The Solitude of the Open Sea

A lively collection of seventeen narrative essays drawing upon the author's circumnavigation aboard an ocean-going sailboat. Subjects range from the deeply introspective and serious to the seriously funny. Everything from vignettes of peaceful anchorages to the horrors of storms at sea. Experience a genuine kava ceremony on a South Pacific island. Take a ride through Madagascar by taxi. Live through the drama of a storm in the Tasman Sea. Fun, engaging, inspiring...

GREGORY NEWELL SMITH, from the Pacific Northwest, is a seasoned ocean sailor and delivery captain with over 50,000 miles of blue-water experience, ranging from the coast of Alaska to the Cape of Good Hope, including a fifty-three day, 6000 mile solo passage from Panama to Hawaii. In The Solitude of the Open Sea, he draws upon his three-plus years of offshore sailing aboard his thirty-nine foot Fast Passage cutter, Atlantean, to explore the importance of broadening our horizons beyond the known and commonplace, freeing ourselves from cultural self-centeredness, and achieving self-discovery through perseverance, hardship, and solitude. The themes of the book's seventeen narrative essays are not unique to sailing, but rather are intended for a general audience of reflective readers who value travel and the insights it provides in helping us understand our place in the world around us.

CONTENTS Acknowledgements The Solitude of the Open Sea Kava on Kandavu (or, Kandavu on Kava) The Horsewoman's Tale Bungees and Bagpipes Florence A Tourist in Mauritius Madagascar by Taxi-Brousse The Tasman Tongue Looseners A Weekend in Neiafu The Pleasures of Passage Aussies The New South Africa Maintenance: Boat, Body, and Soul Trinidad and Tobago Climb Aboard The Sleigh Ride About the Author