<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: The story the movie did not tell
Review: After watching the movie 'White Squall' I was fasinated by the concept that a sailing provided. It sounded like the best of all worlds. That to explore the world, life and attempt the music and rythum of the sea. Mr. Langford writes about a ship that spoke of all that with a lively narrative of places that we call ports of call. Quite frankly I wish it had been a longer book. For 8 months of sailing he leaves so much out. In my mind I already knew the sad out come but I wanted more. Even the mundane. I recommend this book for those who watched the movie or even those who did not. It adds depth. I would hope at some point that Captain Sheldon would also write one.
Rating:
Summary: The story the movie did not tell
Review: After watching the movie 'White Squall' I was fasinated by the concept that a sailing provided. It sounded like the best of all worlds. That to explore the world, life and attempt the music and rythum of the sea. Mr. Langford writes about a ship that spoke of all that with a lively narrative of places that we call ports of call. Quite frankly I wish it had been a longer book. For 8 months of sailing he leaves so much out. In my mind I already knew the sad out come but I wanted more. Even the mundane. I recommend this book for those who watched the movie or even those who did not. It adds depth. I would hope at some point that Captain Sheldon would also write one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Crew Members take on a Tragic Journey
Review: Having watched parts of "White Squall" on TV several times, I didn't really understand the intensity of the movie until I watched it completely. Since it was a true story I did some internet research and ran into this book written by one of the crew on that voyage. So I thought I would read it.
Overall, I wasn't impressed. It does exactly what it says it will which is give you a general overview of the cruise and what happened on it. But the most critical event, the tragedy at sea, is covered in just a few pages. Basically, "we got close to a storm and the next thing you know, we sank." Now, obviously I'm generalizing. But that's how it felt. And previous to that, there is really nothing compelling to report. There are mentions of a diversity of age of students and maybe that was a mistake as they had to let some immature passengers off early. Also, I was disappointed that there wasn't a more significant update of the remainder of the captain's life. Overall, I thought the movie was fine but this book was not worth the read. You be the judge.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip It: Buy The Movie Instead
Review: I know that sounds harsh, but it's accurate. "White Squall" is an interesting movie, but the book by Mr. Langford is dull. It's 103 small pages (117 minus 14 pages of bland photos), so there's nothing to reading it, but it's almost boring to read. This is by no means a novel, it's a story where you're dropped into the time and place and then everything proceeds from there, all described at a shallow level. There's no background information on the boys (or the skipper and his wife, for that matter), nothing that really makes you care what happens, nothing that points to why the people behave, or events transpire, as they do.
Details on the mechanics of sailing are almost totally absent, as are details about the Albatross itself. I sail, and I enjoy reading about sailing; I also enjoy coming-of-age stories where people are thrown together and, through shared experiences, form a bond; you get none of that with this story. It's all along the lines of "This happened, we saw that, we moved on, two weeks later we were here, and we saw this and that."
The book has the attribute of being true (where the movie is apparently only loosely based on the actual events, and most everything else is fictionalized): that's about all it has going for it. All of the beauty of bluewater sailing, the hard and often dangerous work of crewing a boat, the day-to-day interaction of the boat's crew, all of that's missing.
If you want to say, "I read the book, I know the real story" (not that there's much difference in the sequence of events between the book and the movie), then have at it. If you want to enjoy the story, buy/rent/view the movie. The Amazon description promises "Readers of this volume will acquire a more realistic understanding of the people and events involved." Readers of this "volume" (ahem) will be disappointed, whether or not they've viewed the "Hollywood parody". This is the first occasion where I've seen both a movie and a book and the movie's better (by far).
Rating:
Summary: The Last Voyage of the Albatross
Review: The reviewers leave the impression that the movie White Squall was based on this book. In fact it was based on the 1962 book _The Last Voyage of the Albatross_ by Charles (Chuck) Gieg and Felix Sutton. It is a shame the book wasn't reprinted as it is a great account. If you can find a used copy it is a great coming of age adventure story.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Voyage of the Albatross
Review: The reviewers leave the impression that the movie White Squall was based on this book. In fact it was based on the 1962 book _The Last Voyage of the Albatross_ by Charles (Chuck) Gieg and Felix Sutton. It is a shame the book wasn't reprinted as it is a great account. If you can find a used copy it is a great coming of age adventure story.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Sprial Bound
Review: This is a great book for any reader that likes to hear of the sea or just a great adventure. The one thing I notice in the listing is it says sprial bound but I received a paperback copy of the book. I called the publisher (to get their catalog - the number is in the back of the book) and they said it has not been sprial bound for two years or more. Enjoy this read from a very good but only once published author. He and the book are real sleepers that need to be awakened.
Rating:
Summary: The Brigantine Albatross and the Boys she turned into Men
Review: White Squall: The Last Voyage of Albatross, is the true story that was the inspiration for the 1996 movie by the same name staring Jeff Bridges. For more than three decades Richard Langford's story of the last voyage of the brigantine Albatross laid silently beneath his desk, almost as long at the ship herself has laid beneath the sea. In 1960 Langford answered an ad for an English teaching job on a square-rigged sailing vessel, the brigantine Albatross. Thus began a journey that would change his life. In his story we meet the real Captain and crew of Albatross and sail with them across the Carribean and Gulf of Mexico, through the Panama Canal and to the Galapagos Islands. The school ship Albatross was crewed by inexperienced teenaged students. Captain Christopher Sheldon, Ph.D. and his wife Alice Sheldon, M.D. started the Ocean Academy believing that the ship and the sea would be better teachers than any school on land. On their return trip home, after almost a year at sea, nature tested what they had learned. As your turn the pages of this book, you'll long to reach out for a nautical chart to see where Albatross is and where her crew is going. Langford's descriptions of the many islands, coves and beaches along the way will get sand in your shoes as you feel the gentle sea breeze on your face. Read this book with some vacation time, because when you're done you'll want to explore some of the many ports of call Albatross visited. Like Peter Island near Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands "where we enjoyed our first powder-soft Carribean beach, gin-clear water, light yellow sand and coconut trees that looked as if they had been painted on a wide canvas." "The Caribbean," Langford writes "is a photographer's paradise. All the colors are deep and rich, and every street corner and beach present a hundred opportunities. Skies are clear, blue and high, and clouds take on shapes that confuse the imagination. Plants shine green and yellow and red. Sunsets and sunrises are beautiful, beyond description, .... Langford's book takes the reader ashore many times but it is at sea, aboard Albatross that he is truly at home. Langford writes, "I set aside one section of my journal for a list of the differences between life ashore and life at sea." "Motion was the basis for many of the differences. At sea, one is never completely still and must learn to sleep while bracing his body in his bunk. Also, one must eat in rhythm with the roll and pitch of the ship .... At sea one walks slowly and carefully, placing a foot when and where the ship allows, .... One learns to move in bent position below decks to avoid banging his head on protruding objects, ...." "On ship one learns a new language quickly. If he does not, he will be confused and something of a danger to his shipmates .... One cannot simply choose to eat, sleep, dress, start or stop an engine, put up or take down a sail, without considering the weather, the tides, the currents and the winds." "The ship, not the individual, is primary. One learns to serve the ship, anticipate her needs and fulfil them constantly. If he does not, the ship will not serve him. A ship has no highways or traffic signals to make her progress easy, at the mercy of the crew and the indifferent, uncaring seas, she sails under elemental conditions laid down by nature." "At sea one lives in a world of few people and the same scenes repeated day after day. Strong affections and stronger animosities can develop quickly. Personal habits of dress, speech and manner that could be ignored on land cannot be ignored on a ship. A ship makes a man tolerant or it drives him mad." "For its crew, the ship becomes the entire world. International affairs are inconsequential. The evening meal, the book one reads, the chair he wants to sit on, ... - these and a hundred other commonplaces become absurdly significant." "At sea there exist no stores, no markets, no repair shops. One learns to mend and make do or do without. Constant preparation is required, preparation for wind, rain, fog, sun, stormy seas, one never lets down his guard except at his own peril. A ship and her crew are most exposed to danger when her crew feels most secure. .... Albatross and her crew felt secure nearing the end of her voyage, 180 miles west of Key West, Florida when the storm hit her. Perhaps President John F. Kennedy best described the lure of the sea which captured the imaginations of those who sailed Albatross when he said, "I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, ... in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, .... We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came." Richard Langford's book will take you back to the sea every time you read it. It will leave you longing to meet the remarkable crew of Albatross and the exotic ports of call they explored on their nine-month voyage.
Rating:
Summary: The Brigantine Albatross and the Boys she turned into Men
Review: White Squall: The Last Voyage of Albatross, is the true story that was the inspiration for the 1996 movie by the same name staring Jeff Bridges. For more than three decades Richard Langford's story of the last voyage of the brigantine Albatross laid silently beneath his desk, almost as long at the ship herself has laid beneath the sea. In 1960 Langford answered an ad for an English teaching job on a square-rigged sailing vessel, the brigantine Albatross. Thus began a journey that would change his life. In his story we meet the real Captain and crew of Albatross and sail with them across the Carribean and Gulf of Mexico, through the Panama Canal and to the Galapagos Islands. The school ship Albatross was crewed by inexperienced teenaged students. Captain Christopher Sheldon, Ph.D. and his wife Alice Sheldon, M.D. started the Ocean Academy believing that the ship and the sea would be better teachers than any school on land. On their return trip home, after almost a year at sea, nature tested what they had learned. As your turn the pages of this book, you'll long to reach out for a nautical chart to see where Albatross is and where her crew is going. Langford's descriptions of the many islands, coves and beaches along the way will get sand in your shoes as you feel the gentle sea breeze on your face. Read this book with some vacation time, because when you're done you'll want to explore some of the many ports of call Albatross visited. Like Peter Island near Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands "where we enjoyed our first powder-soft Carribean beach, gin-clear water, light yellow sand and coconut trees that looked as if they had been painted on a wide canvas." "The Caribbean," Langford writes "is a photographer's paradise. All the colors are deep and rich, and every street corner and beach present a hundred opportunities. Skies are clear, blue and high, and clouds take on shapes that confuse the imagination. Plants shine green and yellow and red. Sunsets and sunrises are beautiful, beyond description, .... Langford's book takes the reader ashore many times but it is at sea, aboard Albatross that he is truly at home. Langford writes, "I set aside one section of my journal for a list of the differences between life ashore and life at sea." "Motion was the basis for many of the differences. At sea, one is never completely still and must learn to sleep while bracing his body in his bunk. Also, one must eat in rhythm with the roll and pitch of the ship .... At sea one walks slowly and carefully, placing a foot when and where the ship allows, .... One learns to move in bent position below decks to avoid banging his head on protruding objects, ...." "On ship one learns a new language quickly. If he does not, he will be confused and something of a danger to his shipmates .... One cannot simply choose to eat, sleep, dress, start or stop an engine, put up or take down a sail, without considering the weather, the tides, the currents and the winds." "The ship, not the individual, is primary. One learns to serve the ship, anticipate her needs and fulfil them constantly. If he does not, the ship will not serve him. A ship has no highways or traffic signals to make her progress easy, at the mercy of the crew and the indifferent, uncaring seas, she sails under elemental conditions laid down by nature." "At sea one lives in a world of few people and the same scenes repeated day after day. Strong affections and stronger animosities can develop quickly. Personal habits of dress, speech and manner that could be ignored on land cannot be ignored on a ship. A ship makes a man tolerant or it drives him mad." "For its crew, the ship becomes the entire world. International affairs are inconsequential. The evening meal, the book one reads, the chair he wants to sit on, ... - these and a hundred other commonplaces become absurdly significant." "At sea there exist no stores, no markets, no repair shops. One learns to mend and make do or do without. Constant preparation is required, preparation for wind, rain, fog, sun, stormy seas, one never lets down his guard except at his own peril. A ship and her crew are most exposed to danger when her crew feels most secure. .... Albatross and her crew felt secure nearing the end of her voyage, 180 miles west of Key West, Florida when the storm hit her. Perhaps President John F. Kennedy best described the lure of the sea which captured the imaginations of those who sailed Albatross when he said, "I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, ... in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, .... We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came." Richard Langford's book will take you back to the sea every time you read it. It will leave you longing to meet the remarkable crew of Albatross and the exotic ports of call they explored on their nine-month voyage.
<< 1 >>
| 
