The Years Thunder By: A voyage across two oceans and a continent

by Nick Jaffe

'The Years Thunder By' is Nick Jaffe's very personal account of his solo sailing adventure across two oceans and a continent. By turns thrilling, melancholic, funny, and philosophical, Jaffe invites readers to contemplate the questions a vast ocean might pose to us - not merely what it might mean to exist, but what we might risk by not risking everything.
Part memoir, part travelogue, part adventure, part searching for the meaning of life, 'The Years Thunder By' is a chronicle of the lengths one might go to fulfil a dream - from learning how to sail, living on a shoestring, encountering tremendous generosity and navigating the emotions and complexities of facing oneself against the mirror of the sea.
From England across the North sea to Holland and south along the West coast of Europe - the Canary Islands to the Caribbean and north to New York, across the continent to San Francisco and beyond to Hawaii, Palmyra Atoll and the South Pacific, Nick Jaffe takes us on a voyage spanning four years aboard his 26ft boat named Constellation.
The half-circumnavigation chronicled in this book, is currently being completed overland in 2019/2020 - Nick Jaffe is driving a Land Rover from Australia back to Europe via Africa, to complete the loop.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

Published April 19, 2020

About the author

Nick Jaffe is a sailor, writer, photographer and filmmaker primarily based in Australia.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Access to Nick Jaffe's mind was invaluable going through hardships during my own solo voyage. Although I was struggling internally not on sea but on land, reading his account of his huge undertaking sailing solo from Europe to Australia in a small boat, helped me tremendously in accepting the fact a solo voyage is not about continuous enjoyment. At times we go through storms and it is OK. We must not forget that we will be rewarded on the other side of the storm for having had the grit to keep going. In his book, Nick Jaffe talks openly and in an honest way about all that happened from the beginning to the end. Sometimes it is about what's going on in his mind, sometimes about very practical matters, always it is interesting. I loved this book and I am sure I will get back at it when it will be time to set foot on a deck and sail away.

[Glen Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! Nick seemed to live life day by day and by the simplest of means. Proof you don’t need wealth to live life to the fullest. His sense of adventure is infectious. Hanging out for his next read, Cape to Kapp!!

[Kenneth P.]

Great in depth storytelling

I loved the 'realness' behind the stories. It wasn't about the actual life threatening stories but how adventure and risk taking can be oh so fulfilling.

[Maly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an enormous journey! Captivating, raw and passionate, I envied the life Nick had sailing these great open waters. A great insight into the mental and physical strain of being alone in open waters with nothing but your thoughts and unlimited time.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Nick Jaffe has a way of writing that brings you to the feeling he's describing. A very real look at the wanderer and adventurer's life and the troubles go along with it.

[H.s. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I had a British bfriend (Brian Smart) who did this voyage, from the mid to late sixties, but by way of the Panama canal, in a 30' self built van de la stadt "black soo"

[Anton Forte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A kid buys a cheap sailboat and sails it across the world without experience or resources. The search for an alternative life and the struggle to find his purpose.