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Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage
Chronicles the author's four thousand-mile sailing voyage across the Pacific with four close friends, his son Christopher, and a photographer
16 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
59 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
William F. Buckley Jr.
183 books334 followersWilliam Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.
Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.
Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.
Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.
Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 3, 2014
Sea narratives have always bewitched me. William Buckley, despite his entirely fatuous and egregious non-partisan right-wing "little rich-boy" posturing, writes beautifully about his numerous excursions on yachts of various sizes and shapes to various destinations. Christopher, his son, inherited this fascination for the sea and wrote a charming and altogether fascinating chronicle of a trip on a tramp steamer (Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter.
Buckley himself captivated me with his two earlier works (Airborne A Sentimental Journey and Atlantic High A Celebration) In those two in particular he describes in illuminating detail the arcane mysteries of navigation and some of the innovative machines recently designed to take the drudgery out of the mundane yet exacting task of locating oneself in the middle of the ocean. His latest dithyramb,-- Buckley would be proud -- Racing Through Paraddise is much less satisfying. He still glorifies in the new technology, this time the Charles Trimbles Navstar Global Positioning System. It is indubitably a marvel, but Buckley describes it almost apologetically, referring to those readers of his other books who were wont to leapfrog the more technical aspects. I found his technological explanations fascinating.
Buckley has an extraordinary talent for clarifying the obscure.
Racing Through Paradise recounts his rapid passage from Hawaii to New Guinea on the yacht Sealestial. Unfortunately for me, the book is less concerned with the passage than with providing WFB with a new opportunity to show the world that the Buckleys still know all the right people and can still use big words in anfractuous phrases. I got tired of reading phrases like "John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, a good friend of the ambassador's [Evan Galbraith, another of the passengers on the Sealestial:] and mine. . . ." Or, relating how Nancy Reagan had called her old friends the Buckleys to wangle an invitation to stay at their estate because surely she couldn't stay at a New York hotel during the hotel strike (perhaps she forgot to consult her astrologer.) Still the book can be a delight, as in passages such as the following describing the discovery of the Azores:
"The islands were discovered nobody exactly knows when (they first appeared, if somewhat astray, on Catalonian maps in the 1350s), [sic:] but the Portuguese got there some seventy years before Columbus discovered America, and get this: Do you know why we are missing the name of the captain who formally--i.e., in the name of the Portuguese king--claimed them in 1427? Because in 1836 George Sand, the French author (who was, of course, a she), [sic:] spilled ink over the one chart that bore the fellow's name (typical of she-authors who call themselves "George"), [sic:] forever obliterating, in those pre-Xerox days, the identity of that dauntless historic figure."
Parenthetically, the story of Buckley's garbage bags and the ensuing tussle in the newspapers of Saint John, New Brunswick, is priceless. (Chapter 3, "The Angel of Craig's Point.")
Buckley himself captivated me with his two earlier works (Airborne A Sentimental Journey and Atlantic High A Celebration) In those two in particular he describes in illuminating detail the arcane mysteries of navigation and some of the innovative machines recently designed to take the drudgery out of the mundane yet exacting task of locating oneself in the middle of the ocean. His latest dithyramb,-- Buckley would be proud -- Racing Through Paraddise is much less satisfying. He still glorifies in the new technology, this time the Charles Trimbles Navstar Global Positioning System. It is indubitably a marvel, but Buckley describes it almost apologetically, referring to those readers of his other books who were wont to leapfrog the more technical aspects. I found his technological explanations fascinating.
Buckley has an extraordinary talent for clarifying the obscure.
Racing Through Paradise recounts his rapid passage from Hawaii to New Guinea on the yacht Sealestial. Unfortunately for me, the book is less concerned with the passage than with providing WFB with a new opportunity to show the world that the Buckleys still know all the right people and can still use big words in anfractuous phrases. I got tired of reading phrases like "John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, a good friend of the ambassador's [Evan Galbraith, another of the passengers on the Sealestial:] and mine. . . ." Or, relating how Nancy Reagan had called her old friends the Buckleys to wangle an invitation to stay at their estate because surely she couldn't stay at a New York hotel during the hotel strike (perhaps she forgot to consult her astrologer.) Still the book can be a delight, as in passages such as the following describing the discovery of the Azores:
"The islands were discovered nobody exactly knows when (they first appeared, if somewhat astray, on Catalonian maps in the 1350s), [sic:] but the Portuguese got there some seventy years before Columbus discovered America, and get this: Do you know why we are missing the name of the captain who formally--i.e., in the name of the Portuguese king--claimed them in 1427? Because in 1836 George Sand, the French author (who was, of course, a she), [sic:] spilled ink over the one chart that bore the fellow's name (typical of she-authors who call themselves "George"), [sic:] forever obliterating, in those pre-Xerox days, the identity of that dauntless historic figure."
Parenthetically, the story of Buckley's garbage bags and the ensuing tussle in the newspapers of Saint John, New Brunswick, is priceless. (Chapter 3, "The Angel of Craig's Point.")
October 10, 2017
This was my first work of non-fiction written by William F. Buckley that I've had the chance to read that did NOT focus on politics at all. While it took me a while to get into it, slogging through the technical jargon known only to serious sailors, I became fond of the people, the stories, the settings, and the idea of sailing with a group of guys across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. This book makes me want to gather a gang of guys, a cellar full of fine wines, a stash of Goo Goo Clusters (a favorite snack of Buckley and his cabal) and set sail to the nearest atoll. Just fantastic.
March 17, 2015
This is my 2nd Buckley read; my 1st was his Atlantic Ocean passage and now this book about crossing the Pacific. Through these 2 books, I have learned what a talented, diverse and interesting person WFB Jr was. There is much more than his voluminous vocabulary, his conservatism and his self-esteem. He was a man of many talents and interests with a gifted sense of humor and wit and a man of deep religious belief, celebrating mass even while at sea. These 2 books on his sailing adventures are extremely interesting, entertaining and a joy. One gets to sail with the infamous WFB Jr and that, my friends, is quite a treat.
December 18, 2020
An easy read in the WFB style, sharing a month long sail in the Pacific. Set back in 1985, it is interesting to note how far navigational aids have come since the early computer and experimental GPS era that the book dates from. Anyone contemplating a long cruise will benefit from a read as well as anyone who enjoys a good sailing yarn. The guy sure knows how to name drop!
August 21, 2022
Here's how good this book is (and Buckley's other sailing books): I have exactly zero interest in boats. I don't care to go sailing at all. If I could afford it, I wouldn't buy a boat, nor would I charter one, nor would I go as a passenger in one. Yet when I read this book, I wish I was there - on a boat, in the middle of storms and heavy seas, fighting lines and sails and winches and booms, steering a course when I can't guide myself by seeing what I'm aiming for because it's hundreds of miles away.
That is just how good a writer William F. Buckley was. He makes you love sailing while you're reading this book, even if you hate sailing.
"But," says one, "sailing is a sport for the idle rich." Well, for the rich, certainly. It takes a large amount of money to buy a boat, never mind maintain it in proper condition, never mind actually use it. Most of us will never have that kind of money. But for the idle rich? No doubt there are plenty of idle rich people, who don't do anything but dress for dinner and listen to Bach concertos and raise money for charitable causes. But Buckley, while he inherited money, worked very hard. He was one of the busiest men, for most of his life, who ever lived. He founded and ran National Review for decades. He wrote articles and columns and books. He spoke many times a year. He traveled extensively for business, working on correspondence in flight, in the car, even when he was ostensibly on vacation sailing across the Pacific Ocean. You may think poorly of Buckley's political views, and you may have a jaundiced view of his wealth, but you can't honestly say he was idle, because he absolutely wasn't.
But there is the point that most of us can't afford to go sailing, nor to take a month off to go sailing across the Pacific. That Buckley himself admits. He acknowledges, in this book, that most people can't afford to live as he does. But he also points out that it is at least theoretically possible to have some experience with cruising on a sailboat, if only the arrangements will arrange themselves; by his figures at least it ought to be just as affordable to get a small group together and charter a sailboat to cruise the Caribbean islands, as it is to book passage on a cruise ship and visit those same islands in the regimented cruise ship manner, or to fly from island to island staying in hotels.
I confess that any of those alternatives is outside my reach, and that doesn't bother me...except that when I read this book (and I've read it three or four times now) I really do wish I could be on that boat, with William F. Buckley and his friends, even if their tastes in music and conversation and alcohol and reading and clothes are totally different from mine.
That is just how good a writer William F. Buckley was. He makes you love sailing while you're reading this book, even if you hate sailing.
"But," says one, "sailing is a sport for the idle rich." Well, for the rich, certainly. It takes a large amount of money to buy a boat, never mind maintain it in proper condition, never mind actually use it. Most of us will never have that kind of money. But for the idle rich? No doubt there are plenty of idle rich people, who don't do anything but dress for dinner and listen to Bach concertos and raise money for charitable causes. But Buckley, while he inherited money, worked very hard. He was one of the busiest men, for most of his life, who ever lived. He founded and ran National Review for decades. He wrote articles and columns and books. He spoke many times a year. He traveled extensively for business, working on correspondence in flight, in the car, even when he was ostensibly on vacation sailing across the Pacific Ocean. You may think poorly of Buckley's political views, and you may have a jaundiced view of his wealth, but you can't honestly say he was idle, because he absolutely wasn't.
But there is the point that most of us can't afford to go sailing, nor to take a month off to go sailing across the Pacific. That Buckley himself admits. He acknowledges, in this book, that most people can't afford to live as he does. But he also points out that it is at least theoretically possible to have some experience with cruising on a sailboat, if only the arrangements will arrange themselves; by his figures at least it ought to be just as affordable to get a small group together and charter a sailboat to cruise the Caribbean islands, as it is to book passage on a cruise ship and visit those same islands in the regimented cruise ship manner, or to fly from island to island staying in hotels.
I confess that any of those alternatives is outside my reach, and that doesn't bother me...except that when I read this book (and I've read it three or four times now) I really do wish I could be on that boat, with William F. Buckley and his friends, even if their tastes in music and conversation and alcohol and reading and clothes are totally different from mine.
February 23, 2016
I found myself with a love/hate relationship with this book. I am a sucker for journeys and sailing across the Pacific sounds enticing to me. However, there were times I was so mad at the snobbish attitude of the late William Buckley, I found myself wondering if I should just toss the book into water and let it sink. But I kept reading. Early in this book, William Buckley refers to an article in a California sailing magazine, Latitude 38, in which an author blames two words on the public perception that boat owners are "idle, indolent, and insolent rich." The first word was William and the second Buckley. Obviously, Buckley wasn't impressed and retorted that he doubted the magazine was read even in latitude 39. He suggested that the author didn't like his life on board and probably wouldn't like it on shore. (55) Interestingly, from my point-of-view, Buckley spends the rest of the book confirming (at least for me) the author's perception of Buckley's sailing adventures: he's rich and expects his money and his connections with those in power to meet his needs. Yet, even so, there were parts of the book I enjoyed although I can't imagine that I would have enjoyed traveling with Buckley when he was alive. For me, Buckley falls into the category of Paul Theroux, another author I enjoy reading but don’t always agree with and couldn't imagine having as a traveling partner.
The first third of the book provides a brief overview of Buckley's sailing adventures on boats he owned and those he chartered. Such adventures include crossing the Atlantic, sailing the waters of the Northeast United States, the Canadian Maritime Providences, the Azores, the South Pacific and the Caribbean along with racing to Bermuda (where he generally came in last except for one year when F. E. Bailey—the famous attorney—beat him out for the last place spot). As he briefly recalls these other adventures (it appears he covered them in more detail in his other sailing books), Buckley tells about the selection of the crew and the development of an itinerary for his Pacific crossing. In creating this story, he borrows liberally from the letters that were exchanged between the various members of his crew.
The second part of the book focuses on the journey itself. The trip is taken aboard the Sealistial, a boat Buckley had sailed in the Galapagos Islands and around Tahiti. It is a rather large boat (72 feet) but when you have seven passengers (Buckley, his son and five others) plus a crew of five, large is relative. They begin their journey in Hawaii and ended off New Guinea. In this part of the book, Buckley liberally (I love using this term when referring to Buckley) borrows from the journals of his fellow shipmates. One of the conditions of their passage is that they will keep a personal journal and, at the end of the trip, give them to Buckley so he can use them in his planned book.
Each crew member is given position aboard the boat. Daniel Merritt is the procurement officer, Reginald Stoops the safety officer, Van Galbraith the meteorological officer and diplomatic advance man, Dick Clurman the Communication officer, Christopher (Christo) Buckley the entertainment officer. The younger Buckley supplies the boat with enough candy for a round-the-world voyage, a portable ping pong table (that's given to natives on an island along the way), movies for every evening, books, tapes of David Niven reading his memoirs (which were listened to every evening for 20 minutes), board games, a rifle for the member assigned "shark duty" while the rest swim and a 410 shotgun along with a case of clay pigeons, along with a model to assemble of the Titanic. (320) The boat has a large musical selection, which does not live up to Buckley's standard: “one part rock, one part schmaltz.†(124) Buckley (he refers to himself as WEB throughout the book) was the navigation officer and also oversaw the important task of stowing away cases of wine (32 cases of various vintage). Obviously spirits were necessary for morale as there was another 50 cases of beer. (116) On top of it all was the attractive chef, who could have been plying her knives and sauté pans at some five star restaurant in New York, but had agreed to work in the galley to assure that no one went hungry. With the exception of Chef Liz and an accident of the first mate (who almost lost fingers on the first day), the crew are mostly ignored within the book. At one point, they tried to arrange the movie time so the crew could watch it, but it is a failure due to "Abstract planning, welfare-state-style." (390) The book is mostly without political rants, but at some points WEB can't help but to cleverly throw in his two-cent worth.
One of the interesting elements of the book is navigation. Buckley spends a number of pages talking about the LORAN system and a bit (I wish he had written more) about celestial navigation. Due to his contacts (another example of why he wasn't in league with the average sailor), the boat is equipped with an early GPS prototype. He discusses the possibilities of this system as more satellites are placed into orbit. In the early 80s, the device could only be used at certain times of the day when satellites were within range. The other interesting part of the book is the routine developed between the passengers as they go on and off watch and joke with one another. There is always a bonding that comes from long periods of time in tight quarters. For WEB, shipboard life also included three of them gathering each week to recite the "Latin mass." (211)
The title, Racing Through Paradise, is appropriate as they have little time to sit back and enjoy the trip for Ambassador Galbraith has to get back to France for his retirement party (which will include the Vice President). Only limited amounts of time are spent on the islands in which they refuel and take on fresh water. I was disappointed the WEB didn't provide more detail into life on the islands. The one island that seemed to get more than its share is Johnston atoll. Most sailors wouldn't be allowed near this military controlled island upon which is stored lots of gas for chemical warfare. By pulling strings, Buckley stops and seems to take affront at the commander's lack of hospitality. He is provided water, fuel and ice, but told not to let the sun set on his sails. Even having an ambassador on board didn't help. Another example of WEB's self importance was his telling of going to a White House function. His excitement didn't come from meeting the President (by his own admission, he'd met plenty of them), but from meeting the Chief of Protocol, who was also the recent captain that had won the America's Cup. (242)
Of course, even the rich have those to be envious of and in WEB's case, this was William Simon, President Reagan's economic adviser who was having built a 124 foot sailboat, “The Freedom†was being built at an Italian shipyard. (204-206) Buy American never came up within the text as there was plenty of wine for other countries as well as Swedish cookies and other stuff.
I would only recommend this book if you really like sailing and if you are interested in the changes of navigation over the past couple of decades. Now that I reviewed it, I’ve left the book at my parents for my youngest brother who seemed enamored with all things conservative.
The first third of the book provides a brief overview of Buckley's sailing adventures on boats he owned and those he chartered. Such adventures include crossing the Atlantic, sailing the waters of the Northeast United States, the Canadian Maritime Providences, the Azores, the South Pacific and the Caribbean along with racing to Bermuda (where he generally came in last except for one year when F. E. Bailey—the famous attorney—beat him out for the last place spot). As he briefly recalls these other adventures (it appears he covered them in more detail in his other sailing books), Buckley tells about the selection of the crew and the development of an itinerary for his Pacific crossing. In creating this story, he borrows liberally from the letters that were exchanged between the various members of his crew.
The second part of the book focuses on the journey itself. The trip is taken aboard the Sealistial, a boat Buckley had sailed in the Galapagos Islands and around Tahiti. It is a rather large boat (72 feet) but when you have seven passengers (Buckley, his son and five others) plus a crew of five, large is relative. They begin their journey in Hawaii and ended off New Guinea. In this part of the book, Buckley liberally (I love using this term when referring to Buckley) borrows from the journals of his fellow shipmates. One of the conditions of their passage is that they will keep a personal journal and, at the end of the trip, give them to Buckley so he can use them in his planned book.
Each crew member is given position aboard the boat. Daniel Merritt is the procurement officer, Reginald Stoops the safety officer, Van Galbraith the meteorological officer and diplomatic advance man, Dick Clurman the Communication officer, Christopher (Christo) Buckley the entertainment officer. The younger Buckley supplies the boat with enough candy for a round-the-world voyage, a portable ping pong table (that's given to natives on an island along the way), movies for every evening, books, tapes of David Niven reading his memoirs (which were listened to every evening for 20 minutes), board games, a rifle for the member assigned "shark duty" while the rest swim and a 410 shotgun along with a case of clay pigeons, along with a model to assemble of the Titanic. (320) The boat has a large musical selection, which does not live up to Buckley's standard: “one part rock, one part schmaltz.†(124) Buckley (he refers to himself as WEB throughout the book) was the navigation officer and also oversaw the important task of stowing away cases of wine (32 cases of various vintage). Obviously spirits were necessary for morale as there was another 50 cases of beer. (116) On top of it all was the attractive chef, who could have been plying her knives and sauté pans at some five star restaurant in New York, but had agreed to work in the galley to assure that no one went hungry. With the exception of Chef Liz and an accident of the first mate (who almost lost fingers on the first day), the crew are mostly ignored within the book. At one point, they tried to arrange the movie time so the crew could watch it, but it is a failure due to "Abstract planning, welfare-state-style." (390) The book is mostly without political rants, but at some points WEB can't help but to cleverly throw in his two-cent worth.
One of the interesting elements of the book is navigation. Buckley spends a number of pages talking about the LORAN system and a bit (I wish he had written more) about celestial navigation. Due to his contacts (another example of why he wasn't in league with the average sailor), the boat is equipped with an early GPS prototype. He discusses the possibilities of this system as more satellites are placed into orbit. In the early 80s, the device could only be used at certain times of the day when satellites were within range. The other interesting part of the book is the routine developed between the passengers as they go on and off watch and joke with one another. There is always a bonding that comes from long periods of time in tight quarters. For WEB, shipboard life also included three of them gathering each week to recite the "Latin mass." (211)
The title, Racing Through Paradise, is appropriate as they have little time to sit back and enjoy the trip for Ambassador Galbraith has to get back to France for his retirement party (which will include the Vice President). Only limited amounts of time are spent on the islands in which they refuel and take on fresh water. I was disappointed the WEB didn't provide more detail into life on the islands. The one island that seemed to get more than its share is Johnston atoll. Most sailors wouldn't be allowed near this military controlled island upon which is stored lots of gas for chemical warfare. By pulling strings, Buckley stops and seems to take affront at the commander's lack of hospitality. He is provided water, fuel and ice, but told not to let the sun set on his sails. Even having an ambassador on board didn't help. Another example of WEB's self importance was his telling of going to a White House function. His excitement didn't come from meeting the President (by his own admission, he'd met plenty of them), but from meeting the Chief of Protocol, who was also the recent captain that had won the America's Cup. (242)
Of course, even the rich have those to be envious of and in WEB's case, this was William Simon, President Reagan's economic adviser who was having built a 124 foot sailboat, “The Freedom†was being built at an Italian shipyard. (204-206) Buy American never came up within the text as there was plenty of wine for other countries as well as Swedish cookies and other stuff.
I would only recommend this book if you really like sailing and if you are interested in the changes of navigation over the past couple of decades. Now that I reviewed it, I’ve left the book at my parents for my youngest brother who seemed enamored with all things conservative.
June 16, 2022
It is a pity that the younger generation has had no exposure to William F. Buckley's once extensive media presence. He was the leading conservative of his era, and stuck to true conservative philosophy that had no quarter for the right-wing populist nastiness of the John Birch Society and like-minded activists of his era. Hence he would have less in common now with Tucker Carlson than he would with the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Fear now, Liberals: you will find nothing of the sort in this book, which generously shares Buckley's love for cruising in large sailboats. The WASPs of Buckley's era inherited a love of sailing and yacht clubs dating back to Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt and Newport society. Although Buckley did participate in some races and knew the greats who kept the America's Cup where it belongs, his passion was cruising in style. In this book he chronicles a long offshore trip in the Pacific Ocean with friends and a son as crew. Of course there is a chef to prepare good meals and plenty of alcohol to wash them down, as well as numerous games and films to keep the crew happy during the evenings. In addition to serving as general ringmaster of this, Buckley competently ran the ship.
During his era, I served as navigator on a sailboat racing on Lake Superior. Nowadays the navigator's task has been enormously simplifed by GPS navigational aids familiar to all of you who depend on Google Maps when driving around. But then it was a more labor intensive, technical exercise utilizing the now defunct LORAN electronic aid, primitive software, and the tried-and-true compass to track courses on paper charts. I appreciated Buckley's extensive commentary on his use of those time-consuming and sometimes confusing methods. It is interesting to note that Buckley knew the founder of Trimble Navigation, and persuaded him to lend a prototype GPS navigational aid for beta testing. The thing occupied a lot of cabin space, unlike the GPS chip set currently riding in your cellphone, and Buckley did not find it as indispensable as your cellphone apps do.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to those who have sailed, plan to, or find themselves in armchairs daydreaming about it.
During his era, I served as navigator on a sailboat racing on Lake Superior. Nowadays the navigator's task has been enormously simplifed by GPS navigational aids familiar to all of you who depend on Google Maps when driving around. But then it was a more labor intensive, technical exercise utilizing the now defunct LORAN electronic aid, primitive software, and the tried-and-true compass to track courses on paper charts. I appreciated Buckley's extensive commentary on his use of those time-consuming and sometimes confusing methods. It is interesting to note that Buckley knew the founder of Trimble Navigation, and persuaded him to lend a prototype GPS navigational aid for beta testing. The thing occupied a lot of cabin space, unlike the GPS chip set currently riding in your cellphone, and Buckley did not find it as indispensable as your cellphone apps do.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to those who have sailed, plan to, or find themselves in armchairs daydreaming about it.
January 2, 2018
Another re-read for me, the third of the four "sailing" books by WFB. (I will reread Airborne, the first, in a few weeks.)
Much like the journey from Honolulu to New Guinea which this book covers, some of the writing is tedious, especially some of the more detailed navigation passages. I come away with more friendship here, but miss more detail about the food, the drink, that games played on board.
It's good, it's consistent in many ways with the others in its class, but it misses a purpose. We don't get a good sense of what sailing the Pacific is there for. Which may be exactly the point, I suppose. There's so much Pacific and 30 days is so little time ... too much of what the crew — and the reader — gets here is the water.
Much like the journey from Honolulu to New Guinea which this book covers, some of the writing is tedious, especially some of the more detailed navigation passages. I come away with more friendship here, but miss more detail about the food, the drink, that games played on board.
It's good, it's consistent in many ways with the others in its class, but it misses a purpose. We don't get a good sense of what sailing the Pacific is there for. Which may be exactly the point, I suppose. There's so much Pacific and 30 days is so little time ... too much of what the crew — and the reader — gets here is the water.
February 24, 2018
Loved it
March 21, 2018
I liked it but not a patch on Airborne.
April 28, 2018
Photos add to the adventure in this book about sailing. I actually grabbed it because I wrote my own book entitled Pacific Passage. This book is non-fiction while mine is fiction.
July 18, 2025
Next to Airborne, this is Buckley's best sailing book.
August 24, 2009
Recommended to me by a sailing enthusiast, this is a complete delight to read & I intend to follow up with his 2 earlier sailing books (76 & 82). Written beautifully, with very little pretentiousness, it is the amusing story of 7 guys sailing a passage in the Pacific from Hawaii to New Guinea in 4 weeks. They are on a 70ft sailing boat with 4 permanent crew & have many intersting, gentle adventures along the way on various remote island chains. It is written in 1985 (long, long ago) when GPS was just appearing & there is a fascinating bit on navigation before the days of computers & software programs that chart the oceans. I am enjoying it as much as the crew enjoyed their sail & will be as sad when it ends as they will be to return to their regular lives.
George McGovern wrote about it:
"A delight to read. For me, it is the best of his writings. How can he be so clear and compelling on sailing and so confused on politics!"
worst part of the voyage is the lack of a/c on board which means it is always disgustingly hot & humid below, especially when it rains & the salon is full of wet clothes, FWG & very hot bodies trying to sleep.
Finished the book & enjoyed it very much but naturally Buckley's personality (dare I say pomposity) makes itself felt very clearly indeed. I would not want to be on board that boat and have to disagree with him!
George McGovern wrote about it:
"A delight to read. For me, it is the best of his writings. How can he be so clear and compelling on sailing and so confused on politics!"
worst part of the voyage is the lack of a/c on board which means it is always disgustingly hot & humid below, especially when it rains & the salon is full of wet clothes, FWG & very hot bodies trying to sleep.
Finished the book & enjoyed it very much but naturally Buckley's personality (dare I say pomposity) makes itself felt very clearly indeed. I would not want to be on board that boat and have to disagree with him!
March 5, 2008
Not as good as Buckley's other sailing books. Airborne and Atlantic High. He wanted to have a Pacific passage experience but I don't think cruising atolls would be defined as racing through paradise.
June 25, 2014
I was surprised how much I like this - it's just a buddy-adventure account with WFB's slightly odd crew. Not a polished adventure - more like a moderately-dressed-up travelogue. Not all of us can take months off to sail the world - this book let me do it on my morning bus commute.
October 26, 2013
about what i expected
June 1, 2014
I want a boat now. Damn it.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews