Sea Trials

Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire

By: Wendy Hinman

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A shipwreck might end a dream of circumnavigating the globe. Not for the Wilcox family.

In 1973, the Wilcox family sets off to sail around the world aboard the 40-foot sailboat, Vela. Thirteen months later, they are shipwrecked on a coral reef, with surf tearing a huge hole into the side of their boat. With years invested in saving money, preparing the boat, and learning to navigate by the stars, parents Chuck and Dawn refuse to give up. Fourteen-year-old Garth is determined to continue, while 11-year-old Linda never wanted to go in the first place. Can they overcome the emotional, physical, and financial challenges to transform from castaways into circumnavigators?

To triumph, they must rebuild their boat on a remote Pacific island. Damage sustained on the reef and a lack of resources haunt them the rest of the way around the world as they face daunting obstacles, including wild weather, pirates, gun boats, mines, and thieves, plus pesky bureaucrats and cockroaches as stubborn as the family. Without a working engine and no way to communicate with the outside world, they struggle to reach home before their broken rig comes crashing down and they run out of food in a trial that tests them to their limits.

Sea Trials by Wendy Hinman has been named a Kirkus best book, a Foreword Reviews best book, and a Readers Favorite.

©2017 Wendy E. Hinman (P)2022 Wendy E. Hinman

Amazing audiobook

After the huge success of her first original work, Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey, adventurer, speaker, and award-winning author Wendy Hinman returns with Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire, another expertly written, highly entertaining extraordinary true story!

These are the voyages of the 40-foot sailboat Vela and the brave Wilcox family. In 1973, they set off to sail around the world on the high seas. Their four-year-long mission will turn out to be five actually and during this epic journey, they will have to survive a shipwreck, reconstruct their boat on a deserted island and face many more other such trials and tribulations. With two teenagers on board, a ship in need of repair, a tight budget, rising problems, and without the benefit of modern devices such as a GPS or instant communication devices, the kids and the grown-ups have to find a way to make this work.

I love the sea, I am fascinated by boats, and if I wasn’t blind, I think I would have been thrilled to be able to buy a boat and to do exactly what this family does in the book and what Wendy did in Tightwads on the Loose, especially since I live in Oslo, and there are probably thousands of boats anchored all around the fjords. Alas, I am blind, boats are really expensive, and a guess that syncing them is not that hard, so all I am left with are these wonderful stories, some true – like this one, and others fiction, like those from Clive Cussler. Luckily, I still have access to the occasional cruises to Denmark, and hopefully, other countries to whet my appetite for life on the sea.

As I said, above, the writing is excellent, the story is captivating, especially since it’s a true one, and the pacing is just perfect.

Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire is brought to life in audiobook format by established singer/songwriter, fiction author, avid cruising sailor, and last, but not least, award-winning narrator, Eric G. Dove.

Eric is extremely well suited for this audio production. He reads in an enjoyable voice, he perfectly pronounces all the confusing terms that are most assuredly so familiar to those spending their lives at sea but sound as complete gibberish to non-connoisseurs. Eric delivers a pitch-perfect performance, complete with unique voices for each of the main characters, and he also infuses urgency and emotion into the narration exactly when the action on the page requires it. I know Eric is a narrator for a long time now, and he is always professional to a fault. It’s clear that he does what he loves and loves what he does.

Reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe and The Cast Away, Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire is a fantastic audiobook filled with epic adventures, unforgettable events, and remarkable characters. If you like true stories and love the sea or sailing, I highly recommend Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire and Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey by Wendy Hinman. Both these books are written from the heart, with humor, with respect, with knowledge and are extremely enjoyable.

When we combine Wendy’s superb storytelling abilities with the considerable skills of multiple award-winning narrator Eric G. Dove, we get something unique, a riveting narrative that I’m convinced will appeal to readers of all ages: from kids to young adults and grown-ups alike.

I hope that Wendy and her husband will embark soon on a new voyage and that she will write about it. I’m always fascinated by true stories, especially when they are so eloquently written.