Eye on the Sea [Hardcover]

Mary Jane Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999

Poetic short essays on the essence of boating: its joys, mysteries, and challenges.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Airy evocations of coasting the eastern seaboard from journalist-mariner Hayes. Hayes has gathered 33 fleeting penses about her life with her husband aboard their trawler yacht as it plies the waters from Canada to Florida. The success of her quick, impressionistic style relies on a vivid summoning of atmosphere, and she delivers, with occasional lapses into wordiness and repetition. She tries her hand at describing most every experience a sailor in her patch might encounter short of mortal storm or accident. She has been caught in a vicious fetch and sailed ``a perfect day or two in September when color is absolute.'' There have been ``onyx waters; jeweled coasts,'' and there have been moments of peril: ominous monochromatic weather, gray seas piling up, when ``the windows in the dwellings atop the Gurnet seemed, like horrified eyes, to watch our wallowing.'' At times she appears to be overwhelmed by stimuli, as in the chapter composed entirely of micro-snippets strung together by ellipses. But she appears happier when the specific weight of an event is given a few sentences, then allowed to pass into the distance like a canal buoy. Striking an easy balance with the ruthlessness and discomfort and abominable motion are the sea's sublimity, gifts of courage and patience, exotic topographies, and the elemental plowing through water and air. Much of her time is spent off the Maine coast (clearly one of her great loves), all lonely, water-gouged, and scented with fir, where the sheer number of coves and inlets, ledges and shifting bars, islands and lobster pots guarantees unexpected delights and rude surprises with every visit. Each of Hayes's chapters, no matter what its tone or mood, is a brisk pick-me-up, an inducement to find oneself on a boat caught between ``wakes wide as bridal trains and waves curving neatly away from a bow.'' -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Mary Jane Hayes has had hundreds of essays, articles, and poems published, both nautical and non-nautical. Thousands of her photographs have also been published, including well over a hundred covers. Her work has appeared in dozens of boating magazines, including Sail, Yachting, Cruising World, Good Old Boat, Sailing, Boating, Practical Sailor, and Motor Boating & Sailing. Currently at work on three more books, she lives in Hanover, Massachusetts, with her husband, Warren.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Breakaway Books (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891369067
• ISBN-13: 978-1891369063
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,056,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great sea lovers read!, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Eye on the Sea (Hardcover)

Once you start reading this book, you can't put it down. It's lyrically beautiful writing, full of images that delight the soul. You actually are aboard her vessel with Hayes and her husband, experiencing everything they do. And it's not all pleasant, as she relates in her chapter, "On an August Gale." You, too, see those monstrous waves and wild winds, not to mention the green/black sky. But I particularly liked her chapter on salty dogs. Anyone who has seen these canines with ears flapping in the wind will laugh. This is a great gift book, and not just for boaters.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars book has won an award, March 5, 2000

By 

mary jane hayes (Hanover, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eye on the Sea (Hardcover)

Boating Writers International announces that Mary Jane Haye, author of "Eye on the Sea: Reflections on the Boating Life" (Breakaway Books) has been awarded First Prize in their contest for the best book on recreational boating published in the years 1998 and 1999. One judge said of the book: With "Eye on the Sea" author Mary Jane Hayes focuses on the boating life with the microscope of the soul. The book acknowledges the disappointments. It faces down its retributions. Then, credibly and in superb prose, it testifies by personal example to the blessings that boating gives its people." Boating Writers International is made up of writers, photographers and broadcasters who work in the marine industry representing media from local and national newspapers, regional and international magazines and radio and television. The award was announced at the Miami International Boat Show on February 18th and carries with it a cash prize.