Sailing Promise: Around the World on a Catamaran (Paperback)

~ Alayne Main (Author) "WE QUIT OUR JOBS, bought a catamaran, outfitted and set off around the world, all within five months..." (more)
Key Phrases: Rode Beer, New Zealand, Lord Howe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Main and her husband, Alec, put their jobs on hold for three years, bought a 33' catamaran and followed his dream of sailing around the world. Some 32,000 miles later, they had survived terrible storms at sea, eaten strange and exotic foods, encountered menacing sailors (pirates?), and become part of an amorphous community of waterborne adventurers. But the oceangoing life often frightens Main and tests her marriage. In fact, the first half of the book focuses primarily on her unhappiness with her own self-doubts, her husband for not being more sympathetic, and her general loneliness. By the second half of the book (and journey), she has come to terms with herself and her husband, and the places they visit and people they meet take center stage. The reader finally begins to feel the joy of exploring the world. Part travel chronicle, part self-exploration, and not entirely satisfactory on either account, this book is only for the most complete of public library adventure collections.ALinda M. Kaufmann, Freel Lib., Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Will You Marry Me... And Sail Around the World? Alayne Main was 28 years old with an exciting medical career and minimal sailing experience, but she lived up to her sailing promise. She and her husband quit their jobs, bought a 33-foot catamaran and blithely sailed away! The challenges were immense - storms at sea, a collision with a whale and the threat of pirates - but her greatest challenge was the emotional turmoil their adventurous and uncertain lifestyle created. Her relationship deteriorating, Alayne was forced to deal with her fear and understand what drove her to continue to sail across vast unpredictable oceans - with only her husband to turn to. After four years, they came home as circumnavigators - and still married. An honest, deeply moving and wonderfully woven tale of a young woman's journeys - into herself, her marriage and around the world. Anyone in a partnership - man or woman, sailor or not - will benefit from this book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Base Camp Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968454402
• ISBN-13: 978-0968454404
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #138,064 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for sailors, fascinating for anyone, September 28, 1999

By A Customer

I am a "sailing wife", the one who has the irrational fears even though I love the challenge and excitement, the one who does not have the mechanical prowess to fix the engine or come up with an ingenious solution to failed rigging. Although my husband and I have limited our cruising thus far to Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence, we plan to frequent more exotic cruising grounds in our future. I found this book to be incredibly inspirational and comforting. I was looking for a book that would tell the story of what it is really like to cruise the world, and this book provided extra's I was not expecting. Alayne not only provided a glimpse into the unimaginable beauty of remote locales and their people, she also conveyed the growth in herself and in her relationship with her husband that I can already relate to in smaller scale cruising. By the end of this book, Alayne and Alec Main became heroes to me. In the beginning, I relished this book selfishly. But I found that I could not contain myself from sharing Alayne's adventures with friends and family. My husband is reading it now, interested to learn more about what I am going through in our escapades. Friends who have never even sailed have asked to borrow the book, as well, proving that this is not a story that would be of interest to sailors alone. Bravo to Alayne for having the courage and strength to publish her story for anyone who dreams of cruising the world, but especially for the women who love their husbands and love sailing with them.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sailing Promise: Around the world on a catamaran, March 22, 2004

By	E Hudson (Port Stanley, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This book was a major disappointment, after reading the reviews and excerpts I waited anxiously for it to arrive (as we - my husband and I are looking into doing a similar adventure on a similar boat). I wanted to know how she as a woman handled her fears. Unfortunately she never did, infact it is page after page of whining. Pity her husband, who had to deal with both storms and a crying, sobbing hysterical wife at the same time! This book is a waste of time, money and paper.

Now the book - Voyage of the Northern Magic was wonderful, the author of this book was a real trooper, brave smart and insightful. Forget Sailing Promise if you want an uplifting, inspirational book. It left me shaking my head and reaching for asprin.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BOOK FOR ALL REASONS, December 15, 1999

By	Kevin Hart (canada) - See all my reviews

As we have embarked on our own sailing adventure;both my wife and I having read"A SAILING PROMISE", the accounts of Alayne and Alex aboard Madeline.We come away with an insite into cruising that we had never before discovered.The presures and pain of relationships on land are difficult enough;throw in a circumnavigation and the plot thickens.We both found it a solid read that paralleled our own dreams of far horizons and exoctic cultures.From a mans point of view I can only suggest, all skippers read this book to preserve their own sanity ;when we can't quite understand why our fist mates do what they do. It could only have been written by a woman. I'm glad she did.From page one on you are lead along and have a hard time putting it down ,with a need to know what is ahead. We loved it and put it right up ther with Tania Aibe's "Maiden Voyage" another great read.