Posted by John Lambert on January 25, 2008 at 20:32:59 from 64.59.144.85 user Benedict.
In Reply to: Re: Puffin picture books - Sailing posted by alan truelove on January 25, 2008 at 19:03:41:
Just had a conversation with a girl who, for four years, from age 8 to 12, sailed around the world with her parents and younger sister. She tells of landing in the Marquesas after three weeks at sea and being greeted by the overpowering smell of the vegetation and the earth. She talks about walking in the shade of the coconut palms and picking mangoes off the trees. She also mentioned the people she met: the true nautical vagabonds of the world. These are the sailors whose boats are dirty, with grey weather-beaten sails, corroded brass and salt-custed decks. They are dirt poor, she told me, and work here and there to save enough money to make necessary repairs. Then they sail on again. Some of them, she said, have made it around the world three our four times. That settled it for me. Next October I'm off to see blue water again. I'm flying to Honolulu, or maybe Papeete, and then charter a schooner to take me the 900 miles or so NW to the Marquesas. Look for me in the nearest hammock, a drink in one hand and one of AR's works in the other.