow” the same way you would say bow and arrow. In nautical parlance “bow” is pronounced like “wow” but beginning w/ a “b”. I believe I heard one or two other times he may have used the same pronunciation for that word. Not a huge deal, but I would have thought, this being a book about sailing, they would have caught that. Overall though a very entertaining read…especially for those of us who sail, the landlubbers will like it too!