Sails Full and By

Yacht broker and freelance writer Degnon's breezy account of his extended voyage provides entertaining adventure and a refresher course in geography. One unidentified year, with Celia Lowe as crew mate, he set out from New England in Taku, a 41-foot ketch; first stop, the Caribbean, where they picked up additional crew before sailing through the Panama Canal and on to Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. In every port they met other "yachties"; long-distance, blue-water cruising has its own culture. They spent six months in New Zealand, fitting Taku and sightseeing. Next, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia, where they had a rough time finding their way through the Great Barrier Reef in a storm. Then they headed home via Indonesia (Bali), the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Everything that can happen on a cruise did: equipment failure, groundings, split sails, storms. Sailors will cherish this book. Photos.