Flirting With Mermaids: The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper

Rating:
Summary: Pack your seabag!!!
Review: After reading this, you may be inspired to throw a few things in a bag and head for Fort Lauderdale, Florida (John says in his book that virtually every cruising sailboat on Earth passes through Fort Lauderdale at some point in time) to sign up for crew on a sail boat!! A really great read if you are in need of as "escape" from the daily grind. Beware though, it just may inspire you to chuck the 9-5 routine and take to sea! That's exactly what it inspired me to do, and I made a great bunch of friends in the process. If only every book I read inspired such great times!!!

Rating:
Summary: better then Jesus
Review: Good book. Clever little love story tied in as well. well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: What a Life!
Review: The Author, a profesional delivery captain, makes his living doing what the rest of us have to pay to do! The author has probably done more Blue Water Sailing in a few years than most serious sailors do in a lifetime. This is a great story of adventure, but it is told in a humorous tone. Adventure, romance, danger, and outrageous characters fill this book. Each story is better than the last one, and this was truly an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books of its genre
Review: This book reminds me of William Snaith's book "On the Wind's Way", written 35 years ago. The vehicle is sailing, but the subject is really existential philosophy and the story of how one young man from a very early age decided to lead a life of individual freedom, independence, self-sufficiency, honesty and responsibility. Don't be misled by the stupid and misleading title (probably suggested by some marketing genius at Sheridan House), this book has an important message for today's disaffected, disenchanted thirty-something generation. The message is that time is an individual's only asset and doesn't have to be wasted in jobs or activities we don't like doing. Although not quite in Camus' league (despite the flattery of Mme. Richardson), Kretschmer is a very good writer who doesn't let the underlying philosophy lesson get in the way of the yacht delivery stories, all of which are related with a sardonic humor and just the right amount of technical detail. And "Mom Kretschmer"--what a gal she must be! But that's another story which I hope her son will decide to write some day. Kretschmer the writer deserves a better publisher who can give much wider distribution and better editing than Sheridan House.