A high-seas adventure story that combines the wry wit and deep reflection of A Walk in the Woods with the action and suspense of A Perfect Storm.

A stint in the army and a broken heart lead Kevin Patterson to the dock of a sailboat brokerage on Vancouver Island, where he stands contemplating the romance of the sea and his heartfelt desire to get away. By the end of the day, he finds himself the neophyte owner of a sailboat called the Sea Mouse. He also has a plan: to sail to Tahiti and back, and burn away his failings in hard miles at sea.

First he recruits a traveling companion, another brokenhearted guy who at least knows how to sail. They set out like the Two Stooges-Seasick and Slapstick. Days without wind are days to kick back on the deck with a beer and a man-versus-nature adventure book that valorizes their journey into an essential quest for manhood. But eventually the voyage begins to take on a sharper edge. On a relentless beat across the South Pacific, they run across one solitary male sailor after another on the lam, not heroes but refugees. Both the literature and the reality of masculine adventure start to pall, and Patterson begins to long for home.

But to get there, he faces the toughest of trials, single-handedly sailing the Sea Mouse across the North Pacific and through a four-day gale, conscious that no one on earth knows where he is or that he might die. The illusion that men are best tested by loneliness and adversity cracks in the force of the wind and the terrifying beat of the water, and The Water In Between becomes a hymn, not to running away but to heading home.

Patterson, a Canadian army doctor upset over a failed love affair, decided to buy a sailboat and set sail for Tahiti. He knew nothing about sailing and had never been to sea. The man who joined him was a love-lorn but experienced bluewater sailor named Don. The two prepared the boat for the voyage, bought provisions, and set sail. After loosing the anchor and carelessly damaging a crucial head sail, they decided to head to Hawaii to buy parts, but their course change left them becalmed for weeks. When they eventually make it to Tahiti, Patterson was low on money and had to return to Canada to work. Don sailed the boat back to Penrhyn, an atoll they visited on the way to Tahiti that was close to their vision of paradise. Patterson delves deeply into the personality of the sailor and includes quotes from countless sailing and travel books. A good purchase for public libraries.--John Kenny, San Francisco P.L. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Categories:

• Travel
  
  
  • Specialty Travel
    
    
    • Adventure
      • Cycling