This is a book about a dream and the passion that made it come true. Sailing away for bizarre adventures, fantastic moments and challenging struggles, you will learn what a life at sea has taught a certified dreamer. No ordinary sailing book, this also presents a recipe for following your dreams and the idea that if you do, you will save the world! Learn what life looks like from the deck of a schooner, by someone who got away. Discover an outlook based on the faith that dreams do come true, and a hopeful portrayal that our collective dreams will soon become a reality.
From the Bottom Up
I’ve lived a life hard to imagine. The simple question “What do you do?” does not have a simple answer for me. If I were to say “I’m an accountant,” it might not lead to so many questions, or stories. People can imagine what it’s like to be an accountant. But I say, “I’ve lived on a wooden schooner for 22 years, sailing through the Caribbean and South Pacific!” Their imaginations go wild, creating lots of questions. When people join me for a sail on my boat, those questions pour out in a predictable stream.
The answers become stories, and the stories create even more questions about my life “outside the square.” As I tell about my adventures, the stories become laced with philosophical concepts about the lessons of a sailor’s life. Comparisons to “ordinary” life naturally arise. The questions and answers become a discussion about dreams, priorities, lifestyles and happiness.
“Why did you leave?”
“I had a dream!”
“Have you ever been in a storm?”
“Yes.”
“Were you scared?”
“Very, very scared!”
“Why do these island people seem so happy? They’re so poor.”
“There are simple reasons they are happy.”
“Would you do it again?”
“Absolutely, but it’s not always been easy.”
The stories about running away to follow a dream portray passion, daring, faith, and the path to making your dreams come true. Fear — and how it affects our society and personal lives — springs from the scary storm stories. The depictions of people and tropical places show different ways of living, priorities closer to the heart, questioning common First World lifestyles. The trade-offs, struggles and hard times describe tenacity and grit, often required in a not so normal life.
It seems the deck of Cassiopeia has been an international think tank for ideas on why life unfolds in a certain way and what the major influences on the path of humanity could be. There’s been input from people of all nationalities, financial levels, and walks of life. I’ve been privy to an astounding sociological education.
Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s them, maybe it’s the sea and Cassiopeia, but the conversations aboard invariably drift to rather deep subjects. So in this book of nutty adventure stories, I will tell tales about chasing dreams, frightening storms, and happy places, and I will share my collected philosophical notions about what it all means.
This book hopes to be slightly more than just an assortment of sailing stories; it’s also a bold assertion that it’s not too late for us to change the direction in which humankind is headed.
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