Guy Grieve

One day Grieve and his wife have one of those mad ideas.

Why don't we buy a boat?

And sail it home from Venezuela?

With the children?

And so they do. They purchase a vessel called Forever, and with only a very basic sailing qualification and experience start their adventure. They are helped by his father in law at the beginning to get to grips with the boat and all the things that they have to learn fast. As they travel through the Caribbean they suffer sea sickness, doubts and temper, but are all amazed by the places that they see and the people they meet. They have a near miss with pirates and end up staying for a month in Trinidad while the deck is replaced.

After his in laws leave they take the brave choice to go across the Bermuda Triangle to the USA. It was a tough journey, 10 days across open ocean and during the storm season, but they do finally make it. They travel up the eastern seaboard before reaching the city of New York. His wife and family travel back to Scotland, and he is joined by David, someone they had met earlier in their journey, for the last leg across the Atlantic.

This is the toughest part, the Atlantic is not the kindest of oceans, and the time they choose to go is hurricane season. They head north to Nova Scotia with the hope of jumping across the to and avoiding the worst storms. But they don't. They manage to endure the aftereffect of Hurricane Bertha and lock themselves in the boat for three days whilst the storm does it's worst.

It is a great account of people following their dream, and actually going and taking on a challenge that they are not actually sure that they are capable of. In his earlier book, Call of the Wild, he has a similar challenge, but this time it is his family. Sometimes it reads like a thriller, and other time a regular travel book. I think that his sons will be so much richer for the experience that they had.

It is a great travel book, well worth reading if you have an interest in sailing and like to see how a complete family responds to the challenges that they set themselves.… (meer)