Sea Trials
Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire
by Wendy Hinman
Narrated by Eric G. Dove
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Pub Date Sep 01 2022 | Archive Date Sep 24 2022
Salsa Press | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks
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Description
A shipwreck might end a dream of circumnavigating the globe. Not for the Wilcox family.
In 1973, the Wilcox family sets off to sail around the world aboard the 40-foot sailboat, Vela. Thirteen months later, they are shipwrecked on a coral reef, with surf tearing a huge hole into the side of their boat. With years invested in saving money, preparing the boat, and learning to navigate by the stars, parents Chuck and Dawn refuse to give up. Fourteen-year-old Garth is determined to continue, while eleven-year-old Linda never wanted to go in the first place. Can they overcome the emotional, physical and financial challenges to transform from castaways into circumnavigators?
To triumph, they must rebuild their boat on a remote Pacific island. Damage sustained on the reef and a lack of resources haunt them the rest of the way around the world as they face daunting obstacles, including wild weather, pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves, plus pesky bureaucrats and cockroaches as stubborn as the family. Without a working engine and no way to communicate with the outside world, they struggle to reach home before their broken rig comes crashing down and they run out of food in a trial that tests them to their limits.
*Sea Trials by Wendy Hinman has been named a Kirkus best book, a Foreword Reviews best book, and a Readers Favorite.
"Sea Trials is the timeless tale of a family and their struggle in the pursuit of a dream to sail around the world. It’s a true story of determination and survival in which parents and their teenage kids overcome daunting challenges–from shipwreck and wild weather to threats from pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves, a broken rig, scurvy and starvation. Glimpses of the fascinating cultures they encounter along the way enhances the suspense and keeps readers of all ages hooked until the end."
A Note From the Publisher
978-0-9848350-4-1 Sea Trials, eBook
978-0-9848350-3-4 Sea Trials, paperback
978-0-9848350-4-1 Sea Trials, eBook
Advance Praise
Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire was named a Kirkus Best Book by Kirkus Reviews, the elite reviewing agency. Fewer than 2% of all books earn a starred review. Even fewer are selected Best Book of the Month and, fewer still, Best Book of the Year. Wendy Hinman’s second book, Sea Trials can claim all three.
Sea Trials has earned glowing reviews from the national boating press, including Cruising World Magazine, Sailing Magazine, Wooden Boat Magazine and others and been featured in various gift guides. An excerpt was featured in Sail Magazine. With rave reviews from top publications and best-selling authors and readers, it’s clear that this book has popular appeal. The buzz about this talented new author continues to build as she follows up her laugh-out-loud award winning Tightwads on the Loose with another compelling true story of adventure and the stubbornness of dreams. (Also available in all formats.)
Editorial reviews:
"…The author’s expressive writing captures the wonder of being at sea in all its glory… her engaging narrative succeeds in capturing the thrills and frustrations of this intrepid family. Taking in remarkably far-flung destinations such as Christmas Island and the New Hebrides, this exhilarating book should appeal to any would-be explorer who has stood at the prow of a ship and dreamed of the possibilities. Highly readable and sufficiently evocative to sense the scent of sea air in the pages."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review). Selected a Kirkus Book of the Month (April 2017). Named A Kirkus Best Book.
Named a Foreword Reviews Best Book. “A shipwreck might end a dream of circumnavigating the globe. Not for the Wilcox family. To triumph, they must rebuild their boat on a remote Pacific island. Damage sustained on the reef and a lack of resources haunt them the rest of the way around the world as they face wild weather, pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves, scurvy and starvation in a trial that tests them to their limits. A timeless true story of grit and resilience.”
Named a Finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards for Narrative Non-fiction.
"Five stars! Wow! What a story this is. Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire by Wendy Hinman is an incredible tale of bravery, determination, and a strong will to win against all the odds and it is one of the best true-life stories I have read in a long while. The writing is amazing, it grips you from the start and is so descriptive that you truly feel as though you are battling each wave, fighting each fight and traveling every hard mile with the family. You can feel every emotion and I guarantee your teeth will be gritted and your fists clenched at several points during the story as you follow it. The story is fast and brilliantly written and I guarantee any reader will be hooked to the very end."
—Readers Favorites Book Review Winner Readers Favorite Book Award.
"A modern, swashbuckling adventure, Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire will quickly transport readers through a fascinating, light read out to sea aboard the Vela."
—Seattle Book Review
"What a tale! The Wilcox family’s epic ‘round-tripper had me turning pages at flank speed. Wendy Hinman crafts a true-life adventure story as outlandish and memorable as The Swiss Family Robinson, with shipwreck, reefs, dengue fever, gun-toting soldiers, and teenagers who won’t do their homework."
—Bruce Barcott, author of Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, The Measure of a Mountain, and Weed the People and a contributor to Outside Magazine
"A gripping tale of a family's harrowing journey to sail around the world against seemingly insurmountable and deadly odds."
—Robert Dugoni, the #1 Amazon and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series
“Sea Trials is a skillfully told story of perseverance, ingenuity, and grit. Wendy Hinman is back with another gripping sea saga, one that’s vivid enough to make you feel you’re aboard the 40-foot Vela…or shipwrecked on a reef in Fiji. Hinman’s pacing keeps the story humming along and her eye for detail helps us savor the voyage. Brief, well-placed excerpts from the family’s letters read like gems in a treasure hunt."
—Janna Cawrse Esarey, author of The Motion of the Ocean
"This true story of the Wilcox family is completely riveting and simultaneously insanely frustrating – which means it's a great book! Hinman's attention to little details like family squabbles and disagreements or stop-gap repairs make the whole trip vivid and real and their concerns intense… you are intensely caught up in the family's decisions and dilemmas while they are facing them and can sympathize with their recurrent optimism and desire to achieve their goal. Sea Trials immerses you in the Wilcox's world as you share their great adventure, for good and ill. It is an adventure that, for readers, is well worth the trip."
—San Francisco Book Review
"Hinman’s award-winning books, Tightwads on the Loose and Sea Trials, document both adventures with honesty, humor, and spirit. Both books are a blast to read."
—Seattle Review of Books
"Sea Trials is a captivating narrative, full of suspense and colorful descriptions of the sailing environment. Readers of all ages will enjoy this story and the skill with which it is told."
—Sailing Magazine
"Riveting. It is impossible to put down until the nail-biting end."
—Cruising World Magazine
"In Sea Trials, fans of Tightwads will find the same conversational style, recounting another mix of mishaps, humor, and foreign-port intrigue. Even armchair sailors will feel their hearts race with the Wilcox family in the cockpit of their 40’ Maine pinky, VELA. Hinman delivers another book to let you sail away."
—Wooden Boat Magazine
"The voyage was extraordinary. Hinman brings the same meticulous research and attention to detail to Sea Trials, engagingly drawing readers into the daily trials and family dynamics that shaped the Wilcoxes’ taxing journey"
—Three Sheets Northwest
"Hinman’s storytelling does well to connect her reader to the family’s journey – the ups and downs of sailing on a big ocean (of which there are plenty). The Wilcox’s story is both fulfilling and heartbreaking. One cannot help but become emotionally enthralled by this endeavoring group as they take their knocks and reap the rewards from a life hard-earned in an unforgiving environment."
—Good Old Boat Magazine
"It is exciting and interesting to see the family grow into their sea legs and learn how to live at sea. It is fascinating to be transported back to a time not that long ago when GPS wasn’t even a dream, and digital communication would have solved most of the issues the family faced. Hinman’s book is definitely worthy of a space on your bookshelf for a time when you can enjoy the immersion into the Wilcox family’s adventure-filled trip around the world.
—Northwest Yachting Magazine
Marketing Plan
The author is frequently doing book events and presentations, as well as writing articles to generate interest in this story and related title, the hit book Tightwads on the Loose, about her own seven-year 34,000-mile Pacific odyssey. She is also active on social media and blog posts. Following are a couple of her upcoming events. She will be doing a book signing at the American Library Association Conference in Washington, DC in June 2022. She will also be speaking and selling books at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, Washington in September 2022 and the Seattle Boat Show in January 2023. For more information please visit. Wendyhinman.com
Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire audiobook is narrated by award-winning narrator Eric G. Dove. Eric Dove is an award-winning narrator whose career spans over 12 years and 450 titles encompassing numerous genres, who consistently works with the best publishers in the business. Eric's performances become an immersive experience, transporting the listener into the author's world and ushering the author's characters into the world of the listener. Among many industry accolades, he was an Audie Award Nominee in 2017 in the crowded “Thriller/Suspense” category and is a multiple Audiofile Earphones Award Winner. He’s also a sailor with a large following on YouTube.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Audiobook, Unabridged |
| ISBN | 9780984835058 |
| PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
| DURATION | 12 Hours, 29 Minutes, 43 Seconds |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Jesse O, Reviewer
Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!
Sea Trials chronicles the long and arduous trip around the world undertaken by the Wilcox family on their yacht, the Vela. The account of their shipwreck on a coral reef and their subsequent determination to repair their boat and continue was fascinating, as were the descriptions of the yachting community and the education of their children while yachting. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys nonfiction.
Reviewer 993408
Great read! I don’t normally like memoirs but this book was amazing. It follows the Wilcox family on their voyage around the world via their 40 foot sailboat, named Vela, in the 1970’s. It will put to rest any romantic notions you may have about such a voyage. I love that it is honest and gives a detailed account of all things that can and will go wrong on a trip like this. No amount of preparing will make a trip like this go entirely smooth and it’s nice to let people know that. This family had a great adventure and saw many countries and experienced many cultures along the way. But they also encountered illness, scammers, military in various countries, financial woes, bug infestation, extremely hard work, near death experiences, trouble with the IRS, food shortages and being shipwrecked. This book is a great read that is hard to put down as you wait for their next adventure. Beautifully written! I listened to the audiobook and I love the narrator that was chosen. He has narrated a LOT of books so he is very experienced. He speaks clear and concise and distinguish each character by changing his voice. You will not be disappointed by this book.
Brianna C, Reviewer
What an adventure! The true story of the Willcox family who sailed around the world in the 70s. No GPS or modern devices to help them, they survived ship wrecks, storms and each other. Told in a way that you could see it from their eyes, honest about the toll it took on themselves, and refreshingly different
J. F. A, Reviewer
Audiobook Review: Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire by Wendy Hinman, Narrated by Eric G. Dove
Published by Salsa Press, September 1, 2022
★★★★☆ (4.25 Stars)
Positive!
Audiobook narration:
Commendable effort by Eric G. Dove as he gives voice to dozens of characters and pumps out the excitement and emotion in this challenging read.
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"Sea Trials" (2017 /2022) featuring the Wilcox family (Chuck, Dawn, Garth and Linda) is a prequel to author Wendy Hinman's "Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey" (2012) featuring Wendy herself and husband Garth Wilcox, the fourteen-year-old boy in "Sea Trials".
I've read and thoroughly enjoyed both books.
PHOTO
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KNKX Public Radio /KNKX.org
// The sailboat Vela with its shattered hull after it was salvaged from a barrier reef in Fiji in 1974 during Wilcox family's first leg across the Pacific. //
A picture says a thousand words! You'd shudder at the image, yet the wounded 40-foot sailboat, patched up (again and again) and spurred on by its undaunted captain and crew, would incredibly sail on for five more years and thousands of nautical miles to circumnavigate the globe, through the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Australia, Bali, South Asia, up the coast of Africa, through the Arabian Sea, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Panama Canal, back to the Pacific, and finally back home to San Francisco.
PHOTO
<a href="https://imgur.com/Ydv3lmr"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Ydv3lmr.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
// The Wilcox family (left to right): Dawn, Linda, Chuck, Garth, when they returned to San Francisco in 1979, weather-beaten but relieved to be safe, five years after the shipwreck near Suva, Fiji. //
The family sailed under less than ideal, even barebones, conditions, navigating by sextant, the stars and a Timex with a broken rig, a faulty engine which died out mid-trip, and a constantly leaky hull; minimum navigational and safety equipment and sanitation facilities, no radio, no sonar, no GPS or cell service (both unavailable at that time), limited cash, and often out of food.
Some would say that the voyage was indeed an ultimate test of endurance, a tribute to the indomitable human spirit.
Some would say, on the other hand, that the trip was an altogether foolhardy endeavor, rash, reckless, moreso because of the presence of young children. Reading the book, you could feel the despair at times so palpable, particularly when the dad snaps and shuts down cowering below deck while his wife and children struggle, which happens in several intervals.
Big winner 14-year-old Garth Wilcox (the author's husband) forged to toughness by the voyage, who goes on the become a Seattle-based naval architect.
Overall, a fascinating read!
Bonus review:
Wendy Hinman's "Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey" (2012) is a very well-produced audiobook to be relish if you can get it.
The first-person narration by Robin Karno is supplemented by a cornucopia of talented voice actors with authentic native accents - Polynesian French, Fijian /Indian English, Bislama, Pidgin English, Chamorro, Filipino and Nihongo, you'd feel you shall have been right on board with Wendy and Garth on the 32-foot "Velella", for the 7-year, 34,000-mile voyage, calling on 19 Pacific Rim countries - then back eastbound across the Pacific for the trip home to the US west coast.
(Link to my review in Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3509918252?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
Review based on advanced reading and listening copies courtesy of Salsa Press and NetGalley.
Abigail D, Reviewer
What a fun book! I loved reading about the epic experience of a family sailing around the world. The story was beautifully told.
LADY R, Reviewer
Wow this was an amazing read. I just couldn't get enough of this book. I was so engrossed from the very start. I listened to the audiobook and liked the narrators voice. Although I was surprised there was a male narrator when the author was female. The didn't take anything away from the book though.
The author has obviously lived a very exciting, thrilling and rather shocking life. The author and family spent a few years travelling the world. So there was plenty of cultures to enjoy learning about. I loved how the voyage took place in the 70's, so it was easy to see the changes from today's world. Its unbelievable what the family had to go through on the journey. With plenty of boat troubles and very interesting boarder crossings it lead to some exciting reading.
What shocked me the most was having to travel home with no engine but I definitely won't say any more on the subject you will need to read the book to find put what happened.
I highly recommend reading this book if you love reading travel writings and are interested in different cultures. The book was that good that I had to read it all in one sitting and its a 12 hour audiobook.
Only the highest of praise goes out to the author and publishers for bringing us this wonderful and exciting story of courage and strength to travel the world under extremely taxing adversities.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/sea-trials-by-wendy-hinman-ibpa-independent-author-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365
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