Dove

by Robin Lee Graham

Dove

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

199 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1972

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

⛵️I read the book, which was magic, then watched the movie, which was double magic. Then was inspired to travel around the world by plane, bus, train and thumb and got as far east as China and Nepal, India and East Africa 🇺🇬 It’s an amazing book - a sea story, a love story and a story of one man’s struggle against almost insurmountable odds. This story is amazingly romantic on every level imaginable ⛵️

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will date myself and say I had a huge crush on this guy as a young girl with a birthday subscription to National Geographic. (He contributed articles for years during his voyage) What adolescent (and I wasn't quite there) doesn't fantasize about quitting school and finding himself by sailing around the world? When my children grew to his age I thought his family must have been just crazy to let him go, especially in a small 24 foot boat.
This was my first introduction to sailing, celestial navigation and sextants, an art perhaps lost with the advent of GPS and onboard computer navigation. This preceded the social revolution of the 60's (he set sail in '65 I think) but sure forecast the culture of rejection, mind expansion and the need to "drop out" for awhile. I expect there have been major changes in the ports he visited 40+ year ago. He was one gutsy kid.

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is copied from my other review (Dove) which is often hard to locate.

⛵️ I read the book, which was magic, then watched the movie, which was double magic. Then was inspired to travel around the world by plane, bus, train and thumb and got as far east as China and Nepal, India and East Africa. It's an amazing book - a sea story, a love story and a story of one man's struggle against almost insurmountable odds. This story is amazingly romantic on every level 🌊

[Doug · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is garbage, he killed so many cats. He begrudged sailing. It is a miserable read because it is filled with gripes about humanity and complaints of loneliness. The paperback is trash because it advertises photos, but there are none. The biggest turd was saved for the end when he discovers the Bible and becomes a Christian. Shame the good book didn't say thou shalt love the kitten.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars ...

16 year old sets sail from southern California in a small sloop, intent on sailing it around the world by himself! What the actual f**k?!? 🤯 He arrives back to the same spot 5 years later with a wife and a baby sliding down the hatch any minute! 😊

This is actually my third time through this fascinating memoir since my grandad gave it to me when I was about 13. It delightfully scratches the wanderlust itch that I'm constantly trying to reach. 🥴 If you enjoy adventure tales ... especially true-life ones ... this should satisfy you quite nicely. I've been wanting to read the sequel for years but have yet to find a decently priced copy. 😩 But I'm still looking! 😁

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got interested in this book because Zac Sunderland mentions it in his blog. See Zac's blog at http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/ind... . Zac is currently about 10 days from finishing a 13 month solo cruise around the world in a sail boat called "Intrepid", which will make him the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo! The story of Robin Lee Graham inspired him to think about doing the same thing himself.

More to come as I start the book.....

I have finished this book, and as of July 16, 2009 Zac Sunderland completed his circumnavigation of the world, and now has the record as the youngest person to ever do so. He began When he was 16, and finished when he was 17. Yea Zac!

Now on to the book. I have to admit that I did not like Robin Lee very much. (his parents call him Lee, his wife calls him Robin in the book) I appreciate that school is not a "one size fits all" system, and I am thankful that he found a way to learn outside of that limiting box. I also appreciate that young men often need challenge and to be pushed to find their manhood. This is a hard thing to do with the system of "one size fits all" for school and for work. So I appreciate and am thankful for Robin rising to the challenge to "do hard things" (as Zac Sunderland puts it) and actually work towards the solo sailing goal he finds to take on.

What is missing in this book is thankfulness and gratefulness. Robin would never have thought of the solo sailing goal he had, if his father had not taken his family on a multi-month cruise on "The Golden Hind". His father supported Robin in this daring adventure, yet his father gets very little positive press. Robin never would have finished his solo cruise without his wife Patti, whom he met in Fiji. He and Patti later married in South Africa, mid-way through his trip around the globe. And while Robin does thank Patti for helping urge him on to finish, the overall feel you get from reading even that "thank you" from him is a rather selfish and resentful attitude.

Angry at being told he was too young to marry, he resolves to earn his own money the rest of the way on his trip. You are not ever told whether he stuck to that promise or not. Being angry at the world, being angry that other people don't see things to be as important as what he does, striking back against commercialism, and embracing the mythical simpler native way of life all seems very shallow to me. Angry at over hunting of turtles, Robin and his wife (and friends) hunt goats on the Gallapagos Islands. What is different between what sea captains did years before with the turtles, and what Robin is doing now? He seems to love the simpler native way of life that he sees in the Pacific Islands, yet he never stays there long enough to figure out why the people are poor, or if their life really is as simple as he thinks it is. Angry at commercial production and capitalism, he seems to take for granted that his boat was made by someone in business to build boats and that the canned food he stocks up on was also made by a commercial business. Wow... and he doesn't even seem to see the contradiction in his own life and words!

I hope this young man grew up to be a grateful grown man. I hope that at some point he was thankful for his father and the sacrifice it took for him to let him sail around the world alone. I hope that he developed a kinder attitude towards others who stayed home and did the hard work of going to work and building boats that were safe and of canning food that remains safe for months. I hope that he learned that arrogance is rarely attractive, and that what really is hard in life may not be sailing around the world solo... but living with people and building relationships that grow and blossom over time.

I hear that he's written another book about the years after his solo voyage. I'm trying to figure out if it would be worth it to read.... or perhaps to pass. There are many books by angry people and by arrogant people. Perhaps I'll try his next book, hoping to read words that come from a thankful heart instead of an angry one.

[Ken W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book made better because it was a true story! I can’t imagine doing what Robin did at any age, much less at 16! Action! Adventure! Love! This book had a little of everything! 4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

[Lobeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the true story of the author's solo sailing trip around the world. Robin Lee Graham, featured several times in National Geographic, set out to sail the world when he was 16 and finally returned home when he was 21. This book is his personal narrative of his travels - from being bored and lonely at sea to exploring gorgeous tropical islands to meeting his love Patty. It's a great book if you like to travel through literature.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

An amazing feat - sailing single-hand around the world - but this guy rubbed me all wrong. Most galling was a long passage where he rails against the destruction of the ocean environment by modern society and then tosses an empty Coke bottle over the side of the boat.

[Steve Bennett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of the many bad books I was forced to read during high school, this was the worst. Absolutely hated it.

[CindySR · Rating 3 out of 5]

To me this was a love story. The author was deeply in love with his freedom and, fortunately for him, he found a mate who understood him. He loved her even more.

Keep in mind this was written 50 years ago but still there were a few things that bothered me, like how he kept getting kittens to sail with him to help with loneliness on the high seas. He acquired 7 and all met death except 3 and we never do find out what happened to them at journey's end. He also hated sharks and shot at least two.

Anyway, it took him 4 years, during which he got married, had a child 2 months after arriving home, "found God" and moved to Montana. All by the age of 21. They are still together! Check it out.....
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2021/03/11...

[Bill Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun trip around the world

[Patty Ventola Donoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it when I was a teen. I'd rather read it again, but at that time I felt like it was a fantastic book, a great and awesome history.

[JaneReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 16 years old, Robin set off from California to sail around the world by himself in his boat called Dove. As he stopped in various ports, he picked up odd jobs, explored the area, and waited out storms. Along the way, he met a girl named Patti, who was also from California and traveling. The two struck up a friendship and made plans to reconnect at various locations. Eventually, she becomes his wife, but Robin continues on his solo journey, having to say goodbye multiple times. Robin's journey took 5 years to complete and was filled with loneliness, danger, and various challenges. While what Robin was doing at such a young age was brave and challenging, I did find the story to be a bit boring at times. It also seemed like Robin found those interested in his journey to be an annoyance rather than respecting how they were assisting him in completing this goal by providing equipment and provisions for him. It was interesting to see how his belief in God developed. Each time Patti and Robin separated, I was concerned for her traveling by herself and felt like Robin waiting to see if she was okay.

[Michael Petrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the tender age of 16, Robin Lee Graham set out on a 33,000 mile, five year circumnavigation as the youngest solo sailor in the smallest boat: a 24 foot sloop named Dove. His voyage was famously covered by National Geographic Magazine, spawned two best selling books – Dove and Home Is The Sailor – as well as a children’s book, The Boy Who Sailed Around The World Alone, and a 1974 major Hollywood movie, The Dove, which won a Golden Globe Award. The story is more than one of adventure, it is also an amazing love story. Young Graham was not looking to find the love of his life when he set out on his voyage, but that’s exactly what he found. On a beautiful tropical South Sea island he met the woman of his dreams ... and it changed everything!

Admittedly, Dove may not be the greatest piece of literature ever penned, but this book chronicling young Graham’s voyage is an exciting adventure/coming-of-age/love story and greatly influenced an awful lot of readers, including me. It introduced me to a whole new world of exploration and inspired my own voyages in sailing boats across the Pacific to tropical islands. I first read this book way back around 1977 and have re-read it so many times over the years since that the pages are frayed.

For anyone wanting an update on whatever became of Robin Lee Graham all these years later, I interviewed Graham for SAIL Magazine in 2010. You can read it online at: https://michaelepetrie.com/robin-lee-...

[Lauran Lansdon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting reading this book as a teenage girl (when it was first published) and then again as a middle-aged woman. The romantic notion of sailing around the world alone, with only cats for company, stuck with me over the years. I often refer to this book even now. Even though I was not a boater, for many years after (that first read) I had a dream of sailing around the world.

I read the book this time as a wiser woman and a more discerning reader. what I saw was all the hard work that went into this trip, the almost crippling loneliness, the quality of the writing/storytelling, the courage of the young woman who became his wife who was also traveling the word alone. This book may be the impetus for my strong desire to travel and to travel while I was young (rather than wait until I was retired) and to know that it's possible as a woman to do so. I have traveled extensively for work and pleasure, by myself and with groups. I married someone who loves to travel and who also loves boats. So while I've not sailed around the world (I much prefer the comfort of a hotel), I have lived a modified version of that dream.

Any book that influences/inspires you is worth reading.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The high point of this read was seeing Graham's perspective change as the novel went on and he got older, but I was personally disappointed by the brevity. My copy was under 200 pages, mostly pictures, and yet it spanned five whole years of Graham's life. There were mere paragraphs dedicated to whole years! While this wasn't really a bad thing, it kept me desperately searching for more.

I also couldn't tell if this was meant to be a book for adults, or for young adults? My copy didn't say anything about it being for teens, but the writing was also a little simplistic and skipped over the gorier, hard-hitting things I wanted to know more about. Overall, it was an enjoyable and inspiring story, and did a pretty good job of capturing Graham's thought progression as he matured. It's so crazy that, by 21, he'd already sailed around the world, gotten married, and had a child!

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

boy drops out of school. boy buys boat. boy sails around the world. for a long time. why wasn't I this boy?

[Rebekah Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

An older relative handed me this book and told me it was real interesting and that I should read it. I was skeptical. I thought a book about sailing would be boring and not really my thing. It took me a year or so before I started reading it. But when I did, I was so surprised at how much I loved this book. The author's writing style is humble and straightforward, while recording the incredibly true account of being the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. It was such an exciting and interesting read, with the bonus of a super sweet love story mixed in. I'd highly recommend this book to anybody.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half was boring but the second half saved it.

[Jack McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my new favorite books. Such a real story of world adventure and love. Another kick in the butt making me ask myself if I am to live the next few years of my life in the rat race or to learn and experience people places and things. Makes me wonder what would happen to our world if everyone decided to forget about materialism and fear or the unknown. Market would probably crash. Sailing the world seems riveting… Hats off to Robert Lee Graham for finishing what he started.

[Julie Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an interesting true story of a boy who sailed around the world.

[Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

“As for me, if I see grass greener than other people, if I hear sounds that they don't hear, then the price I pay is in periods of frustration and loneliness.”

“At sea I had learned how little a person needs, not how much. I wondered why men hold on to life as if the universe depended on them.”

“How could I tell these newsmen that I had sailed across the world because I had to do so-because that was what I was meant to do?”

[Edwin Häger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Banger. Inte mycket att säga. Handlar om en ma som seglar runt världen och alla hans upplevelser med folk han möter och platser han besöker. Perfekt resebok

[Jeff Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read about Robin Lee Graham journey in National Geographic. As a kid, in the late 60s and early 70s, his story of sailing around the world excited my imagination and opened my mind to the possibilities that had previously not existed. Recently, in reading Unsinkable, the story of Abby Sunderland attempt to sail solo and no-stop around the world, I thought about Graham’s story and was reminded that in addition to the three National Geographic articles, he’d written a book. I ordered a used copy from Amazon and, a few days after it arrived, I finished reading it. Had I not been so busy, I’d finished it the day it arrived. I was quickly drawn into the narrative and many of the photos I remembered from those old dog-eared magazines.


At the age of 16, Robin Lee Graham set out to sail around the world in a 24 foot sloop named “The Dove.†It was 1965. Five years later, with the world having changed, he returns, becoming the youngest person at the time to sail solo around the world. His itinerary reflects some of the world’s changes. Originally he planned to go through the Suez Canal, but it was closed after the 1967 war and Graham found himself heading around the horn of Africa, where he witnessed firsthand the impact of apartheid. Yet, he also has fond memories of South Africa and its people. It is there he and Patti (an American he’d met in the South Seas) marries. As he ends the journey, Patti is pregnant and the book ends after the birth of their first child.

This book is intensely personal. Graham writes about the loneliness he feels and his struggle to leave port after having enjoyed time on the land. It is the encounter with different cultures that makes this book so fascinating (and sets it apart from Unsinkable). Like Sutherland, Graham grew up on boats and had sailed with his family to the South Seas when he was younger. Graham also writes lovingly about Patti (after meeting her) and is excited about their upcoming child. In many ways, the book is highly idealistic, which was a lot like middle-class America in 1965. The world was filled with possibilities! Graham sets out to sail the world with pocket change and without the benefit of a radio or electronic communications (In South Africa, he installs a two-way radio). He navigates with a sextant. He finds he has to stay up on lookout at night, especially in shipping lanes, and goes for days without much rest. He relies of his own ability to make repairs. And he reads! When he gets back, he notes that although he’d missed much of high school, he could ace any class on geography or literature but he might need help in mathematics (which is doubtful as he was able to do the calculations required to navigate without electronics).

One thing I didn’t remember from the National Geographic articles was Graham’s religious conversions (maybe it wasn't there). He begins reading the Bible in the Galapagos Islands and after coming back to the States he and Patti (he’d earlier described themselves as pagans) become a part of a church. His conversion wasn’t instant or rapid, but a slow process. In his journey, Graham had learned that he didn’t need a lot to be happy. He learned to appreciate how unique and wonderful people are around the world. And he learned to appreciate God’s creation.

In a way this book seems way too idealistic, but reading it gives me hope and reminds me of a time before I was so cynical! It also reminds me of how fresh and exciting young love can be, for as much as this is a book about sailing around the world, it’s also a love story between a two young restless souls for find solace in each other's company. I recommend it.

[Denzil Pugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Thoreau had lived during the 20th century, filled with materialism and media, I doubt he would have lived near Walden for any appreciable amount of time before going crazy, or having some developer come and tear down all the trees. In these days, he would have had to migrate north to Canada, or become next door neighbors with the militia groups in Montana.

Robin Lee Graham, in 1965, decided to sail around the world, in a sailboat, with little money, and with the rebellious attitude that prevaled in these times. And Dove, the name of the ship, is the book about those adventures. I picked this book up long ago, seeing in it some Thoreauesque themes in it, a Romantic look at the world aboard a boat. I bought it several years ago, but only read it recently.

The metaphor for life running throughout the book is obvious. It's a great book for giving to graduates, who should be tired of Dr. Seuss by now. The book also makes a great argument against the current education system in America (which would also have made Thoreau nauseated). As a teacher, I found several students with great intelligence, but only in the Tactile areas. They had to have motion, do things with their hands. They were great artists, and will become mechanics or some such. But the school system has failed them, requiring them only to sit, read, write, and regurgitate material ad infinitium. To sail around the world, to experience the life of a traveler, the depths of loneliness, the joys of gratitude and the simplistic things of life. It would be the most idyllic existence, and no one could ask for anything else. Students should be interacting with their world, not programmed by books and teachers with facts and figures.

The one thing that Graham talks about most of all, and what I found most enduring, was the feelings of loneliness, especially after finding the love of his life. It mirrors the depths of a hollow heart, after a love has gone. Simple writing style, honest, pure. It seemed only at the end, when trying to convince us all of the harm we are doing to the environment does the writing get complex, and more tedious. I wonder if the co-writer didn't do more of that part. There is a follow up book, Home is the Sailor, which was made, but I've never seen it myself. But I'm sure it's available online.

[Anna Uncharted]

I'm a novice, newbie sailor and am so grateful this book landed in my lap while sailing in the Gulf Islands of Canada this summer. I have little sailing experience but find myself both consciously and unconsciously taking turns and picking forks in the road that lead me back to sailing and the sea (both in real life and in books!)

I might've devoured this book a little too quickly (a day and a half?)...though it's a short book to begin with (199 pages). I highly recommend this book and Tani Aebi's book, Maiden Voyage, to anyone out there who's curious about life at sea and looking for inspiration. There's something extra satisfying and enriching to read about sailors who sailed before smartphones and ipads, Navionics and apps like Windy were around.

Some readers and writers say there's really only four different kinds of stories we're telling--a love between two people, a love between three, a fight for power, or a voyage.

This book at first glance is a story about a solo voyage. At second glance it's a coming of age love story between a young man and a young woman. By the third and fourth glance, you're in the throws of the pages, reading between the lines and realizing it's a story that somehow is all the different kinds of stories above wrapped up in one.

[Kami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at the school library after reading a much better book, Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan, which made me interested in sailing. I lost interest again after reading this book. To give it some credit, it was a pretty fascinating story. However, the kid was kind of annoying I thought. He also went all hippie and preachy at the end and that's where I was completely turned off.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a teenager in the 1970's this book was my all time favorite and inspired me to travel, especially to tropical islands. I later turned out in life to be my husband's favorite teen years book too.

[Kevin Deaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. An example of what you can do with your life once you stop all that God Damn THINKING and believe in yourself. It proves your dreams are only limited by your will.