To sail a boat is a magical, and sometimes mystical, experience. The sailor is free from the cares of life on land, entirely absorbed in the enterprise of moving a craft across the water. For the uninitiated, though, this is madness. Whatever reason can there be for willingly putting yourself at the mercy of nature's unpredictable forces, winds, waves and weather? In this captivating book, Matt Vance takes you inside the mind of the sailor, from the first scary moment of handling a boat solo to the exhilaration of sailing across oceans and discovering new worlds. His stories and those of his fellow madmen will captivate sailors young and old - and if you're a landlubber you may just find yourself yearning for the blue horizon.