Sailing Travel

How many times have you had that overpowering urge to leave it all behind and sail off to a tropical island? The desire of the ordinary landlubber to go to sea is as old as mankind itself. Here is the true story of how my wife and I became captured by the powerful allure of the sea. This is book one of a four book series. 'Quest and Crew' begins hours before a hurricane of unimaginable destructive force obliterates the south shore of Grenada. Luckily, Quest survives without a scratch. It’s a story about how life's many twists and turns, fortune and disaster, can change your path but make ...

A retired, Canadian firefighter with a dream of adventure sails his new boat from The Virgin Islands to Grenada, and then across the Caribbean Sea to the USA. Picking up his 2 dogs he continues up and down the east coast and across the Bahamas, gaining experience as a dream of circumnavigating the planet begins to form. A true story beginning in 2012, this first half concludes with the Bénéteau 423 being outfitted in North Carolina in 2015, ready to depart for Panama. Dramatic, often moving, or incredibly funny, it is a tale of confronting the unknown, told with heart.

‘Quest in the Caribbean’ is the final book in the Quest Series. Wendy and I have learned to become sailors. We thank our lucky stars every day that the sea has been merciful to us. The sea is our home, but it can also be a strict master and unforgiving teacher. We learn our lessons one day and one problem at a time. But more importantly, Wendy and I learn a great deal about each other and what it takes to be good companions on a tiny boat. Compatibility on a cruising boat is the irreplaceable ingredient that keeps the cruise alive. The first chapter of ‘Quest in the Caribbean’ ...

Ever thought of ditching your conventional life to buy a sailboat and go traveling the world as a modern-day sea nomad? Half Fast is the true story of a married couple in their thirties who do just that—a move some of their family and friends consider to be a 'half-assed scheme' at best. With little money and even even less nautical experience they leave their small-town home in Arkansas to embark on an adventure they hope will last for a year or two but which evolves into a quarter-century voyage of discovery spanning half the world. Come along with Randy and Cheryl as they cruise their ...

★★★★★ "It's an extraordinary book and an instant classic." ★★★★★ "One of the finest pieces of writing today... a true masterpiece." ★★★★★ "In his debut travel book Tom Dymond has triumphed. You don’t have to be hooked on sailing to revel in the tales of two young men’s round the world voyage of self discovery." ★★★★★ "I feel as if I have just circumnavigated the world with Tom and James. A great read! Some passages were so funny I had to put the book down to recover." ★★★★★ "Tom writes with such deftness that every chapter takes you to ...

“As I sailed out of the Steinhatchee River, out onto the Gulf of Mexico, my heart picked up a beat,” writes John Almberg. "It suddenly struck me that this was the first time I’d ever sailed beyond the narrow, protected waters of Long Island Sound. "Am I really going to do this?” Equipped with cheerful optimism, invention, and persistence, this ordinary middle-aged man takes you on a sailing adventure from Florida's Nature Coast to Long Island Sound—2000 miles through open ocean, steamy Everglades, trackless marshes on the Intracoastal Waterway, more bridges and locks than you can ...

Challenged by an expert who said it couldn’t be done, Joshua Slocum, a fearless New England sea captain, set out in April 1895 to prove that a man could sail alone around the world. A little over three years and forty-six thousand miles later, the proof was complete. This is Slocum’s own account of his remarkable adventures during the historic voyage of the Spray.

We are anchored in a windswept bay in the Dominican Republic on our way to Puerto Rico. There is no turning back now. The gear is stowed, hatches battened and the sails reefed. We are about to venture into the dreaded Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Once we are in PR, we will have a leisurely sail along the beautiful south coast. But we have to survive the Mona Passage first. Will she be kind to us? It is my pleasure to have you come along for the third book in the Quest series. Included in our itinerary is Vieques, St. Croix, St. John and a little fling with Virgin Gorda. ...

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...

There are many sensible ways to travel around the world. This is not one of them. This is a book about sailing around the world in the most inefficient, illogical, and thoroughly British way imaginable—by making one catastrophic mistake after another, and then calling it “a plan.” Around the World in 20 Mistakes is a painfully honest and extremely funny step-by-step account of what happens when one stubborn human tries to circumnavigate the planet in spite of bad weather, broken gear, seasickness, suspicious customs officers, and a boat that seemed determined to self-destruct at every...

After nearly drowning in Greece, Christine Stovell was determined never to get on a boat again. The sailing kind? Definitely not. Yet when she married a keen sailor and became joint owner of a vintage wooden yacht, she somehow managed to sail halfway round Britain, despite never finding her sea legs. Insightful, funny and raw, Christine’s story captures the joy, terror and wonder of a novice, seasick sailor out on the waves in a small wooden boat. Her adventures have taken her through sleepy backwaters and high seas, from Essex to west Wales and across to France. Along the way, she’s ...

Alone aboard "Acrohc", the tiny yacht he designed and built, Serge Testa sailed around the world and into the Guinness Book of Records. Exotic landfalls, cyclones, encounters with whales and a nearly fatal fire at sea make this a gripping story. Told with understatement and humor, this account of a unique voyage of discovery and endurance appeals to the adventurer in all of us.

Sailing is an international sport that offers many rewards. Imagine white sails billowing against a clear sky, the brisk feel of the breeze on your face, and the gentle motions of the boat as it cleanly slices through the water. While sailing is a great way to enjoy the outdoors, it also requires you to be an active participant more than almost any other type of boating.

Richard Henry Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 aboard the brig Pilgrim on a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. Drawing from his journals, Two Years Before the Mast gives a vivid and detailed account, shrewdly observed and beautifully described, of a common sailor's wretched treatment at sea, and of a way of life virtually unknown at that time.

Joshua Slocum was believed to be the first man to sail single-handed around the world. After a distinguished career, where he worked his way up from cabin boy to captain, Joshua Slocum wrecked his ship off the coast of Brazil. Turning this catastrophe to his advantage, he built a sailing canoe from the wreckage and sailed back to New York. Moreover, he wrote Voyage of the Liberdad, a chronicle of his trip, and earned some literary success.

What would a sailing challenge be without green water over the bow and a hard beat to windward? ‘Quest on the Thorny Path’ is the second book of the Quest series. You are now on the feared and fabled Thorny Path. Leave the laid back cruiser hangout of Georgetown, Bahamas behind and hit the big ocean waves for the first time. From Georgetown we take the path less traveled through the deserted and desolate out islands of the southern Bahamas. After a short stay in the Turks and Caicos, our course takes us to the north coast of Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus appropriately named this ...

This second edition, new and improved, came out in 2019. (Also, this ebook is reflowable whereas the one for the 1st edition was not.) For anyone who dreams of sailing away, it remains a classic memoir of a 15,000-mile solo expedition with a tiny, hand-made boat. Bent on discovery, Ladd ranges from Montana to the pirate-infested coast of Panama and Colombia, across the Andes, down a 600-mile river by night to avoid guerrillas, and through the Caribbean. Robbed, capsized, arrested and befriended, he sails and rows through a tumult of uncharted adventures. The cast of characters: Dieter, mad ...

Here, for the first time, is a complete and chronological account: everything from levitating the dog and navigating by smell to meeting his wife Tamsin through the Lonely Hearts column of Time Out and attempting to run away to sea and raise a family on a 27 foot boat.

Fifteen tropical islands, fifteen chapters filled with adventure. This book lets you hop aboard a little sailboat and join the author on a three-year-long voyage across French Polynesia, where you will discover some of the most interesting places, people and wildlife of the South Pacific. From the world-famous island of Bora Bora to the remotest atolls of the Tuamotus, experience the challenges and rewards of the seafaring life as you dive with dolphins and sharks, sail under the stars, drink from fresh coconuts in the company of heavily-tattooed men, brave heavy storms and violent currents...

The 5,000+ mile route of the Loop Cruise follows historic seaport towns, natural wilderness and coastal fishing communities on a navigable protected waterway that make it an adventure of a lifetime for boaters who dream of seeing the United States and Canada from the helm of their own boat. We were lucky enough to make this journey on our 36-foot trawler, High Life, and chronicled our voyage.