This is the fascinating story of sailing round the world in a 20 foot long sail boat over a 4 year period in the early 1950s. John Guzzell from Victoria, BC, built the boat and sailed her solo from east to west right around the globe. This was in an era when there was no internet, GPS etc. making it all the more an amazing accomplishment.
His love of people and places comes thru clearly making it a great read. Imagine yourself out on a small sailboat for up to 60 days at a time without any sighting of land or contact with other people.
So how does he do it? He uses paper charts and navigation techniques learned from his dad to make his way thousands of miles from island to island. But it is not that simple. He has to know the best port to enter into, the tidal times and deal with ever changing wind conditions that could dash him into rocks.
He does make use of a small outboard motor at times when there is no wind. He also has to drop all sails and ride out cyclones on several occasions. At night, the boat can actually sail and steer itself when the sails are lashed to the tiller!
All in all a fascinating first hand account of an amazing experience by a Canadian. Trekka held the world record as the smallest boat to circumnavigate the globe for a number of years. I rate this as a 9 out of 10 story even if you are not into sailing which I am not.
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