Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Allowing for all the variable factors Gordon estimated that the actual position of the schooner was somewhere in a rectangle five hundred miles long by two hundred miles wide, an area of one hundred thousand square miles – Ile Amsterdam was barely two miles wide. After a further recalculation of the schooner's position Gordon estimated that they would see the island ahead at about 5pm - it was some time after 6pm that they actually sighted the island through the falling snow. I read it cover to cover in just a couple of days. I couldn't put it down; I was up until 2am, too gripped to stop reading. I’m not afraid to die if we’re all together,’ her father told the children. Heywood remembers him throwing her a gun to help repel a group of men trying to get on board. It is a glimpse, through one lens, of exciting derring-do – but through a mother’s eyes the memory is chilling.
There was, nevertheless, an emotional hurdle to overcome with the book. She had to confront her parents about her version of events (she does, in fact, draw on memories of crew members too). ‘My family would never ever talk about [any] of it. Whenever I tried, the line would be, “Don’t – it upsets your mother.”’ Once again, Dad was in a hurry to leave, saying that Mum was waiting for him in Fiji and he had work to do on Wavewalker to get it ready to sail again. After 36 hours of continuous pumping in moderating seas the huge leaks were at last brought under control, but then the weather started to deteriorate again with another build up of huge waves. By the time we reached the other end of the pristine terminal, we were laughing and almost crying over my absurdly heavy bags, and I’d discovered my new friend was called Hélène and would be sharing my next flight to Hong Kong.The swelling is pressing down on the fracture. If we do nothing, Monsieur Capitaine, your daughter could end up with brain damage. We must cut into the wound.” The survival of his family and crew is a testament to Gordon's ability - he truly deserves this award" A seven-year old girl on a seventy-foot yacht, for ten years, over fifty thousand miles of sailing. Wavewalker is the incredible true story of how the adventure of a lifetime became one child’s worst nightmare – and how her determination to educate herself enabled her to escape. This personal and powerful book is so great. What a journey - a hardcore one at times. I’m glad the compass has found its way home” - Bear Grylls People often say to me when they learn of my story, “But you seem so normal!” And I am normal in some way, but I am also an outsider.’
This memoir is at times thrilling and at others desperately sad as the author recounts how a planned three year voyage turned into a decade at sea interspersed with periods onshore in other countries during her formative years. What might at first seem like an idyllic childhood turned into anything but as she had to fight for an education and in the end was relieved to escape. It will be nearly 40,000 miles," said Gordon. "My wife doesn't like the idea of long voyages any more but the plan is that when I get to some of the nicer ports of call she will join me for a few weeks at a time for some local sailing." There was another pause. “None of this is your fault,” she said. “You’re coping with far more than is fair. I can’t change that, though I can be here if you need to talk.”
Cambridge bookseller to sail across world at 76
What was particularly sad was Suzanne’s relationship with her mother, which was frankly awful. But it really sounded like her mother was rather a victim of the dad’s autocratic flights of fancy too. She sounded depressed for a lot of time, and clearly took her plight out on her daughter.
Great Deal 
New Comment