The Borders of the Waters

Why would any sound individual sign up to be waterlogged, pirate-plagued, hurricane trashed, humiliated, and just generally inconvenienced? Anyone bitten by the boating bug, or just intrigued, should pick up The Borders of the Waters, Phyllis Hudgins's high-spirited nautical memoir of countless days on every imaginable vessel and weather condition. This series of related stories charts her years with husband Bob taking up rolling, reeling residence on the water. Throughout, she reveals the risks, the humor, the spendor, the camaraderie, and the bountiful fun that every excursion affords this all-weather twosome. From the mild-mannered Great Lakes to the fickle Florida coast, Hudgins's many shores are rich in high times and low tides. With a seasoned eye and philosophical attitude, she navagates decades of challenges undertaken, lessons learned, destinations discovered, and friendships sealed, sailing the Hawiian Islands, the Bahamas, St. John's River, and Cape Horn, among other locals. Along the way, they wrestle hurricanes, pirates, and sometimes an equally agonizing lack of wine. At the same time they encounter random acts of kindness, rum-filled, antic evenings, and awe inspiring shows from Mother Narture certain to strike the fancy of anyone, with sea legs or not. Whether water-logged engines or wet and sleepless nights, nothing can dampen the author's love of boating, and every page is awash in a wanderlust that transcends the most daunting days at sea. Any reader seeking humor-infused armchair travel, or a reason to relish every day, will take to this warm-hearted, windswept memoir like a salty dog to water.