I had never published before we went sailing, but a friend took my first story ("The Boat That Hated The Galapagos") and laid it on the the desk of the publisher of Sea and Pacific Skipper magazine. He bought it, and a couple of months later I sold an article to SAIL. Soon after that I became a SAIL writer, which simply meant I would show whatever I wrote to them first. From then on they bought everything I wrote, although sometimes an article would come back with suggestions as to how to fix it for publication.

        Some of the chapters came from articles previous published in SAIL. Here are a few:

1.        Lost in the Tuamotus
2.        I'm OK, You're OK, but He's Dragging
3.        Christmas in the Australs
4.        Pumping Our Way to LA

        This last involved the delivery of a leaky boat, Lissa, from Tahiti to Los Angeles. It was one of our hairiest adventures. We were so desperate for money, and because the boat belonged to a friend, we didn't test it before leaving Tahiti. As a result, we spent a month in the Marquesas trying to patch the boat's seams for the long trip to LA. We were only partially successful.

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        We finally arrived in the Marquesas, having lost our engine on the passage from Tahiti. Here's how it looked to me at that point.

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        Needless to say, we made it, although you'll need to read the story to find out how.