Sailing by Starlight

Sailing by Starlight: The Remarkable Story of Globe Star by Rod Scher

Nonfiction

2022 Sheridan House

Finished on October 24, 2022

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good!)

Publication Date: November 1, 2022

Publisher's Blurb:

Sailing by Starlight is the story of the adventure of a lifetime--in fact, of many lifetimes. In the early 1980s, retired geography professor Marvin Creamer set out to do what hadn't been done for a thousand years--if indeed it had ever been done at all: Marv and his crew boarded a 35-foot sailboat named Globe Star and set out into the frigid Atlantic, planning to sail around the world without the use of any instruments. There was no sextant aboard. No compass. No chart-plotter. No GPS. No radar. Not even a stopwatch. Creamer wanted to prove to the world that it was possible for ancient mariners to have crossed the largest seas, perhaps even sailed around the world, using only their brains, their experience, their senses, and their courage. In attempting to prove his point, Creamer would push his boat and his crew to the limit--and occasionally beyond. 

Travel with Creamer as Globe Star sails around the perilous Horn, across the dangerous and tumultuous Tasman Sea, and into an active war zone. Sail around the world with a man who was taken prisoner with an idea, a man obsessed with proving a point, and a man who would let neither 40-foot waves nor fractious crewmembers deter him.

Disclaimer: I was hesitant to post a review, as this book was written by my husband, but I want to share what I enjoyed about the story. I hope to minimize my personal bias.

I am not what you would call an avid sailor. My family owned a small sailboat (a Glen-L 13) when I was in elementary school, and I remember lake sailing with my parents and brothers (and our small dog) in Northern California and Southern Oregon. How we all managed to fit in that tiny sailboat is beyond me!

Photo Credit: Glen-L Boat Designs

Later, I would enjoy going out on Hobie Cats and a few 20-plus foot sailboats in San Diego, but I can count those occasions on one hand. In the late 80s, my husband and I started dreaming about buying a Catalina, but a move to Nebraska took the wind out of our sails, so to speak. Looking back, I wonder just how much I would have enjoyed spending time on a boat on the Pacific Ocean. It's huge, unpredictable and the waves are much bigger than those on the lakes of Whiskey Town and Howard Prairie. And I am prone to seasickness!

Rod has always been enthusiastic about sailing, reading numerous books on the subject (he's read Chapman: The Boater's Handbook more than once), and dreaming of one day owning a boat. Nautical books (even sailing memoirs) weren't of interest to me, but Rod had a copy of Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea by Steve Callahan, and with all our talks about sailing, I decided to give it a read sometime in the late 80s. I don't remember much about the book, but after recently glancing at a copy, I discovered that Callahan's voyage began just shy of two years before Marv Creamer's. I wonder if they knew one another. If not personally, they certainly must have known of each other. 

Rod and I never did buy a boat, but we've cruised the San Juan Islands (on a 48' Richardson cabin cruiser) with my dad and stepmom, as well as a wonderful day trip on a catamaran from St. Thomas to St. John. I've also had the pleasure of spending two weeks on a river boat, cruising the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers with my mom. But all these experiences were peaceful and calm. Well, almost all. We did experience a problem with the bilge pump on my dad's boat; for several moments I was afraid the boat might start to sink, and we would have to swim to shore in the dark! Oh, and there was also the time (actually, there were two separate instances) when a fan belt broke on one of the two engines (again in my dad's boat) and we had to limp along, in Puget Sound, on one engine to reach a marina for repairs. But none of these events were as terrifying as those that Marv Creamer and his crew faced as they sailed around the world without any instrumentation: no GPS, no compass, no sextant, not even a clock or watch. And, their amazing adventure took place on the Globe Star, a 35-foot sailboat. They experienced gales, huge seas, fog in heavily traveled shipping lanes, and the doldrums. They went for many weeks without seeing land, nor speaking to anyone but one another. 

While chatting with Rod about Sailing by Starlight (from the safe perch of one of our neighborhood benches overlooking the ocean, watching the enormous waves crash against the bluff), I told him that I would have curled up in a ball in the v-berth, sobbing in terror, if I had to be on such a voyage at Creamer's. I'm sure even an experienced sailor would feel some fear and anxiety with each crashing wave, a galley fire, or a knockdown, but they would also know what to do in those situations. At least if a disaster strikes while we're traveling in our motorhome, there's very little risk of drowning! 

Sailing by Starlight is a compelling read about a sixty-six-year-old retired geography professor who was able to fulfill a lifetime dream and prove that ancient peoples could sail across massive oceans (perhaps even around the world) without anything but their intellect, bravery and senses. I was pleased to discover that over the years, I've picked up a general understanding of some basic nautical terminology in my brief encounters on boats: port & starboard, cleats & fenders, fore & aft, fo'c'sle & salon, and coming-about and jibe (the latter of which I accidentally discovered off the shores of Beaufort, N.C.). So, as I began reading Rod's book, I wasn't bothered by the usage of specific vernacular known to more seasoned sailors. Initially, I thought a glossary might be useful, but flipping back and forth would only interrupt the narrative, causing a loss in momentum and tension. Any words or phrases with which I was not familiar (e.g., horse latitudes, heave-to, windlass), were easily understood in the context of the passage. 

Rich in detail, with mounting tension, Sailing by Starlight is sure to appeal to a broad range of readers, avid sailors and armchair travelers not excluded. Rod sets the scenes so vividly, delivering an ultra-satisfying read for which he should be enormously proud. I know I am.

It's rare that I reread books, and even more rare that I'm tempted to re-read a book upon completion, but I felt that way about Sailing by Starlight. I'm not interested in owning a boat, but I do enjoy a thrilling nautical tale. Maybe it's time to finally give Moby Dick another chance...

Note to reader: I rarely read an author's footnotes, whether included on the appropriate page or in a collection at the back of the book. I encourage you to read Sailing by Starlight "Notes," which provide additional information that would otherwise have detracted from the flow of the narrative.

Click here to view videos and images from Sailing by Starlight.

Sailing by Starlight

This arrived last night! 

In two weeks, Rod's latest book will be released! I am so proud of him, and very excited about this new book, which is available for pre-order here and here.

Publisher's Blurb:

Sailing by Starlight is the story of the adventure of a lifetime—in fact, of many lifetimes. In the early 1980s, retired geography professor Marvin Creamer set out to do what hadn’t been done for a thousand years—if indeed it had ever been done at all: Marv and his crew boarded a 35’ sailboat named Globe Star and set out into the frigid Atlantic, planning to sail around the world without the use of any instruments. There was no sextant aboard. No compass. No chart-plotter. No GPS. No radar. Not even a stopwatch. Creamer wanted to prove to the world that it was possible for ancient mariners to have crossed the largest seas, perhaps even sailed around the world, using only their brains, their experience, their sense, and their courage. In attempting to prove his point, Creamer would push his boat and his crew to the limit—and occasionally beyond.

Travel with Creamer as Globe Star sails around the perilous Horn, across the dangerous and tumultuous Tasman Sea, and into an active war zone. Sail around the world with a man who was taken prisoner by an idea, a man obsessed with proving a point, and who would let neither 40-foot waves nor fractious crewmembers deter him.

The Boys in the Boat

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Nonfiction - Nautical
2013 Penguin Audio
Read by Edward Herrmann
Finished on September 19, 2016
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics

Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.

Drawing on the boys’ own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs.

This really should have been a 5-star book for me, what with the perfect ingredients of boats and the Pacific Northwest setting. I love being on and around the water and have spent a bit of time on Lake Union in Seattle. 10 years ago, I sat on the aft deck of my dad and stepmom's boat, watching several groups of rowers make their way back and forth across the lake. I was quite envious! I've never rowed in a scull, but I owned a kayak for a few years and enjoyed paddling around on a local lake. I've always thought rowing would be a great way to be out on the water, not to mention the great workout.

So when I first learned about Brown's book, I was intrigued. Hearing that the book reads like a novel made it even more appealing. I started out with the print edition, but couldn't get interested, so I moved on to the audio. I thought the book started off a little slow, but I stuck with it, hoping things would pick up as the Olympics drew closer. I was interested in the sections that dealt with Germany and the preparations for the Olympics, but otherwise, the details about the rowing and the boys' lives became tedious to listen to. Edward Hermann did a fine job with the narration, but I found my mind wandering and really had to force myself to pay attention. 

Final Thoughts:

It took me almost three weeks to listen to 14 1/2 hours of narration and I have to say, I was glad to be finished. It's certainly not a bad book, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I thought I was in the minority, but my husband (who loves everything nautical and preferably nonfiction) didn't even finish reading it, so I don't feel too badly for giving it such a low rating.