Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Sailing Faith (A Book Review)


Gregg A. Granger, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home (Middleville, MI: Gregg Granger, 2010), 247 pages plus a 20 page insert of color prints.
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There are men who, during a mid-life crisis, strike out for the territories, leaving their family behind. Gregg Granger is not such a man. He has his crisis and he literally sails off into the sunset, but he takes his family with him. This book is Gregg’s story of sailing a fifty-four foot sailboat (named Faith) around the world. For four years, Gregg along with his wife (Lorrie), two teenage daughters (Amanda and Emily), and a younger son (Greggii) live aboard the boat. Gregg’s children are home schooled as they sail from Hampton, Virginia, through the Caribbean to the Panama Canal, then across the Pacific, stopping at the Galapagos Islands, then to the South Seas and on to Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Oman and Yemen, through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean and then back across the Atlantic. This was a wonderful adventure for a family whose previous experience at sailing was a Hobie Cat on an inland lake. In telling the story, we learn of the tension the family sometimes faced living in tight quarters, but more importantly we get to see the love they shared for one another and for the people they met along the way.
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Once they announced their intentions, everyone kept warning Gregg about the dangers. “You’re going to a lot of places where they don’t value human life like we do,” he was told. (I suppose I was even guilty of this misconception when I met Gregg and looked at the map on the cover and pointed out that his journey took him through two of the most pirated areas of the world). This misconception becomes the family’s mantra as he finds people most everywhere value life (one of the places he finds this not to be true is in Israel with the way they treat the Palestinians). Interestingly, the two places the Grangers enjoyed the most are areas we, in the United States, are often warned about: Indonesia and Yemen. Along the way, the Grangers share their Christian faith, but also learn to respect the faith and tradition of others. Another area that the Granger’s are surprised is the quality of medical care they discover while on their trip, a discovery that allows Granger the opportunity to take a swipe at the expensive care we have here in the United States.
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Sailing Faith is primarily a travelogue. I would have liked to have read a bit more about life on the boat, the smells of the sea, the clanging of the hardware, descriptions of sunrises and sunsets, how they navigated, what’s it’s like to step on land after a month on the water. Instead, journeys across vast amounts of water are covered in a few pages, highlighting the catching of a tuna or the struggle to keep equipment working. Granger focuses more on their time in port and with those with whom they become friends (other families on living on sailboats as well as those who are native of the lands in which they explore). The family often spends extended time on shore and in Malaysia they spend nearly a year as the boat is taken out of the water and rebuilt.
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I enjoyed reading this book. The experiences of the Grangers give me hope for the world. Unfortunately, it’s privately printed and, as far as I know, is only available at their website. The website also contains some wonderful photos of the family’s journey. I met Gregg at the Festival of Faith and Writing I attended a few weeks ago.

13 comments:

  1. You should read the blog of the Australian girl sailing the world alone. It's got all the things you missed here.

    http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/_blog/Official_Jessica_Watson_Blog

    Her older posts are much longer and in depth than her newer ones.

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  2. http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/_blog/Official_Jessica_Watson_Blog

    Did my link not work? Friggin' Yahoo...

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  3. On occassion I've wished I was the kind of person to do something like this. but I just don't have it in me.

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  4. I love the cover of the book. As I like travelogues, this one is worth picking up!

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  5. Jen, I have occasionally seen her posts, she's even done You-Tube updates which another blogger pointed out. I don't know why you blogger doesn't always allow links to work.

    Charles, we all have our own adventures in us... Few of us can write convincing horror

    Gautami, it is fun to travel around the world with someone else...Have you read Twain's "Following the Equator"? Twain, unlike the Grangers, spent time in India

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  6. I've read several "around the world by sail" memoirs and generally have enjoyed them all. Doing a circumnavigation has always been something stuck in the back of my mind on the "Want to but probably never will" shelf.

    Cheers.

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  7. People wwho sail are quite something. I have 2 good friends who do, and it's amazing to listen what they experience when they sail. Freedom, respect for the elements... it's all a phillosophy for life.

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  8. Years ago, the G.R. Press did an article on him- I remember this!

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  9. GOOD STUFF!

    John

    I like the learning to value other faith's as a Christian. Shows a good open mind and heart!

    John

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  10. Nice review, and must have been neat to talk with him. Hard to imagine doing the same- I would wonder about quite a few places too.

    As for traveling, I can think of inummerable other places I'd like to go, some of which you have pleasantly described!

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  11. interesting way of life for a family for this extended period of time. Seems like it would involve a lot of adapting.

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  12. I wish I had the courage to take a journey like that. No exactly on the high seas but certainly where I've never been before!
    thanks for the great review, and what a blessing to get to met the author!

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