Good story of a former competitive sailor rediscovering his joy in it and eventually getting his wife and kids into it. ( )

Nathaniel Philbrick has obviously written a number of history- and sailing-related books, but I, despite having had every intention to do it, haven't yet managed to read any of them, even though they're most definitely up my alley. However, I now have read this little memoir about Philbrick's own return to sailing in 1992.

Philbrick grew up sailing competitively, winning a national title in Sunfish boat sailing at the age of 22, in the late 70s or early 80s (I listened to the audiobook and can't quite remember); but by the beginning of the 90s, his life has shifted. Though he lives on Nantucket with his wife--also a former competitive sailor--and two children and works seasonally as a sailing instructor, he hasn't sailed a Sunfish, the racing boat of his childhood, in a long time. Now, he decides to pick up Sunfish sailing again. In doing so, he decides to sail on all of the ponds in Nantucket (apparently quite a few!) in preparation for competing in the national championships again. Along the way, he reflects on how his life has changed and priorities have shifted (largely for the better) since his earlier racing days and on how sailing relates to family both in his childhood and in his children's.

I found this book a bit last-minute, so I really didn't know what to expect from it, but I did legitimately enjoy it. I hadn't expected quite the amount of descriptions of Nantucket geography and ecology, but I really enjoyed those portions, as well as the portions that involved Philbrick sailing with his family. However, this book does include a lot of technical sailing terms that I couldn't really understand. (I've rowed crew before, but never sailed.) Perhaps just because of the cover, this book reminded me a fair bit of Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons of Rome, so I couldn't avoid comparing the two a bit; I deeply enjoyed Four Seasons, and I did end up preferring it to this one. ( )

I like memoirs and I also like historian Nathaniel Philbrick. Unfortunately I didn't like his memoir. Philbrick and his family live on Nantucket. When his children were small he decided he would work from home and take care of the kids while his wife worked as a realtor. It was a plan that worked well for a few years but eventually he began to want something more. He had started sailing at a young age and eventually became a competitive sailor. For a period of ten years though he had attended to the kids and his writing and had not sailed at all. His wife had been a very good sailor too, in some ways better than he was so it was a sport they shared.

The memoir was his experience returning to sailing and teaching his children to sail. I have sailed very little and know nothing about the various boats and boating equipment which he discusses frequently and in depth. It would probably be a good book for anyone who does sail but I was bored beginning to end. ( )