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SV BEYOND

The Book Forming
Alongside the Voyage

Reading

Letters to Sam

For many years I have wanted to write a book to my sons.  The idea, that was born fully complete in my mind, was of a series of letters, to be revealed and read at different stages of the boys' lives.  One at 12 years old as they go into teenage school years; one at 18 when adulthood is just arriving; one at late twenties when partner and family might be beckoning; the thirties and forties when they are raising their own kids; and ultimately later stage of life, my age, when retirement and regrets raise their ugly heads.

If I did it well enough and it had some value, maybe this turned into a family heirloom of some sort, that got handed down to kids who want to know who grandad or great grandad was. 

There also was a recognition that solo sailing across the Atlantic held some risk and, in some way, maybe there was value in leaving something of me behind.  It's not a vanity project (though of course it is!) but like all of us, I have lived a life full of stupidity and greatness, though times of monumental almost incomprehensible  change and every perspective on that must have value.  Especially in a world rapidly filling with AI slop and history being re-written before our eyes every day, a simple authentic sharing of perspective must be a worthy endeavour.

In particular, my interest has to do with how one must make oneself do something.  Every aspiration you have is tinged with risks and temptation to not take action.  In a way Sv Beyond exists to show that you don't drift into a fuller life - you have to cast off fear, hesitation and delay.  Deliberately and decisively.

This from the perspective of a man who solo sailed across the North Atlantic at age 65.  Something that many, himself not least, thought was mad.

So, I invite you on the journey of the boat and the journey of the book.  If you are interested in that at all, you will become early witness to the book being released chapter by chapter.  Kind of a first reader experience.

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