Maiden Voyage

by Tania Aebi, Bernadette Brennan

Overview

Tania Aebe was an eighteen-year-old dropout and barfly. She was going nowhere until her father offered her a challenge. He would offer her either a college education or a twenty-six-foot sloop in which she had to sail around the world alone. She chose the boat and for two years it was her home, as she negotiated weather, illness, fear, and ultimately, a spiritual quest that brought her home to herself....


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345410122
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/28/1996
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.24(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Tania Aebi is a bestselling author who, in 1985, became the youngest woman to sail around the world alone. Her book Maiden Voyage has been published in eight countries.

Editorial Reviews

Challenged by her German-Swiss father, an 18-year-old New York City bicycle messenger in 1988 became the first American woman, and the youngest person, to sail alone around the world. In this jaunty account of her journey, she veers between the perils of solo sailing, her relationships with her separated parents and the death of her mysterious mother. Aebi, writing with freelancer Brennan, reveals her lack of sailing knowledge and experience, describes the heavy seas and weather she endured, her numerous problems with malfunctioning equipment, the countries, people and cats she encountered and a sympathetic French-Swiss whose boat sometimes accompanied her own. The story is so compelling that sailing enthusiasts will read avidly on to the triumphant finish. Literary Guild alternate; author tour. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This is the story of an 18-year-old New York City girl and her exciting solo circumnavigation of the globe on a 26-foot sloop with only a cat for company. Aebi had little previous experience, so most of what she learned was ``on the job'' and from people she met en route. One of the most appealing aspects of this particular single-handed sailing account is Aebi's naivete and the caring response that she encountered all over the world. Her 27,000-mile, three-year trek is usually attempted only by practiced sailors, and her survival was achieved by pluck, inventiveness, helping hands, and a good deal of luck. Armchair sailors will cheer and dream a little and veterans may only shake their heads. Recommended.-- Susan Ebershoff-Coles, Indianapolis-Marion Cty. P.L.

Library Journal