First Time Around

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant read
Review: This is a recounting of a families circumnavigation in a 30 ft. sail boat. It is not a harrowing sea adventure a la Tristan Jones. Bryson, his wife and son spent 5 years sailing from Alaska, south then westward to New Zealand and Australia, through the Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean and back to Alaska by way of the Panama Canal and Hawaii. Other than a couple of early misadventures and the inevitable storms at sea, the account is one of normal sea passages and the pleasures of meeting people and visiting far away places.

The most striking part of the story for me is the mundanaeity of the families life at sea. By that, I don't mean boring, only ordinary and not artificially larger than life. The books is not an attempt at a how to, only a matter of fact presentation of what such a voyage is like. If you dream of following in their footsteps, this book will be reassuring. If you're looking for pirates, shipwrecks and a good salty yarn, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant read
Review: This is a recounting of a families circumnavigation in a 30 ft. sail boat. It is not a harrowing sea adventure a la Tristan Jones. Bryson, his wife and son spent 5 years sailing from Alaska, south then westward to New Zealand and Australia, through the Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean and back to Alaska by way of the Panama Canal and Hawaii. Other than a couple of early misadventures and the inevitable storms at sea, the account is one of normal sea passages and the pleasures of meeting people and visiting far away places.

The most striking part of the story for me is the mundanaeity of the families life at sea. By that, I don't mean boring, only ordinary and not artificially larger than life. The books is not an attempt at a how to, only a matter of fact presentation of what such a voyage is like. If you dream of following in their footsteps, this book will be reassuring. If you're looking for pirates, shipwrecks and a good salty yarn, look elsewhere.