I have read Chris Stewart's various books about his experience in moving to a Spanish farm, El Valero, with his wife Ana, and their adventures in becoming part of the community and making a living. This is a book about what he did before those adventures. With little sheep shearing work to be had in England, he took on a job as skipper on a Cornish crabber sail boat for a rich English lady one summer, ferrying her and her friends amongst the Greek islands. Despite having no sailing experience he became sufficiently competent to be invited to help crew a sailing trip from England via Norway, Iceland and Greenland, to the New World. Unlike the lazy summer in Greece, this trip involved cold and ice, storms and poor weather, and very difficult sailing conditions. He describes in a lovely gentle prose style the challenges of the voyage, his relationships with his colleagues, and the life and death peril that such trips can involve.

Read on Kindle. Published August 2011.