Customer Reviews

Blown Away

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is one of the best all-around, just-your-average-guy, kind of sailing story. There are many, many books about guys who have been sailing their local waters all their life. They have always owned a sailboat and have always known that some day they would take off over the horizon. That is not the kind of guy Herb Payson was.

The author and his wife just happened to decide that sailing was the answer to a life that did not seem to be giving them the joy they were seeking. Nevermind that between them they had very little sailing experience. It's this type of spirit for adventure and desire to explore the unknown that many of us aspire to.

The book is well written and truly a joy to read. The author takes a witty and low-key approach to their sometimes eventful escapades. What this book represented most of all, however, was that you don't have to have decades of sailing experience or incredible endurance to take to a life of cruising. It is an inspirational piece and required reading for anyone thinking of doing the same.

We purchased the book from Herb at the Annapolis Boat Show, she read it to me as we drove home and we laughed at almost every paragraph she read. It sealed our desire to join the crusing world, we soon began our search for a suitable crusing boat and began making plans to sell the house, quite the jobs, and take off for the South Pacific. If Herb could make it to "paradise" then we can too. His writing style will keep you laughing...

My dad gave me this book to read during our first week-long cruise on the Chesapeake with his new 34 Catalina. Not only was this book an instant favorite of mine, it was a perfect selection while I was enjoying the sea myself. It made me want to buy a boat and cruise the world. I'm envious of his travels! It's an endearing and hilarious read.

I'm landlocked in Colorado, with no real desire to cruise on an ocean or even a bay, yet I really enjoyed reading this book. Herb and his wife, Nancy, were ordinary people except with perhaps even more limited funds than most Americans. Yet they impulsively decided to take to the sea. Somewhere along the way Herb started writing articles about his adventures (they almost always needed extra money because something else on the boat had broken). Eventually that led to this amusing, laugh out loud while reading it, book.
Herb displays a fine sense of humor that never comes across as mean, just amusing as he describes himself and the people he meets along the way. This is a good book for sharing with others, then tucking it away on the bookshelf for another read next year. And if any cruiser is trying to explain to a landlubber what it's like on the water, this book would be the perfect gift to share both the bad (lost in the middle of a pitch black night surrounded by dangerous coral heads) and the glorious (a village throwing a party in honor of your visit). A charming book that is aging extremely well.

Both of these books ("Blown Away" and "You Can't Blow Home Again") are great and should be read one after the other (The second is the continuing saga). The true story of a family that sells everything to buy a boat and sail around the world. They only make it as far as the south pacific, but it makes for year after year of adventures. As a sailor myself (coastal, not blue water) I felt he did a great job of capturing the sharp contrast between the elation, exhilaration and sheer terror that can be found in sailing. Mr. Payson's honest, care free and "oh well" attitude is something that I wish I could capture for myself. Someone who does not mind laughing at himself.

I only have one critique of the books. Mr. Payson uses nautical terms and the names of boat parts as if they are a part of everyone's daily vocabulary. I sail a simple sloop configuration and can name every component that is applicable to our boat. But his repeated use of terms unique to multi-masted, wooden masted, bow-sprinted boats kept sending me to the nautical dictionary. Since the book does not appear to be targeted at highly experienced sailors, a little more explanation would have been nice.

This book is one of my favorites. If you love true adventures, and real-life drama, read this book! Herb Payson does a wonderful job in drawing the reader into his boat and taking us for a ride! You will have a mixture of dread, excitement, and anticipation as they cruise along from island to island. This book will make you want to sell everything you own and move into your own boat. But don't let their setbacks discourage you. They have several mishaps while out at sea... But I won't spoil the fun and tell you what happens ---- This is good reading and I dare you to put the book down before you are finished!!! Happy armchair sailing!

I read this book when it first came out in 1980 and still have my copy. I met Herb and Nancy in 1976 in Taohae, Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands (Schooner C.B.Carver). They were on their way to California, delivering a boat that had questionable seaworthiness, so it took a good deal of seamanship and courage to take on that delivery. At that time, they had been "out" for 7 years, and I was so impressed! This book tells their wonderful story. Sailors who are hesitant to take that left turn out of the marina should be inspired by this.

I have to say that I found this book very disappointing. I realize it was first published in 1980, before we had much of an internet, but a subsequent version was published in 1995 with few if any revisions. After getting about 2/3 of the way through it (this was a local book club selection), I was ready to put the book down. However, I managed to get through to the end thanks to Google. Every time the author would mention a location, I was able to conjure up images of it on Google. That helped a lot. Without that, the reader really can't form a picture in his/her mind to go with the narrative. As a non-sailor, I found the endless nautical jargon to be totally incomprehensible and a distraction. It might have been otherwise had he included at least a glossary, perhaps with simple diagrams, to illustrate some of the concepts, so as to make it understandable to the average reader. A HUGE fault in the book is the total lack of photographs. Even before we had Google Maps, we had cameras and film. It would have been so much better had the author included a few pages of photos, even in black-and-white, in the middle of the book, as is often done in non-fiction books. Pictures of Sea Foam (inside and out), her passengers, some of their destinations and on-shore experiences, pictures of the head being repaired, which seemed to be a central element of the story. But no, nothing. Equally disappointing was the lack of ANY charts or maps of their voyage, which could also have been included with minimal effort and expense. Finally, there was no "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" philosophical moment. No deep message to take away. It was all so superficial. If you read this book, which I don't recommend, you should do so with a computer nearby so that you can at least see generic images of the places that they visited. It is really a shame that the author made what could have been a very interesting and inspiring chronicle of a sailing journey into such a boring, unenlightening, and impersonal piece of writing. I haven't read any other books or articles by this author, but I hope for his sake that he has improved on his technique since this book was published. This book would only appeal to someone who is already intimately familiar with the south pacific islands and the technical details of sailing. All others, stay away.