Second Wind: A Sunfish Sailor, an Island, and the Voyage That Brought a Family Together

by Nathaniel Philbrick

"There had been something elemental and all consuming about a Sunfish. Nothing could compare to the exhilaration of a close race in a real blow--the wind howling and spray flying as my Sunfish and I punched through the waves to the finish."

In the spring of 1992, Nat Philbrick was in his late thirties, living with his family on Nantucket, feeling stranded and longing for that thrill of victory he once felt after winning a national sailing championship in his youth. Was it a midlife crisis? It was certainly a watershed for the journalist-turned-stay-at-home dad, who impulsively decided to throw his hat into the ring, or water, again.

With the bemused approval of his wife and children, Philbrick used the off-season on the island as his solitary training ground, sailing his tiny Sunfish to its remotest corners, experiencing the haunting beauty of its tidal creeks, inlets, and wave-battered sandbars. On ponds, bays, rivers, and finally at the championship on a lake in the heartland of America, he sailed through storms and memories, racing for the prize, but finding something unexpected about himself instead.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Sports, Travel, Nautical, Biography Memoir, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Philbrick was Brown’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978; that year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, RI; today he and his wife Melissa sail their Beetle Cat Clio and their Tiffany Jane 34 Marie-J in the waters surrounding Nantucket Island.

After grad school, Philbrick worked for four years at Sailing World magazine; was a freelancer for a number of years, during which time he wrote/edited several sailing books, including Yaahting: A Parody (1984), for which he was the editor-in-chief; during this time he was also the primary caregiver for his two children. After moving to Nantucket in 1986, he became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Maritime Institute in 1995, and in 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea, followed by Sea of Glory, in 2003, and Mayflower. He is presently at work on a book about the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Mayflower was a finalist for both the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History and the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was winner of the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction. In the Heart of the Sea won the National Book Award for nonfiction; Revenge of the Whale won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; Sea of Glory won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the Albion-Monroe Award from the National Maritime Historical Society. Philbrick has also received the Byrne Waterman Award from the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for distinguished service from the USS Constitution Museum, the Nathaniel Bowditch Award from the American Merchant Marine Museum, the William Bradford Award from the Pilgrim Society, the Boston History Award from the Bostonian Society, and the New England Book Award from the New England Independent Booksellers Association.

from his website

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author's story of re-discovering his desire to compete in sailing competitions, after time out raising a family and launching a career. I had read his book on Nantucket history, although he's far better known for his "blockbusters" on whaling (Heart of the Sea) and the American Revolution (Valiant Ambition).

Though I did do some sailing (on Nantucket as it turns out) as a youth, I read the story for the local references as he trains for the competitions on island ponds. I'll be honest that the competition play-by-play itself after that didn't hold my interest nearly as well; sailors, however, should really groove on that. He's quite self-deprecating and self-aware, so he comes across as your quirky cousin, a nice guy but a bit much when he gets carried away.

The essay format for chapters makes it easy to put down and pick up. Recommended (unless a lot of sailing just really isn't your thing).

[Karyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have determined that I will read anything that Nathaniel Philbrick writes, having read several other books by him previous to this one. Now that I know he lives on Nantucket, not too far from my home in Rhode Island, I slightly want to stalk him because I just love his writing so much. Don't worry; I won't. That's creepy.

Living in Newport, I see little sailboats out in Narragansett Bay all summer long. Even the local elementary school gives students sailing lessons! But I know very little about the sport. It was fun to tag along with Philbrick and sail the ponds of Nantucket with him, even if I didn't understand most of the jargon. He's also very honest about both his strengths and his failings as a sailor, as a dad, and even as a human, which I found very refreshing.

This is my favorite type of book -- a memoir of an ordinary person, doing ordinary things, but somehow making it super vivid and fascinating.

[Mark Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read “Mayflower” I knew Nathaniel Philbrick, who also authored many other books, was a good writer. As I scanned this new release I thought I’m not a sailor, yet I enjoy memoirs and love Cape Cod and Nantucket, so with Meat Loaf’s philosophy of “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” I delved into the book.

The author's details of attending a regatta at the Wychmere Harbor Club on the Cape provided me with fond memories as I worked there every summer during college. I found the book quite delightful for springtime reading on the verge of another summer and I recommend it to be shelved in Cape & island rentals to complement the often shelved worn paperback romance novels.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a good reads giveaway that I won but since I do not know anything about sailing it was hard to relate to and the terms were not understood. However the natural history of the island was interesting to me.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathaniel Philbrick is an accomplished and highly respected author and historian. Who knew that he was an avid sailor as well? Philbrick gives us a glimpse into his younger life growing up in a boat-loving family. This resulted in a lifelong passion for the ocean and lead to the relocation with his own young family to living on the island of Nantucket.
After competing and winning Sunfish class sailboat races as a young man, life happened. Philbrick found himself in his late 30’s (1992-93) a happily married father of two young children, a stay-at-home Dad trying to become a successful author, whose life no longer involved sailing. Watching the America’s Cup races brought back fond memories of sailing and that is the subject of “ Second Wind: A Sunfish sailor, an island and the voyage that brought the family together.”
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read and Philbrick’s style entertains and educates. After resurrecting his old Sunfish from its captivity among weeds and all things not water, Philbrick commits to trying to rediscover his sailing mojo by weekly training and practice on the many ponds of Nantucket over the course of the often chilly off-season. His goal was to compete in the Sunfish National Championship in 1993. This was an emotional and physical journey that included his wife and children and his interactions with them warms the heart.
The last couple of chapters ( the Championship) may lose non-sailors in its detail but overall this is a joyful story for sailors and non-sailors alike.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not into sailing or know anything about it so this book was a little hard to get into.

[David Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this early effort, Nat Philbrick accomplished a masterpiece of sports writing, with enough digressions about Nantucket geography and history to inspire even non-sailors to make ferry reservations.

[Marty Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dislike of memoirs has long been documented (go ahead and check out my bookshelves), so you would think two things about my experience with this book: 1) why would Marty even pick it up; and 2) there is no expectation that he would enjoy it if he did. Fair point.

Counterpoint: 1) this is written by Nathaniel Philbrick, whose historical works I have lapped up whenever possible--a good historian cannot have many of the habits that annoy me about most memoirist … right?; and 2) it’s about a revival to competitive sailing in his life after more than a decade away. For anyone who knows my background with sailing--memoir or not--this book is a no-brainer.

And it starts off gloriously. Rather than convince us that his life is a gloomy, dire, and hopeless mess in need of rescue, Philbrick vaguely, even trivially, refers to going through a mid-life crisis because his daughter told him to “get a life” after catching him watching a sailing race as a stay-at-home dad. He determines he will do such a thing by getting back into competitive Sunfish sailing--something he had neglected since winning the Sunfish North America championship as a college student. His first manifestation of this urge is to last-second take on his wife and kids in a local sailing challenge, where he hilariously if not earnestly falls short.

Immediately, I am hooked!

Here is a memoir without the self-serious trauma of someone’s exploitative-therapy-on-paper. Instead, it is a fun look at someone with a wholesome family taking on an edifying goal that will challenge him without the stakes being very high or the drama reaching a pitching point.

As we get a bit farther into the adventure--and Philbrick determines that he will train by sailing in all the ponds found on the picturesque Nantucket Island--he will dabble with some trote memoir themes of parent-child psychology, underlying motives, griefs, and remorse, as well as a smattering of sports psychology thrown into the mix. For me, these come dangerously close to forcing a moral where it is neither needed, natural, nor fitting--the death knell for me with most memoirs, or any novels for that matter. Fortunately, these hints are brought up timidly but then passed by as if allowed to leave with the tide, which means that--for the most part--we simply get a chapter by chapter run down of Philbrick’s training, which includes with it some interesting pieces of history on Nantucket and the other racing locations, some heartening views into his family life and relationships, and a lot of competitive Sunfish racing technicalities.

The latter is what makes me think that it is unlikely other people without experience sailing will care too much for this novel. Without the histrionic drama of an actual memoir, and lacking the joviality found in the first couple of chapters through much of the rest, there remains pretty much some history and a lot of sailing.

Considering my background, this is a perfect way for me to experience my mid-life crisis through Mr. Philbrick’s personal journey. In fact, it is unique enough to get me to say that I enjoyed a memoir! I simply feel that this kind of memoir is lightning that will not strike twice--unless Nat has a 3/4ths life crisis. With that in mind, I hope that the next memoir I read will be titled “3rd Wind”!

[Tom]

Fun summer read about the joys and challenges of rediscovering the pursuits of youth at a later point in life - in this case, competitive sunfish sailing. Bought in Nantucket and read almost entirely on the beach over the summer. A few highlights:

“Although Jeff couldn’t have been more helpful, I was feeling less like a champion and more like Rip Van Winkle. In the last decade and a half, not only had the Sunfish become more high-tech, the scene around the parking lot had also changed. Vans with logos on them were everywhere with all sorts of stuff to sell, from hats to tiller extensions to sunblock.”

“By the time I returned to shore, where Melissa and the kids waited in the car, I felt I had made a small but measurable advance toward preparing for the North Americans. And yet something was wrong. I had been on my pond and they had been in the car. I could see what lay ahead: The more focused I became in the succeeding weeks, the more isolated I would become. If this comeback was going to count toward anything, it would have to somehow involve Melissa, Jennie, and Ethan. Unfortunately, the last thing they wanted to do was tag along to Springfield. Unless you are participating in it, there is nothing more boring than a sailboat regatta, particularly one held outside a midwestern city in July.”

“For my younger brother Sam, the Sunfish had come to represent all those youthful experiences you have to leave behind in order to grow up. Now a banker and a golfer, Sam had not only given me his old Sunfish, he'd even bought a cruising boat with a head (boatspeak for a bathroom) on it. When he'd heard I was giving the Sunfish another try, he'd sighed and said, “Good for you, Nat." The implication was clear: Would I ever grow up? Sam had a point. If the sole reason I'd begun this comeback was to prove that I still wasn't too old, it was going to be an exercise in futility. But maybe by compartmentalizing his life into childhood and adulthood experiences, Sam was running the risk of cheating himself. But out of what, exactly? I hoped I'd have a better idea by the end of the regatta.”

“More than anything else, feel is a matter of empathy with wind and water. Whereas most sports deny nature altogether, a sailor cannot escape it. As long as the wind fills the sails, he or she is consorting with a force beyond human control. But feel doesn't emanate from a higher, spiritual plane. On the contrary, it is primitive, elemental. Feel reaches back into the marrow and the synapses, into the brine of the bloodstream. Everything is reduced to instinct.”

[forsanolim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nathaniel Philbrick has obviously written a number of history- and sailing-related books, but I, despite having had every intention to do it, haven't yet managed to read any of them, even though they're most definitely up my alley. However, I now have read this little memoir about Philbrick's own return to sailing in 1992.

Philbrick grew up sailing competitively, winning a national title in Sunfish boat sailing at the age of 22, in the late 70s or early 80s (I listened to the audiobook and can't quite remember); but by the beginning of the 90s, his life has shifted. Though he lives on Nantucket with his wife--also a former competitive sailor--and two children and works seasonally as a sailing instructor, he hasn't sailed a Sunfish, the racing boat of his childhood, in a long time. Now, he decides to pick up Sunfish sailing again. In doing so, he decides to sail on all of the ponds in Nantucket (apparently quite a few!) in preparation for competing in the national championships again. Along the way, he reflects on how his life has changed and priorities have shifted (largely for the better) since his earlier racing days and on how sailing relates to family both in his childhood and in his children's.

I found this book a bit last-minute, so I really didn't know what to expect from it, but I did legitimately enjoy it. I hadn't expected quite the amount of descriptions of Nantucket geography and ecology, but I really enjoyed those portions, as well as the portions that involved Philbrick sailing with his family. However, this book does include a lot of technical sailing terms that I couldn't really understand. (I've rowed crew before, but never sailed.) Perhaps just because of the cover, this book reminded me a fair bit of Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World, so I couldn't avoid comparing the two a bit; I deeply enjoyed Four Seasons, and I did end up preferring it to this one.

[Emily Morin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The summary of this book made it sound very intriguing. I've never read a book about sailing before and I love the location of Nantucket, so I thought this would be a fascinating read into something new and exciting.

Sadly, the story is just not that exciting. The author spends way too much time on the technicality of sailing (which I have zero interest in learning). There are so many terms like jibe, that he doesn't even explain so I have no idea how to paint the picture in my mind of what's going on. Also way too many names of people that don't drive the story, I know the writer knows these people but to just mention a ton of names with no point is annoying. I would have preferred a description of the person if they're just someone in one race that never appears again.

The author is a good writer and that's why I finished this book. I think I would enjoy fiction by him but this story was nothing like what I wanted. I am not trying to be rude because I know personal stories are just that, personal and it means a lot to the writer. But so much did not need to be included. There were some exciting bits like the story about the seals following him in the boat. A lot more of that and WAY less terminology and filler. Maybe it would have been nice to get more of the emotions of the author, I felt like there was a schedule minute by minute that had to be followed to tell the story, one practice race to another with nothing in between leading up to a rushed finish.

I really wanted to like this story. I did finish although I just couldn't get into it. I do think there was a good story to tell and in parts, it was done well which is why I could finish.

[Bryant Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this delightful book in my local bookstore in an amazing bit of timely coincidence. Philbrick’s personal story about sailing his Sunfish around Nantucket in an attempt to train for the national championships and re-live his youth resonated with me. Only days before finding the book I had been gifted the Sunfish sailboat my father sailed in the National Championships in 2000 in Fairhope, AL at age 67. I had not even gotten the boat on the water yet when I saw this book and I was giddy with excitement. I grew up sailing our family Sunfish on Mobile Bay and occasionally racing her in local regattas. I also have explored many of the waters on Nantucket Philbrick mesmerizingly describes as he tells of his sailing training. The first chapters of the book are almost like a “sailing trail” map of the island. The latter part of the book gets heavily into the details of sailing, competition strategy and the various personalities of competitors, which may not appeal to the non-sailing reader. For me, it made me realize how little I know about competitive sailing while validating all of the reasons I love to sail. The book made me want to hop on my boat and explore all of the waters around my area in my Sunfish, the head to Nantucket and replicate Philbrick’s paths. If you love small boat sailing, you’ll love this book.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually the book, in its re-release, it titled Second Wind: A Sunfish Sailor, an Island and the Voyage that Brought a Family Together. The new title fairly well describes the book which recounts Philbrick's 'midlife crisis' and how he unravels it. He goes back to competitive Sunfish sailing (he was a champion sailor) to search for what seems to be missing - and whether or not he "still has it". It is an honest, humorous account of his journey and his realizations about life and family. It lovingly and beautifully describes his love of Nantucket, the sea and his family.
My only quibble is the heavy use of nautical sailing terms he uses to specify his sailing maneuvers. For those who are not sailors, it may be hard to visualize what he is describing. A glossary would be an excellent addition to a next printing.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enojoyed Second Wind. I related well to the self-challenges of one design sailing (although going to the National Championships was never in my cards); Nathaniel's journey reminds me much of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for one design sailors. From the turning over of a moss encrusted forgotten boat behind the garden shed to being in the "zone" at the finish line at Championships with non-cooperative winds, I was hooked cover-to-cover. I have never read any of Nathaniel's other books but I will. An obvious seasoned writer that writes at a humorous and self-reflecting level. The only thing that I felt what am missing is what has happened since the original 1999 writing? Is there another book out there? Thank you Melissa, Jennie, and Ethan for sharing your husband/dad :-)

[Mary Licking · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author rejuvenated his life in middle age by reawakening his childhood love of sailing. His family members were supporting players in his practices and races. He reconnected with fellow sailors he had known in his youth at the various competitions he attended. His detailed accounts of the day to day activities and then the play by play of the races is a treat. The efforts to explain the various sailing maneuvers did not leave me with an understanding of them. Not that this needs to be an encyclopedia, but some pictures would have been helpful. A map of the waters of Nantucket at the beginning of the narrative gave an idea of what was involved in the author's daily practice travels. Some history of the island is mixed in for background regarding these waters.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I found this in a corner of a cluttered used bookstore, I knew I had to get it. As a former competitior in the Inland Lake Yachting Association and the owner of a sunfish sailboat, this book was right up my alley. Everything Philbrick describes about the experience of sailing dinghies like the sunfish is spot on. The roll-tacks, the downward runs and avoiding the terrifying death rolls, the "feel" of the boat, and hitting the laylines or corners of the race course. I have never found a book that described the experience of racing small boats so well, which is very different from the experience of larger boats. I haven't raced since 2017 and haven't been sailing since 2022, but maybe one day I will have an experience like Philbrick and return to it as it is a feeling like no other.

[Pamella B · Rating 5 out of 5]

With substantial sailing time under my belt & owning both a 16 ft. day-sailor boat & a 22 ft sloop rig sailboat I could not put this book down. Philbrick’s presentation was just full enough of technical terms of the art of sailing that I was in the boat with him for practice sails and regattas! I also enjoyed his self talk and learning all the lessons his return to sailing a Sunfish had to teach him.
I can assure any sailor reading this review you don’t want to miss this story! I have already purchased Philbrick’s “Why Read Moby Dick“
because I enjoy Philbrick’s writing style so much. Let’s see if he can keep my attention enough to this book.

[Sam Motes · Rating 4 out of 5]

On one level it is the age-old story of a mid-life crisis in which a man reaches back to the passions of his youth to feel alive again. On a deeper level though it is the Melvillian primal yearning for the return to the sea that pulls the author out of the doldrums to smooth sailing through life. I prefer Philbrick’s historical writing style where he pulls the reader into the lives of the American founding fathers but still a very engaging read that is probably very timely for me as I wonder how the heck all the time flew by and I am staring 50 in the face in a couple short years.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

... Like having a conversation with the author. He has such a knack for engaging his readers, whether he is talking about an epic battle in American history, or a family outing on his beloved island of Nantucket. Philbrick’s turn of phrase is charming, and his spiritual tale of mid-life hubris is one that is entirely relatable. I enjoyed every minute with Nathaniel, as he shared his attempt to relive his youth, sailing the ponds of Nantucket in preparation to test his mettle in the North American Sunfish Championship.

[Audrey Baughman · Rating 4 out of 5]

After undergoing almost a mid-life crisis, author Nathaniel Philbrick begins sailing the ponds and lakes of Nantucket Island to relive his youth, where he was a budding sailor. Philbrick even met his wife through the sport. This delightful novel follows Philbrick's journey, sailing the ponds of Nantucket in his Sunfish, racing his family, and even into racing in a championship. It shows readers that even in one's mid-life, they can rediscover themselves, and relight extinguished flames. This charming memoir is a must read!

[Doug Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a quick read from an author whose other books I’ve enjoyed. This one, though, seems like something he wrote in the midst of writing something else, when the creative juices were flowing and a writer has excess energy that needs to he channeled. I didn’t get much great insight about middle age, or Nantucket, or even sailing. To fully enjoy this one you need to be familiar with Moby Dick, Nantucket Island life, and sailing as both lifestyle and sport. I’m on the outside looking in on those subjects, so I didn’t get much out of this book.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 3 out of 5]

An older book reissued recently.
Short-chaptered tale of a return to small boat sailing reminiscent of Philbrick's youthful sailing forays with his brother Sam and his parents.
He pulls his wife and kids into his attempt to rekindle his passion for Sunfish sailing.
Kind of cranky, kind of informative, kind of overstated in terms of the cover's claim of
"the voyage that brought a family together."
Liked learning about the sights around Nantucket and how sailing abounds in the midwest.

[Denise Chojnacki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story about a man hitting mid-life and picking up the passion that he put aside when he got married and had a family. As with many of us going through that time period, you have a greater focus and some of the activities that were very much a part of who you are get put to rest. This is a story of rediscovery not only of Mr. Philbrick's first loves, but also a renewed sense of what is really important in his life.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so much fun for me, I had to reread it. I grew up sailing the earlier version of the Sunfish, the Sailfish, and now have a Sunfish. I never raced at the competetive level that the author knew but the local yacht club had races for young adults and my brother and I have stories we still tell. I have been on many larger sailboats but there is something about a Sunfish that is very satisfying. Philbrick describes that feeling of oneness with the boat.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the parts that he writes about his family. Memories of racing with his brother as adolescents, sailing with his future wife, then introducing his kids to the sport.
However, the summaries of his solo training and competitions held less interest for me; probably because I'm not a sailor. By far the most entertaining race he described was the river race he entered with his son, and his wife and daughter on another boat.

[Brace1737 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathaniel Philbrick won the 1978 Sunfish Sailboat championship as a teenager. He attempted a comeback in 1993 as an accomplished author, husband and father of two children.

Comment:
I know nothing about sailboat racing. I have not been on a boat in years. Yet I enjoyed this small book.
Philbrick is a gifted writer who knows how to put a story together. I neede2d some "escape reading" and I found it and enjoyed it

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just wanted to read some book about someone having oddly specific outside adventures. This fit the bill well. Dad decides to get back into sailing (tiny racing sailboats) but it’s winter so he commits to practicing in tiny little ponds around Nantucket. His family (wife, kids, even parents who got him into sailing in the first place) simultaneous rolling their eyes at him and supporting him and occasionally sailing with him was nice to read about.

[Ollie Ollie Oxenfree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the rest of Philbrick’s work, this book is painfully self indulgent and boring. I nearly DNF’d. Perhaps an avid sailor would enjoy this piece, but to me it reads as a tedious and repetitive series of sailing race play by plays. It seems like something he wrote when between good ideas. Look to his other works for a better sense of his capabilities. He’s an excellent author, but “Second Wind” would not leave you with that impression.

[Linda Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so happy Penguin is releasing a new edition of this book, which I had never read before despite reading a good number of Philbrivk's books. This well written memoir covers a year of sailing that re-awakened in the author a love of a sport he had grown up competing in a new connection to his family. Highly recommending"

[Marge · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 22, Nat Philbrick won the Sunfish North American Championship. Fifteen years later he decided to give it another try, embarking on a personal voyage of discovery that took him from the many ponds of his native Nantucket to the championship in the American heartland. A warm, funny, often moving story of a sailor, his family, and an island...and the voyage that brought them together.