This true adventure started in 1969, with a casual remark between two friends having coffee. It was a dreary April afternoon at the University of Washington cafeteria in Seattle. "Let's buy a boat and sail to the South Pacific." Well, with almost insurmountable difficulties, that's exactly what happened.
The voyage lasted almost ten years and covered more than 30,000 nautical miles. The boat was the Lusty I, a classic two-masted wooden sailing schooner. The name was prophetic and appropriate for the dozens of men and women who helped make the journey.
The resulting tale is a sort of postmodern version of Homer's Odyssey in reverse. The crew of the Lusty I chose to flee the safety of home with the hopes of finding seduction and adventure abroad... and they found it.
They weathered dangerous storms in a leaking boat, fell in love, and got shot at. Mafia bodyguards scared them away from an island resort. The British Navy quarantined them on a deserted island. Buried treasure, exotic meals, volcanoes, and the mysterious "green flash." A multitude of fascinating cultures and tropical Islands of unsurpassed beauty. Everything is documented in writing and in over 70 full-color photographs.
Ports of call included: the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, the New Hebrides, the Solomons, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Ceylon, Seychelles, Mombasa, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Brazil, Trinidad, and dozens of islands in the Caribbean.
By revisiting this journey, one might be better able to understand the world we live in now... but whether for edification or sheer fun, come along and enjoy the Chronicles of the schooner Lusty I.
Author Biography:
Mike Williams grew up in the Seattle area and at the age of twenty dropped out of school and journeyed to New York and subsequently Europe. He returned two years later to finish University, but not being very career-minded or a particularly good student, when the opportunity to go sailing came along he jumped at the chance. As he said, It just felt like the right thing to do. After the years circumnavigating, Mike was never really able to settle back into a day job and a conventional life style. As a result, a good part of the last thirty or so years has been spent living overseas, and most of that time has been in Thailand. While the expat life suits him well, a few months every year are spent back in the Pacific Northwest at the old log cabin on Whidbey Island he calls his summer home.
