Regular marked price: $14.95Discount Price: $11.96
Cost Savings: $2.99 (20%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN num: 9781574090031
ISBN number: 1574090038
Label: Sheridan House
Manufacturer: Sheridan House
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: 1996-03
Publishing house: Sheridan House
Sale Popularity Level: 147528
Studio: Sheridan House
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The adventure begins when Jim Moore announces to his bride of two months that they will build a boat and sail to the South Pacific. Circumnavigating the world in a 36-foot sloop isn't generally regarded as an adventure to be taken lightly. However, lightly is just how Jim and Molly Moore took it and the story of their journey provides refreshing and amusing inspiration to all long-distance cruising sailors, actual or potential.
Most of the book recounts the adventures of their four-year voyage that started in 1977. They sailed from Oregon to California, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, the Caribbean, Florida, Panama, Costa Rica, and then back to Oregon. Along the way, they met a varied assortment of people, sea and bird creatures, and some weather extremes.
The Moores brought to their journey a great deal of practical knowledge. Jim Moore's narrative expresses in the most entertaining ways how that knowledge was brought to bear. Jim became a boatbuilder, mechanic and carpenter, an unwilling ornithologist, amateur historian and raconteur extraordinaire. Molly, enthusiastic or dubious, was his perfect partner and foil. A delightful cruising adventure.
The hardcover edition of this book received some of the best reviews of any recent cruising narrative.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
BY WAY OF THE WIND is readable, but author Jim Moore seems too busy trying to end every sentence with a witticism to bother telling us the complete story of the circumnavigation undertaken by himself and his wife on their boat "Swan."
Typical of Moore's strained humour is his constant reference to Molly as "the Mate." At very first endearing it soon becomes condescending through repetition. Yet it's clear that Molly had so much more to do with "Swan" and with their adoption of the sailing life than Moore tells us.
For example, he and Molly built "Swan" but the building process (which took years) is tossed off in a brief couple of pages. It seems to me that "Swan" deserves more respect as the centerpiece of the story. Every sailour knows that building a boat is rife with all sorts of interesting snafus, some of which might have added to this story.
Moore skims over most of his anecdotes the same way. BY WAY OF THE WIND is written in a very passive voice and does not engage the reader dynamically. There seems to be little passion expressed by the Moores, who, after all, left a typical suburban lifestyle to go a-sailing. Why? And who are they?
BY WAY OF THE WIND reads as if you are listening to a book on tape. It probably would make a pretty fair one. But I've read many better sailing narratives. I would have enjoyed this much more if I'd gotten to know Jim and Molly and "Swan" quite a bit better.
Rated by buyers 
-
The author has a comfortable and fluid writing style. He has a pleasant sense of humor. This book could have been longer as it skips too much of their voyage. The sequel is also excellent with the same gripe. Both have a lot of sailing terms, but those without the background can just ignore them.
Rated by buyers -
I was a bit disappointed in this book - the stories were a bit mundane - the type any sailour would have. I want to read about things more exciting than the norm!
Rated by buyers -
The book tries to cover too much territory. Over four years of life is crammed into just over 200 pages. That does not allow for much detail. While there are some nice anecdotes hiding in the pages, it is mostly "went here, saw this, did that, went on to the subsequent place".
The book is written by a sailour for sailors. If you don't know a jib from a rode, or why broaching is a bad thing, or any number of other nautical terms, you will be lost and confused. I'm interested in sailing, but not a sailour so most of the jargon went right over my head. After a while some of it started to sink in, but the author assumes the audience is familiar with nautical terms and sailing techniques. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but limits the audience the book will appeal to.
While the author starts out as an inexperienced sailor, he seems to have forgotten that by the time the book was written. We are not part of this learning curve from sailing neophyte to salty dog.
Rated by buyers 
-
Jim Moore has a fine sense of humour and his book is a good mix of travel narrative and sailing tips. The writing is good and fluid. I rate it as high as Trekka, Flirting With Mermaids, or Fatal Storm.
Find other books like this one:
