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Title: My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn by David Hays, Daniel Hays ISBN: 1-56512-102-3 Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: May, 1995 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (27 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: My old Man and the Sea
Comment: I listened to the audio version during a cross country drive with a friend. Along the way, we found ourselves laughing at times, crying at others. Our trip had a lot of ups and downs, much like their travels- of course the amenities of driving a car cross country cannot compare to sailing a boat around the horn!Anyway, my friend identified a little more with the older character, while I identified with his son- it made us think a little more about each others perspective. Definitely the best book on tape I've ever heard.
Rating: 5
Summary: Inspiring!
Comment: David and Daniel Hays are the first Americans to sail around Cape Horn in a boat under 30 feet in length. "My Old Man and the Sea" is the inspiring true story of a father and son's 17,000-mile voyage in a 25-foot yacht named Sparrow to the bottom of the world and back.
Although David and Dan sailed the easier route from the Pacific into the Atlantic with the prevailing westerly winds and currents they endured horrific storms that included Dan being tossed overboard during Sparrows dangerous sideways roll.
The tale is even more impressive when you learn that they chose to sail simply, without an engine and used a sextant and compass instead of a navigational system. David explains, "Our sport is to tune our senses not our instruments."
David and Dan's eloquent descriptions of the magnificence of the ocean and the magic of sailing brought back fond memories of my own six-month adventure hitchhiking on sailboats in the Bahamas. Like them, I was inspired to write a book titled "Earth, the Forgotten Temple." Tales concerning profound encounters with Mother Ocean and her other wilderness places need to be shared.
Most moving of all, despite conflicts, the deep love between the father and the son shine through to warm us all.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Good Sailing Yarn
Comment: I liked this book and found it to be a good sea story. It is well written and interesting. I especially enjoyed the father's recounting of his memories of boating with his own father before WWII and other random tales. And while I admire the courage of David and Dan's low-tech approach, I do not think this is something for us sailors to emulate; and indeed much has changed in the few years since the book was written due to GPS and improved communications.
The book has its faults. There is a bit too much patronizing half-baked philosophy and sentimental cogitating about personal relationships for my tastes, and the father/son-love-discovery bit gets to be cloying. The title is an indication of much of the off-the-wall, Woody Allen type humor that characterizes their writing. Sometimes their recounting of the jokes they play on each other, and the witty observations they make seem to be aimed at impressing the reader with how clever the authors are. I know they are wittier than I am, but instead of being entertaining, their superior wit left me brooding about my own inadequecies. (Note: Although Bill Bryson is very witty he never leaves the reader feeling inferior or inadequate.)
The actual voyage that the father and son made is not that remarkable and has been done by dozens of yachties. Nevertheless there are details, such as managing with a small motorless yacht, that make the story interesting. Dan and David are expert sailors and boatbuilders and there is much for the weekend sailor to learn from this book about boat handling and managing. Also I found the descriptions of the off-the-beaten-track places that they visited to be perceptive and engaging.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in books about voyaging in small boats (and who has a tolerance for BS).
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Title: On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave by Daniel Hays ISBN: 156512345X Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Lobster Chronicles, The: Life On a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw ISBN: 0786885912 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 11 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Sailing Alone Around the World (Penguin Classics) by Joshua Slocum, Thomas Fogarty, George Varian, Thomas Philbrick, Tom Philbin ISBN: 0140437363 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan ISBN: 0618257322 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 17 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Close to the Wind by Pete Goss, Peter Goss ISBN: 0786707410 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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