A book you can't wait to share !
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Extremely entertaining and very readable. We discover through a profoundly human relationship between a father and son much hope and encouragement. We are reminded that life provides all of us with great oportunities for love, joy, laughter, and sharp pointed humor. Perhaps the best thing they both have ever done was to recognize and appreciate each others uniqueness. Dan reminds us of our common error of not seeing people as the miracles they are and not seeing ourselves as the miracles we are. A witty stimulating read. Davids writing is beautiful and earthbound. Dan is an absolute riot. We can only hope they do it again.
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A great story that encouraged me to sail!
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I listened to this book on tape on a driving vacation through coastal British Columbia, and it fed my desire to try sailing. I loved the justapositon of sailing information with the internal personal journey. Made me wonder what happened afterwards, too. So glad to see Dan's update. Solitude seems to fit you. Hope you will share more of your journals in the future. Am jealous of your wife!
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Well written and as thought provoking as you let it
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The sailing story is well written but the meaning of the narrative will come from how much you wish to use it to reflect on your father-son relationship. It's not at all painful but it may cause you to put the book down for a moment to just think.
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Good Father and Son Adventure
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My father bought and read the book this last fall, when finished wanted me to read it. I enjoyed living this adventure vicariously through Dave and Dan. The only down point of the book was the son appears to be somewhat flakey, perhaps it's just my homophobic fears, there were just some parts of the book I didn't care to know. However, letting the cat chew through the electrical cables was cool. The book made me think of my own relationship with my father.
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A fascinating account of a physical and emotional voyage.
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Cape Horn looms in sailing lore as the ultimate challenge;
a graveyard of ships whose rocks and capricious weather
should be feared by even the most seasoned old salt. Yet,
the temptation to be one of the few who have met this
challenge (Cape Horners are even allowed to put their feet
up on the tablein the officers' wardroom in an English
warship) is as great as the danger, and the father and son
team of David and Daniel Hays are not immune to this
temptation .
On one level, this is the day by day account of two men
who became the first Americans to sail around Cape Horn in
a sailboat under 30 ft long. The details of living and
surviving in such a small efficient space are fascinating,
not only to sailors, but to casual readers, who will marvel
at spending that much time closely confined with a family
member and no form of entertainment other than books or
(gasp) conversation.
On a deeper, and perhaps even more interesting level, this
is an account of the mental and emotional journey taken by
a father and son. Alternating between the voices of the
romantic, dramatic David, and his cynical, directionless son
Daniel, it is a vivid picture of a troubled but enduring
relationship. The two play off of eachother in the narrative
much as they must have played off of each other during that
year-long solitary voyage. As you read, you feel sometimes
the cramped environment of two such different men forced to
live in such a small space, and sometimes admiration, for the
almost wordless emotional partnership of two men who share
love for each other and for the sea; a partnership whose
strength is attested by their accomplishment.
Finally, it is subtly mythical tale of a father who learns
to acknowledge his son's adulthood, and a son who learns to
accept a leadership role in the family. Generations of
seafaring fathers weave in and out of the narrative and become
part of the heroic quest.
Sometimes jokey, sometimes over-sentimental, the narrative
tone varies wildly (and sometimes annoyingly) but the book
itself is easy to read and interesting, as the simple details
of the voyage open up the interior lives of the voyagers.
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