Sail the World?

Prequel to RV the World

What's the difference between a dream and a delusion? For David Rich, it took a sinking sailboat, months stranded in Mexican ports, and countless mechanical disasters to figure it out—and the answer will surprise you.
Most sailing memoirs celebrate competence, seamanship, and triumph over the elements. In this brutally honest and absurdly funny memoir, David Rich chronicles his disastrous 1 1/2 years attempting to sail around the world aboard his thirty-five-foot sailboat, Grendel. Sail the World? celebrates something far more valuable: the courage to be terrible at something and do it anyway.
David Rich, a fifty-year-old retired attorney, spent years planning his circumnavigation with his girlfriend Mary, outfitting their sailboat Grendel and saving money for the adventure of a lifetime. There was just one problem: he had no idea what he was doing. Within hours of departure from Ensenada, Mexico, in May 1993, Grendel begins sinking—the first of countless catastrophes that will plague Rich's journey down the Baja Peninsula and into the Sea of Cortez. Drawing from his personal journals, Rich documents a year of mechanical incompetence, navigational errors, relationship strain, and the absurd situations that arise when stubbornness meets reality. Yet this isn't a story of failure—it's a story of community, resilience, and the unexpected wisdom that comes from embracing your limitations. Rich's legal background and published writing experience shine through in his ability to craft compelling narratives from humiliating experiences, while his self-deprecating humor transforms potential tragedy into comedy. The cruising community he encounters—from Abe, the nickname of his closest ally, a Canadian womanizer who looks like a short Abe Lincoln, to Kay and Tom, the devout Catholic couple—becomes his salvation, repeatedly rescuing him from situations his incompetence creates. This isn't just a story about sailing—it's about the cruising community that repeatedly saves him and the relationship with his girlfriend Mary that's tested by constant crisis. Rich's background as a published author and attorney gives him the storytelling skill to transform humiliation into humor, and his willingness to expose his failures makes this memoir both relatable and inspiring.

Sail the World? isn't just for sailors or adventure seekers—it's for anyone who has ever felt unqualified for the life they want to live. Rich's unflinching honesty about his limitations, combined with his refusal to give up, creates a memoir that's both hilarious and deeply moving. If you've ever wondered whether you're too old, too inexperienced, or too inept to chase your dreams, this book is your answer. His was to sell the sailboat, buy an RV in Europe and spend the next 17 years RVing 171 countries on six continents.
Unlock your potential for absurd adventure—buy Sail the World? today and discover why ineptitude might be your greatest qualification for an extraordinary life. And buy its sequel to see how it all turned out, RV the World.