Chris Stewart walked out of that job interview and turned into a sailboat captain. Everything was flowing. But other than being the only candidate, among the whiskey and soft drinks he had with his interlocutors, he had the highest salary he ever had; Beyond all that was the minuscule detail that he had never captained a ship in his life. Until then, his only connection to sailing was the time he spent reading a manual on how to learn to pilot a boat. The joy of the new job soon turned to anxiety: He had to take it a little more seriously. Basically, I needed to learn to sail.
Three ways to capsize the boat Salamander is the book in which Stewart collects this very adventure. A process that began one cloudy morning in the British port of Littlehampton, when he accompanied an acquaintance who offered to give him his first sailing lesson. Stewart found all the preparations before sailing “dull and meaningless”, the voices at which orders were given too loud, the feeling of not knowing where the coast was troubling, and above all, the humiliation of the two hours that had passed trying to ascend the river on his return to port. The low power of the engine and the force of the water kept them at the same point—to the delight of walkers on the boardwalk—until the fishing boat offered to tow them. On the second trip, he realizes how dangerous the sea is and how suddenly everything can change. They both end up in the water, struggling to survive.
Then, enroll in a real course—of course, 15 days—and learn the vocabulary, some of the knots, and why it’s important to get it right. One night, he discovers the “pleasure of sailing on the open sea” at night, guided only by the stars. With the diploma in his hands and the memory of his paternal grandfather, who was a sea captain, he already felt more than ready to face his mission: captaining the ship of his new chiefs in the Greek islands. With agility and irony, Stewart recounts an adventure that will take him to Greece, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the coast of the United States. An interesting story about the world of sailing, navigation and travel. Also about the fun of learning and discovery.
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