Customer Reviews

Home is Where the Boat is

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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Emy Thomas is a remarkable woman who spent a remarkable 13 years of her life living a dream. The book is at times both journalistic and narrative, and while it often follows a "how-to" format, it is also an entertaining anecdote of an experience most of us would love to have had. This is a great, quick read, and very entertaining.

How many people sail because they love to sail. And then again, how many sail only because they love a person who loves to sail. This is Emy Thomas' story. How she overcame the fear, and the deprivation to be with the man she loved. She sailed with him in the Caribbean and Pacific for thirteen years and came to love sailing too.
Many sailing books are maintenance and navigation encyclopedias. Others are cruising logs - the chronology and itinerary of the voyage. Emy's book is neither of these. Her book answers the very simple question - "what was it like?" It is arranged by topic to address typical concerns and inquiries - do you get seasick, how does the laundry get done, what about storms and hurricanes, and theft, how do you keep all those nautical terms straight, how do you keep in touch with folks at home, how hard is the work, what sort of people do you meet, what do you do with your garbage?
Emy had lived more comfortably before. She and her sailing mate scraped by for thirteen years, stopping to pick up casual jobs when the money got low. But you get the feeling she would have had it no other way. They were accepted in many of the poorer islands they visited and had a richer experience as a result, not because they had a fancy yacht bristling with electronics, but because they didn't.
This book is an easy read and highly entertaining for anyone who likes sailing or has fantasized about cruising the oceans. If someone you love is trying to drag you off to sea you will want to read this book. Then, you'll probably say "okay, let's do it".

If you have any desire to leave the land behind and take to the sea, this book gives you insight on what you might encounter.

Emy Thomas was financially able to try the life of a "yachtie". She explains all the different problems and solutions that she and her sail mate experienced.

Her writing is interesting and at times amusing. This book is one to read for the pure enjoyment of it.

The author is a wealthy reporter who by chance meets and falls in love with a liveaboard cruiser. The story is of their 13 year travels through the Caribbean and Pacific.

The writing style is easy but there are far to many yachtie cliche's for my liking (even if they are all true).

A lightweight read that entertains but doesn't really cover any serious issues.

Not recommended for any strong feminists out there...

Dreaming of throwing it all up, buying a live-aboard, and spending your days drifting through the islands? Here's one view (there are others on the web.) It's a quick read, with the author, a self-described professional reporter, presenting 36 short (3-6 page) vignettes of different aspects of being a "yachtie," i.e. someone who lives indefinitely aboard a cruising yacht.

The book seems like a collection of articles intended for serial publication - maybe in YACHTING magazine? It's interesting but Ms Thomas makes a lot of broad, essentially unreferenced claims and, in surprising contrast to too many autobiographical works, the book could use a LOT more anecdotes about people and places, and more technical info here and there. That's also true of her other book, IMHO. For a far better example of a picaresque autobiography, I'd recommend "A Time of Gifts." However if you're in the USVI (St Croix anyway) pick up this, and its companion "Life in the Left Lane," at any local shop that sells books - it's perfect for desultory reading on the beach!

I thought this was worth reading, though I find the ending pretty sad. I suppose no one cruises forever - except those folks who don't keep night watch on long-distance cruises - but I hope to see a revised edition sometime soon, with a postscript in which the author winds up with something more satisfying than just Cruzan real estate!