Everyone has a story to tell …

I firmly believe that everyone has at least one major story to tell.  And some people have many stories to tell.  The last author I worked with, Eric Forsyth, compiled his stories of the many ocean voyages he’s taken over the last fifty years, into one large volume, An Inexplicable Attraction: My Fifty Years of Ocean Sailing, complete with photos, tables, and hand-drawn charts.  Many of the stories were posted on his web site, YachtFiona, over the years, but Eric finally decided to put them all together to try to explain WHY he makes these arduous trips, sailing to the Arctic, the Antarctic, the Northwest Passage, the North Sea, around all the big capes, through the big canals. By the end of the book, you will understand what the attraction is for someone like Eric, though even then, as he admits via the title, the attraction is still somewhat inexplicable.

Though I’m not a long-distance sailor myself, Eric’s descriptions, from a sailor’s perspective, of the places he visited around the globe — many of them obscure out-of-the-way ports — provide excellent armchair travel reading.  And as many times as I read through this book in the editing process, I still found myself riveted every time I came to  the chapter about his last attempt to sail around Antarctica. Spoiler alert: It was not only a failed attempt, but came close to being Eric’s last voyage ever, anywhere. Gulp!

Though in one sense, Eric’s book is like a series of short stories, as a collection they represent a cohesive narrative, beginning with how it all began — his passion for sailing the seven seas — and how he came to be the captain of his sturdy cutter, Fiona. For anyone who has had ocean cruising experience — and for those who have only dreamed of doing this type of sailing — this book is a must-read. And as far as I’m concerned An Inexplicable Attraction should become part of the canon of books that recount ocean sailing adventures.