A Trimaran Sails the Seven Seas

Rating:
Summary: Ideal for the armchair traveler and nautical buff
Review: Jerry Heutink, builder and captain of the 46-foot trimaran Trillium II, is also a master storyteller with a natural gift for crafting a travelogue replete with tales of adventure, pleasure, and danger. A Trimaran Sails The Seven Seas is the story of his cruise that ranged from the midsummer night's sun of northern waters to the breathtaking beauty of sunsets in the tropics. Here recounted are the challenges of the North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterranean, West Indies, and the Far East waters. From a killer wave in the Bermuda Triangle to the winds of Biscay Bay, A Trimaran Sails The Seven Seas is exciting, fun, and informative reading ideal for the armchair traveler and nautical buff.

Rating:
Summary: Unfulfilling, often frustrating diary of a for-hire skipper
Review: Skipper Heutink clearly enjoys sailing, and occasionally enjoys his paying guests' company too, but he consistently fails to give us much to care about. I found this book frustrating because the author focuses on his infatuation with pretty girls (he's married and his son is his first mate), the daily trivia of mooring, cooking, and drinking, and how proud he is of his son and the trimaran he built. The prose is poorly edited and hard to parse, mostly due to Heutink's inconsistent nautical jargon, tendency to omit salient details, and failure to include maps with the names of places he visits. He's no storyteller; this is a fleshed-out (and mostly pretty dull) diary with no connective tissue. I learned nothing, and had more questions at the end than when I started the book.