Coming About : A Family Passage at Sea [Paperback]

Susan Tyler Hitchcock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 1998

"I had never lived on a sailboat. I had never sailed more than ten days straight. Would I like it? Could I do it? Was this journey a solution, or would it turn out to be just a new rendition of the same old problems?

I breathed deeply, and I jumped in."

Susan Hitchcock felt her family of four drifting apart. As she watched the daily demands of life tug her away from her husband and two young children, she knew they must find a way back to each other. So to reconnect as a family, they took to the sea.

Sailing for nine months and 3,500 miles around the Caribbean aboard Hei Tiki, they meet formidable challenges from the volatile moods of Mother Nature and the mighty ocean to the cultural barriers on distant islands, and their own innermost fears. Though a novice sailor, Susan soon develops an affinity for the water, feeling her life pulse with the sensual rhythm of the tides. And through both the rigors and the serenity of sailing, her family discovers a newfound intimacy and joy in the adventure of a lifetime.

An inspiring and triumphant chronicle of life at sea, Coming About is a wonderful meditation on marriage, family, and the fulfillment of dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"We went sailing because we wanted to recreate our family.... We needed joy, we needed challenge," writes Hitchcock, after noting earlier that "like many American families, we were spinning out centrifugally." With their six- and eight-year-old children, Hitchcock and her husband, David, borrowed Hei Tiki, a 34-foot sailboat, from her father-in-law and sailed 3500 miles around the Caribbean in nine months. Touted as "a woman's version" of My Old Man and the Sea and Maiden Voyage, it is remarkable mostly because after reading Hitchcock's portrayal of just about the most self-indulgent, rude, nasty, totally humorless husband in recent family sagas, one finds it hard to believe that they are still together four years later. One plods through the recording of one hostile collision after another?many of which Hitchcock rationalizes as perhaps her fault?because the kids are adorable and because the trip itself is challenging. Hitchcock begins with barely any sailing experience in a boat that seems at times less than seaworthy for this kind of venture?and with nary a mention of anyone wearing a life preserver or a tethering harness as they plunge through the frequently treacherous seas. Despite one's fervent wish that the author will push her modern-day Captain Bligh overboard, he comes through alive and immediately takes off with his father and son on a six-week island cruise, leaving Hitchcock and her daughter to return home and clean up the mess left by a student renter. Hardly the "wonderful meditation on marriage, family and the beauty of togetherness" promised in the blurb.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Deciding that her two-paycheck family needed a change of pace, Hitchcock (Wildflowers on the Windowsill, LJ 3/1/84) took nine months off with husband David, son John (age eight), and daughter Alison (age six) to sail from Florida to the Caribbean on the 34' Hei Tiki, named after the Maori god of fertility. After a year of planning and saving for the trip, they rented out their house in Virginia, arranged for a good friend to take care of their affairs, and sailed Hei Tiki south to the Bahamas. Traveling from Cocoa Beach to the Abacos, Turks & Caicos, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, British Virgin Islands, Martinique, and Grenada, they eventually ended up back up to Florida. During their voyage, they had to adjust to living in a very confined space and, in the process, became a tight-knit family. Home schooling became a major preoccupation, with shore trips providing exciting learning experiences. This is a well-written story that is not overly technical about how a family adjusts to life aboard a small boat. A solid purchase for public libraries with potential voyagers.?John Kenny, San Francisco, P.L.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 337 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (June 16, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034540663X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345406637
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,960,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Romance Novelist goes to sea?, November 26, 2003

By 

Richard R. Barnett "rrbarnett" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming About : A Family Passage at Sea (Paperback)

My wife & I are considering such a trip in a few years, and are reading as much as possible about others' experiences in the mean time. My advice is to skip this one (glad I only checked it out of the library...). What you get is the story of how a couple lacking in seamanship skills (yes, even her "Capt. Bligh" of a husband) and trapped in a dysfunctional marriage manage to survive 9 months in the Bahamas & Caribbean...with a graphic, poorly written "romance-novel" style sex scene every 25-30 pages or so. It all comes off as some sort of strange exhibitionism.

I have sailed and otherwise travelled to many of the places she describes, and find her descriptions mostly on the level (although I hold Provo in higher regard than she does.) The rest of the book should serve as a cautionary tale on how NOT to do it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, a clear picture of a long sail., August 23, 2003

By 

Andrew Watkins (Tampa Fl. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming About: A Family Passage at Sea (Paperback)

My family currently owns the boat written about in the book, the Hei Tiki II, so it was interesting to see some of the voyages of the family and the boat. Susan writes as a woman who has almost no sailing experiance thrust into a long voyage at sea. She recounts how the various experiances changed her, her family and saved her shaky marriage. She tells how a long time at sea effects the attitudes of the people involved. At first it is easy to feel sorry for her, having no boating experiance but being coerced into it by her husband, but it quickly shows you the enormous strength this woman must have to cope. The tales of exotic ports of call, friends gained and lost, and stormy seas are all secondary to the story of the family. The book is subtitled "A Family's Passage At Sea," and this is what the book is really about, the family.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly captivating!, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming About : A Family Passage at Sea (Paperback)

While planning for a sail away voyage myself, the last thing I wanted to read was another story about cruising. But a friend strongly suggested I read one more. And I am glad I did! Susan's story was interesting, compelling, and makes me want to leave on my trip even more. Good for sailors and non-sailors alike. I hope she finds her second boat and takes another trip!