If you have ever sat in your office cubby with its close walls and phony corporate tin-soldiers around you, or hated your day-to-day same-old box-stacking job and daydreamed about sailing away to the land of white beaches, coconut palms, turquoise waters and cool rum drinks, then this book is for you. It's about a disillusioned young man who casts off the lines that tie him down like Gulliver, and chases his dreams south to the warm waters of the Caribbean in search of a new life. Captain Nate Williams' adventure begins where such daydreams leave off. Approaching middle age alone, and feeling that his life has become a monotonous dead-end with a clock forever ticking down, he becomes fascinated by the idea of escaping to sea after meeting with a solo circumnavigator who has just returned from an around-the-world voyage alone. Nate becomes obsessed with what the sailor has learned, and how it has seemingly changed his life. Sailing away represents freedom, a break-out, a refreshing change, if only he can take the big step. He's haunted by his past, by remembrances and echoes of people who have gone, and he fears growing old and dying in obscurity without ever having truly lived. As a youth, he was captivated by the great adventure books like the Bounty trilogy. He dreams of exotic destinations; he wants to make a radical change in his life. Captain Nate has sailed to many places delivering boats, but these delivery boats were never his own boat. Nate can't afford a fancy new sailboat or yacht to carry him away on his dreamed-of adventure, so he finds an old but sturdy wooden sailboat and, applying the lessons that his late boatbuilding Grandfather had taught him, re-built her himself, making her seaworthy and ready for the open sea. Captain Nate departs from his native New England heading to Bermuda, and then continues on to the Caribbean islands where he meets new and interesting friends and fellow sea-vagabond characters. He meets with storms, danger, and other hazards along the way, eventually finding romance with a girl from the islands, only to ultimately learn the true meaning of loss, and ultimately redemption, wisdom, and understanding of his place in the world and on the sea. He seeks a life, at first, without consequences and 'to be needed nowhere'; and later learns that he has not conquered the sea, but as many learn from their experiences surviving a passage across the mighty ocean, that he has, as a fellow sailor puts it, been 'allowed to pass.' Nate lives the dream that many of us share but never realize, setting out to explore, discover, and experience everything that can while life and a tiny spark of optimism still abide in his heart and soul. If you share such daydreams, this book and Captain Nate will take you there, through storms, a hurricane, wild beach bars and fights, crazy danger, lovable characters, and more.
About the Author: Capt. Mike Martel has spent much of his life sailing, boating, and cruising the U.S. East Coast from Maine to the Chesapeake, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and the Gulf of Mexico. He is an avid wooden boat sailor and restorer, and enjoys writing about the sea. He is an ex-USCG sailor and currently holds a USCG 100GRT Master's license. His previous books include two diverse collections of short stories, cruising recollections, and rollicking yarns and anecdotes drawn from his experiences at sea and on shore; they are titled Tales from a Gimbaled Wrist and, appropriately, More Tales from a Gimbaled Wrist.