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Sea Legs: One Family's Year on the Ocean
Three years after his return from the Alaskan wilderness, Guy Grieve was living on the Isle of Mull in Scotland with his wife Juliet and their two young sons. Sick of the weather, perennial colds and their increasingly routine lifestyle, they’d all been getting restless. Finally, Guy and Juliet broke in spectacular style – they re-mortgaged their house and bought a yacht. Her name was Forever.
The plan? To pick up Forever from her mooring in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, and sail around the West Indies before crossing the Atlantic back to Scotland. This was despite the fact that Guy, skipper of the expedition, had almost no sailing experience.
Travelling around the lush tropical islands of the Caribbean and up the waterways of America, the family had countless sublime moments as they discovered the freedoms of sailing – anchoring in deserted bays, night passages under star-studded skies, and entering New York by water, greeted by the Statue of Liberty. But there were also testing times as they grappled with seasickness and bad weather, coping with young children at sea and learning to run a large, complex boat. Far from being the idyllic escape they’d envisaged, the journey forced Guy and Juliet to draw on reserves of courage and endurance they never knew they had.
Wry, funny and buccaneering, this is a compelling tale of bravery and endeavour, out on the open sea.
The plan? To pick up Forever from her mooring in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, and sail around the West Indies before crossing the Atlantic back to Scotland. This was despite the fact that Guy, skipper of the expedition, had almost no sailing experience.
Travelling around the lush tropical islands of the Caribbean and up the waterways of America, the family had countless sublime moments as they discovered the freedoms of sailing – anchoring in deserted bays, night passages under star-studded skies, and entering New York by water, greeted by the Statue of Liberty. But there were also testing times as they grappled with seasickness and bad weather, coping with young children at sea and learning to run a large, complex boat. Far from being the idyllic escape they’d envisaged, the journey forced Guy and Juliet to draw on reserves of courage and endurance they never knew they had.
Wry, funny and buccaneering, this is a compelling tale of bravery and endeavour, out on the open sea.
- GenresTravel
419 pages, Hardcover
First published July 4, 2013
10 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Guy Grieve
11 books19 followersAdventurer, outdoorsman, shellfish farmer, writer and TV presenter; resident in Scotland. Began his current career in 2004 after leaving a desk job in sales at The Scotsman newspaper to spend a year in Alaska - and sending articles about it to the paper instead. These later became the basis for his Call of the Wild book.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 6, 2015
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.
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.
July 20, 2022
I enjoyed reading this book. I read Guy Grieve's first book about his adventure in Alaska and hoped it would be as enjoyable - it was.
I am not a sailor by any means, but by the end of this book, I can understand the lure of the water and sailing lifestyle.
The author's guts and lust for life are enviable. He does not shy away from the work, stress, and danger of 'living' life to the fullest, but oh... what a life it is!
I am not a sailor by any means, but by the end of this book, I can understand the lure of the water and sailing lifestyle.
The author's guts and lust for life are enviable. He does not shy away from the work, stress, and danger of 'living' life to the fullest, but oh... what a life it is!
August 12, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed this! I have a secret dream to follow in Guy's footsteps which, for now, I lived vicariously through 'Sea Legs.' He paints a vivid picture of life afloat in the Caribbean, the highs and the lows. The majority of the book focuses on the Caribbean journey with a relatively short section on crossing the Atlantic, not much to write about except huge waves! Enjoyable!
February 7, 2023
Enjoyed this one. Very realistic and well-written portrayal of the ups and downs (quite literally) of living on a boat
August 29, 2013
For anyone with dreams of dreams of 'packing it all in' and sailing the world you might want to read this first.
Sea Legs is the real life story of a family's adventure together on a beautiful boat, sailing the idyllic Caribbean. Sounds great except for Guy Grieve, who had never sailed before, it provides some hard lessons that come very thick and fast putting him under pressure to learn fast.
This very honest account tells the story of the highs and lows, ups and downs of a man struggling to be the man he wants to be in the eyes of his family and friends.
His desire for adventure in a world of routine, leads him onto the high seas with a young family and wife, wracked by self-doubt.
We know he made it home safe but he sailed in his own uncharted waters and discovered a different kind of adventure that was not plain sailing.
Sea Legs is the real life story of a family's adventure together on a beautiful boat, sailing the idyllic Caribbean. Sounds great except for Guy Grieve, who had never sailed before, it provides some hard lessons that come very thick and fast putting him under pressure to learn fast.
This very honest account tells the story of the highs and lows, ups and downs of a man struggling to be the man he wants to be in the eyes of his family and friends.
His desire for adventure in a world of routine, leads him onto the high seas with a young family and wife, wracked by self-doubt.
We know he made it home safe but he sailed in his own uncharted waters and discovered a different kind of adventure that was not plain sailing.
December 27, 2019
An awesome read. Guy Grieve manages to combine the relational aspects of family, with the (often strange) humanness of the people they meet on their journey ( including the amazing David). .. with the more technical aspects of sailing.
I loved his raw honesty. He's a very fine story teller. I'm off to check out his other book!
I loved his raw honesty. He's a very fine story teller. I'm off to check out his other book!
October 27, 2020
This is one of the best sailing books I’ve read. It’s realistic, honest and well written. Any professional or leisure yacht sailor will empathise with the scrapes and adventures that Guy gets into as he sails from South America to Scotland. It is also thoroughly recommended to arm chair sailors, the book takes you there!
Enjoy. 😄
Enjoy. 😄
August 9, 2018
I couldn't put this book down. Such a good insight into family sailing, witty, true and fun to read!
June 1, 2020
Well-written but hair-rising adventures of a family “living the dream “ of sailing for a year.
August 12, 2021
took me bloody ages to finnish this. but it was worth it.
quite insightfull to the perelles of boat life. really emotive. you could feel the tropical bits and the wintry storm filled passages.
quite insightfull to the perelles of boat life. really emotive. you could feel the tropical bits and the wintry storm filled passages.
October 1, 2021
A great adventure story, gripping, funny heartworming.
August 28, 2014
I enjoyed this book, perhaps I shouldn't. The book took eight years to come to print, with the collapse of the economy that came in 2007, and the feeling the party 'ended' permeates the book.
Grieve is brutally honest, about how to foul up a dream. He decides to buy a boat, sail to Scotland with his family, because living on Mull - a remotish Scottish Island was 'too confining'. Of course he neglects to consider - he & his family get profoundly sea sick, he has minimal sailing experience & he's running short of cash...
It's notable these 'let's go do real life' stories have stopped being published. Maybe post-credit crunch real life is challenging enough ?
Grieve is brutally honest, about how to foul up a dream. He decides to buy a boat, sail to Scotland with his family, because living on Mull - a remotish Scottish Island was 'too confining'. Of course he neglects to consider - he & his family get profoundly sea sick, he has minimal sailing experience & he's running short of cash...
It's notable these 'let's go do real life' stories have stopped being published. Maybe post-credit crunch real life is challenging enough ?
February 10, 2016
I went to Jamaica for holiday once, and I sailed around Australia for a couple of months, mostly behind the Barrier Reef, and from my limited experience, this sounds like a truthful account of what it would be like to have not quite enough money and sail around the Caribbean with your family and then back to Scotland.
Are you thinking of doing something similar? What, are you nuts? Read this book first!
Are you thinking of doing something similar? What, are you nuts? Read this book first!
September 7, 2021
LOVED. Bought in the London-Heathrow airport for something to do, and ended up being one of my favorite books. A sailing journey, a nomadic lifestyle memoir that didn't always go perfectly-just my kind of real life story about chasing after the life you want.
February 12, 2016
Excellent read...great adventure!
January 11, 2016
Couldn't put this down. A humbly but well told story rich in detail and salty with maritime adventure. Great travel writing.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews