Peter Bonsey: An Experienced Cruiser Comments

Peter and Sylvia Bonsey are experienced cruisers with a double crossing of the Atlantic behind them. Peter recently made two comments about Sailing Away from Winter which particularly pleased me. Here they are:

All the way through the book I was thinking that it was something in the nature of the medieval Peregrinatio, the pilgrimage undertaken towards the end of a career as much for its own sake as to reach some holy city..Curiously not long before your book arrived I had been reading William Wey's account of his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. Nothing ever changes. He got to Plymouth on 1st April 1456 and then had to wait till 17th May before they could set sail! No doubt they had a succession of South Westerlies, or who knows, trolls even. I believe this idea is well rooted in Hindu culture as well.

The other thing I particularly valued about the book was that you described cruising as it really is: when it's good it's very very good, and when it's bad it's horrid. People who've never done it don't understand this. People see the palm trees and the crystal waters, but they don't begin to understand the skill and effort required to stay safely on top of those crystal waters. Most sailing books woefully underplay this, and to the extent that the Great Storm Chapter is required the subtext is always what supermen the author and his crew were to be able to cope with it. I think yours is the first cruising book I've ever read where the author had the courage to admit that he wanted to turn back because this wasn't being fun any more. Yet I don't believe there is a single yachtie who hasn't felt that at one time or another.

And, of course, you prove the sense of the old adage: if you find a good crew, marry her! Or
him I suppose one has to say these days.

CBC Radio interview on BC Almanac

My interview with Mark Forsythe of BC Almanac will be aired at 12:40 Pacific time today, June 15.

I assume it will also be accessible via the Internet. The BC Almanac website is here: http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/index.jsp?program=BC+Almanac

Vancouver promotion, May 29-June 4

As I write this, we're packing for a trip to Vancouver which combines book promotion and family visits. On the book promotion front, there are three events:

May 29, 9:00-10:00 AM: live appearance on Studio 4, with Fanny Kiefer, on Shaw TV.

June 1, 8:15: Illustrated presentation at the False Creek Yacht Club in Vancouver.

June 4, 10:30 AM: Interview with Mark Forsythe of Almanac, the CBC Radio noon show. I don't know when it will be broadcst.

In addition, I may be signing some books in Kelowna at Mosaic Books on June 5, though nothing has formally been arranged.

And a news bulletin: Magnus has been sold to Erling Viksund, the Norwegian boatbuilder who built her 35 years ago. Erling intends to do a long cruise in North America beginning in 2008.

CARP Magazine one-liner

CARP Magazine -- the voice of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons -- included Sailing Away from Winter in its "Books in Brief" column. Accompanied by a photo of the cover, the one-line review said, "The beloved 67-year-old author tells his story of sailing from Cape Breton Island to Florida and on to the Bahamas during an eight-month cruise with his wife and dog as crew."

"Beloved?" What a very nice thing to say.

Interviews now posted on my web site

My interview on CBC-TV's The Living East is now posted on my web-site, along with the podcast from Furled Sails. To see or hear them, go to www.silverdonaldcameron.ca/interviews.html

Thumbs-up review from TREK, the UBC alumni magazine

Sailing Away From Winter

Silver Donald Cameron ba’60
Random House, $25.95


As a life long sailor, I am keenly aware of the lure of the sea, and as the years pass by, the narrowing of the window for adventure. Although, knowing what can go wrong on a mere weekend voyage, I am oftensceptical of the yarns spun by sailors; and their common tales of bliss at sea raise doubts in my mind.

Cameron’s book pulls the reader along on a well-written voyage
of discovery, self examination, trial (and a little error) and believable highlights. Thus, like a true sea voyage you share the good and the bad which combine to magnify the good, making it all the more valuable.

The reader can share in the exuberance of the author while he recounts their days in the sun during an often harrowing trip down the intercoastal water way from Cape Breton Island to the Bahamas. It is a great read for anyone who loves boats, cruises with theirspouse, understands dogs and is thinking of “one day” slipping the lines for warmer climes. Reviewed by Barney Ellis-Perry, ba’87.

Thumbs-down review from Canadian Geographic

Sailing Away from Winter is reviewed in the current issue of Canadian Geographic. Into every life a little rain must fall, and this review is a cold shower. Ah, well. You can't win 'em all. Here's the review:

Sailing Away from Winter: Canadian Geographic review by Allan Casey

Silver Donald Cameron is one of Nova Scotia's more prolific contemporary scribes, running the gamut from playwright to novelist and newspaper columnist. Even if you are not native to his beloved Cape Breton, you probably know his salty byline. "Silver," he explains, because there were too many Donald Camerons in Canada. But his hustle to survive as a freelance writer never left the lifelong sailor time to make the kind of epic voyage worthy of his dreams.

He proposes to sail down the Eastern Seaboard and out to the Bahamas — epic enough. But there are complications. His wife Marjorie wants to come along but worries the trip will be the death of the aging family dog, Leo. If Leo does keel over en route, will recrimination bloom in the tight quarters of the 31-foot Magnus? Above all, Cameron is getting to be an old dog himself — now pushing 70 — and unsure he's still up to the rigours of life aboard.

I've gone to literary sea with everyone from Joshua Slocum to Dame Naomi James, and I was eager to ship out under this seasoned raconteur-captain, to see where his "old-manand- the-sea" plot might take him. Unfortunately, Sailing Away from Winter is a tedious blur that never arrives at the thematic destination it promises.

Despite the title, Cameron seldom sails at all but, instead, motors south via the Intracoastal Waterway, a.k.a. "The Big Ditch," the most well-beaten path for yacht cruisers on Earth.

Moreover, as the author himself complains, cruising leaves little time for discovery. Cameron seems trapped in an endless quest for groceries, boat parts and a place to let an old dog pee.

The story ends up being about crowded marinas too much like one another and cruisers too much like the protagonists. "The truly disquieting thought," writes Cameron, "was that I was just another aging bourgeois, diligently pursuing a fake adventure with the odds stacked heavily in my favour."

We never do learn mate Marjorie's views on the voyage or even the fate of poor Leo the dog. The tale ends abruptly in the Caribbean, the trip home unexplained. One wonders whether the real story begins there. Perhaps a sequel will reveal all.

—Allan Casey
Allan Casey is a boatbuilder and a freelance writer in Saskatoon.