Adventure Sailing Talk this Wednesday

[DebbyDiver]

Once a month in January, February, and March, the Bluewater Adventure Series at Broward County Main Library will feature authors talking about their books.

This Wednesday, January 24, at 7 p.m. John Kretschmer, veteran sailing skipper and author of several books, will talk about his latest, At The Mercy of the Sea. Here's a couple of reviews:

Kretschmer was a friend of Carl Wake, one of three sailors caught in Hurricane Lenny on November 14, 1999, in the Caribbean. The storm's winds reached 150 miles an hour. The sailors were from three countries, sailing three fundamentally different boats, heading in three different directions when the storm hit. Kretschmer had taught Wake how to sail, helped him choose his boat, and offered him advice on when to sail in the Caribbean. Kretschmer draws on interviews with family and friends, and transcripts of their radio calls, and then analyzes the storm, aided by the National Hurricane Center. Wake initially was able to rescue one of the other sailors, but ultimately all three boats sank. Much of the book is a tribute to Wake, recounting his personal life and his love of sailing. Kretschmer also offers a portrait of the two other sailors, Steven Rigby, from Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-on-Avon, and Guillaume Llobregat, from Brazil, who lived in St. Martin. Kretschmer has created a fast-paced, moving story of a disaster at sea.

A “normal” Caribbean hurricane travels from east to west, but Lenny was anything but normal. Spawned south of Cuba in November 1999, this late-season storm defied all predictions by moving steadily east toward the Leeward Islands. Eventually building almost to Category 5 strength, Lenny squatted for two days between the Virgin Islands and St. Martin, whipping the ocean with 155 mile-per-hour winds and 60-foot seas.

In its path in the Anegada Passage were three sailboats and their unfortunate crews: La Vie en Rose, a 41-foot sloop captained by ex-army lieutenant colonel Carl Wake; English Braids, a tiny 21-foot racer skippered by would-be elite competitive sailor Steve Rigby; and Frederic-Anne, a 65-foot schooner rigged for day-sail charters out of St. Martin and skippered by ambitious young Guillaume Llobregat.

None of the men knew each other, yet they converged by fate in a tiny circle of the sea in the midst of a hellish storm no boat could withstand. And even as he battled for survival, Carl Wake lived the crowning hours of his life.

John Kretschmer's At the Mercy of the Sea retraces the journeys of these three sailors through life and across oceans. It is a taut, suspenseful re-creation that seeks to make sense of the improbable intersection of three lives at the height of a storm, and a gripping reconstruction of Carl Wake's search for meaning and, ultimately, for his soul.

Praise for At the Mercy of the Sea:

“The tale of Carl Wake and the hurricane that was waiting for him goes straight to the heart of the greatest sea stories: they are not about man against the sea, but man against himself. John Kretschmer's book is as perfectly shaped and flawlessly written as such a story can be. In addition to being the best depiction I have ever read of what it is like to be inside a hurricane at sea, At the Mercy of the Sea is as moving a story of a man's failure and redemption as can be found anywhere in the literature of the sea. This book is surely destined to become a classic.”—Peter Nichols, author, Sea Change and A Voyage for Madmen

“John Kretschmer is a first-class seaman who is also a fine writer. Once begun, his vivid and powerful narrative is impossible to put down.”—Derek Lundy, author, Godforsaken Sea and The Way of a Ship

“At the Mercy of the Sea kept me plunging ahead to the tragic end and left me feeling humbled and lucky to be alive. I felt I knew Carl Wake, because John Kretschmer found in him an archetype—an aging sailor with an age-old dream.”—Jim Carrier, transatlantic sailor and author, The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome

“Gathering his tools as a loyal friend, a master mariner, and a natural storyteller, John Kretschmer has crafted an unforgettable tale of high-seas adventure, salvation, and loss. A remarkable book, impossible to put down.”

Broward County Main Library is at 100 South Andrews Avenue, on the Southeast Corner of Broward and Andrews in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Interactive map here. Parking is available for $1/hour in the City Parking Garage on SE 1st Avenue just East of the Library. The talk will be on the 6th floor adjacent to the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book.

If you are interested, but you can't make this one, Bob Drury, author of Halsey's Typhoon will be speaking on Tuesday, February 6 (same time same place) and David Vann, author of A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea, will be speaking on Thursday, March 15.

Admission is FREE but reservations are suggested; call 954-357-7401. I will be there and I hope to SEA you then!