My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn [Hardcover]

David Hays (Author), Daniel Hays (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 1995

A story of adventure on a small boat, for fathers, for sons, and for those who love them. On this voyage the father relinquishes control, the son becomes the captain, and before long they are utterly alone, with only the huge waves of Cape Horn, a compass, a sextant, a pet cat, and the tiny boat they've built together. "The account of the passage, related in alternating sections by father and son, will be read with delight 100 years from now."--William F. Buckley, The New York Times Book Review, front page; "A must read for sailors of the sea and of the heart."--Eco Traveler.

Over three months as a New York Times Bestseller. A Literary Guild and a Nautical Book Club selection.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David and Daniel Hays, father and son, designed and built a small boat together, then set out to sail it around the tip of South America, a journey that David had dreamed of ever since childhood. Along the way they fought and swore and sweated and shared triumphs large and small. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

As a child, David Hays regarded sailing around Cape Horn as the ultimate adventure. Now, in middle age, he makes the voyage with his 24-year-old son, hoping to regain a youthful perspective on life. Daniel, just out of college, wanted time to think about commitment to a career. Together, they built a 25-foot sloop, Sparrow, and set out across the Caribbean, navigating by compass and sextant. Sparrow carried neither motor nor radar, only a two-way, short-range radio. Father and son take turns giving their accounts of the 17,000-mile voyage. Their course was through the Panama Canal, then south by way of the Galapagos and Easter Islands. On day 179, they passed the Horn, having made 230 miles in 36 hours without being able to search the sky for sights because of the weather; in return for that feat of navigation, Dan became the captain. It is an engaging adventure, and a remarkable story of a father-son relationship. First serial to Sailing magazine; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; 1st edition (January 5, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565121023
• ISBN-13: 978-1565121027
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring!, August 6, 2002

By 

Niki Collins-queen, Author "author" (Forsyth, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn (Paperback)

David and Daniel Hays are the first Americans to sail around Cape Horn in a boat under 30 feet in length. "My Old Man and the Sea" is the inspiring true story of a father and son's 17,000-mile voyage in a 25-foot yacht named Sparrow to the bottom of the world and back.
Although David and Dan sailed the easier route from the Pacific into the Atlantic with the prevailing westerly winds and currents they endured horrific storms that included Dan being tossed overboard during Sparrows dangerous sideways roll.
The tale is even more impressive when you learn that they chose to sail simply, without an engine and used a sextant and compass instead of a navigational system. David explains, "Our sport is to tune our senses not our instruments."
David and Dan's eloquent descriptions of the magnificence of the ocean and the magic of sailing brought back fond memories of my own six-month adventure hitchhiking on sailboats in the Bahamas. Like them, I was inspired to write a book titled "Earth, the Forgotten Temple." Tales concerning profound encounters with Mother Ocean and her other wilderness places need to be shared.
Most moving of all, despite conflicts, the deep love between the father and the son shine through to warm us all.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Old Man and the Sea, December 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn (Hardcover)

This book lived up to all of its reviews. The father and son team set out on a voyage to overcome sailings most famous foe only to find themselves forced to deal with their own relationship. Though the overlying theme is based on a sailing voyage, the authors use a boating vocabulary which doesn't alienate the non-sailng reader.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to share with others, January 20, 2000

By 

kathryn ware - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn (Paperback)

This book was a wonderful surprise, one I heartily recommend to sailors and land-lovers with equal enthusiasm. The thrill of this father-son journey 17,000 miles around Cape Horn is an exciting and entertaining adventure, recorded each step of the way in a jointly kept journal. Each man has a definite perspective on the trip, and their evolving relationship is as interesting as the ports of call. Cramped together in a confined space, virtually exposed to the elements and at sea for weeks at a time, a kind of role-reversal takes place on board -- David recognizes that he's not in charge and his son is the one who'll be responsible for taking them safely around the Horn, while Daniel grapples with the realization that comes to all children, that his father is only human.