Robin L. Graham

Dove by Robin L. Graham is the extraordinary story of how the author in July of 1965, at 16 years of age, began a sailing trip to circumnavigate the globe in a 24 foot sloop. Five years later he completed his trip. Along the way he had many adventures, faced many dangers and met and married a young woman who followed his trip both on land sea. Of course my first thoughts were how could his parents allow a 16 year old to sail off alone, but my reading revealed a remarkably mature young man who grew up in a sailing family.

While the voyage is described in rather flat tones, Graham’s voice comes alive when he writes about the meeting, courting and marriage to Patti. They met in Fiji but amazingly enough she also called California home. As his love for Patti grew, his enthusiasm for the trip lessened but both his father and Patti encouraged him to continue, and he had a contract with National Geographic to fulfill the voyage.

Dove is an interesting account of this young man’s amazing accomplishment and reading this book is very much like reading a diary, yet I never felt that I got to know him or understand his motivations. There was something in the tone of his writing that made feel that this was a young man who felt he entitled to whatever came along and to choose his direction in life without listening to the advice of his parents or others.… (meer)