| My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn |  | Author: David And Daniel Hays Hays
Publisher: HarperPerennial/Harper Collins Publishers
Category: Book
Buy Used: $0.93
Used (13) from $0.93
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 245
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
ISBN: 0747254672
EAN: 9780747254676
ASIN: 0747254672
Publication Date: 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Do you have a father? November 29, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Do you have a son? Have you ever dreamed of a sailing
adventure? This is a book about fathers, sons and
adventures. David and Daniel Hays had a unusual
partnership. This father and son team built a sailboat
together and then sailed it through the Panama Canal
and around Cape Horn.
Just the thought of that accomplishment is enough to
stun me to silence. But wait, as they say on late
night TV, there's more. The narration of the voyage is
shared in alternate chapters by the two men. They are
each astonishingly engaging writers and very willing
to share feelings about this enterprise and each other.
There is no posturing in their writing, just the sense
of hearing the voices of a particular family.
And what voices they are! You would be hard pressed to
find two more engaging writers. Even Dan's account
of being rolled by a Brazilian prostitute is,you should
pardon the expression, infectious.
Ignore the snarky title. This book is much better than
that and would make the perfect Fathers' Day gift from
or to a man you would like to have share your adventures.
--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005
 Mildly interesting, turned off by language February 18, 2005
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was enjoying this moderately until right about midway (between Galapagos and Easter Island) when the language got rougher than the seas and I deep-sixed it. After reading Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around The World", (a tremendous story!) this book seemed crude and sophomoric.
My old Man and the Sea September 1, 2002
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I listened to the audio version during a cross country drive with a friend. Along the way, we found ourselves laughing at times, crying at others. Our trip had a lot of ups and downs, much like their travels- of course the amenities of driving a car cross country cannot compare to sailing a boat around the horn!Anyway, my friend identified a little more with the older character, while I identified with his son- it made us think a little more about each others perspective. Definitely the best book on tape I've ever heard.
Inspiring! August 7, 2002
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
David and Daniel Hays are the first Americans to sail around Cape Horn in a boat under 30 feet in length. "My Old Man and the Sea" is the inspiring true story of a father and son's 17,000-mile voyage in a 25-foot yacht named Sparrow to the bottom of the world and back.
Although David and Dan sailed the easier route from the Pacific into the Atlantic with the prevailing westerly winds and currents they endured horrific storms that included Dan being tossed overboard during Sparrows dangerous sideways roll.
The tale is even more impressive when you learn that they chose to sail simply, without an engine and used a sextant and compass instead of a navigational system. David explains, "Our sport is to tune our senses not our instruments."
David and Dan's eloquent descriptions of the magnificence of the ocean and the magic of sailing brought back fond memories of my own six-month adventure hitchhiking on sailboats in the Bahamas. Like them, I was inspired to write a book titled "Earth, the Forgotten Temple." Tales concerning profound encounters with Mother Ocean and her other wilderness places need to be shared.
Most moving of all, despite conflicts, the deep love between the father and the son shine through to warm us all.
 A Good Sailing Yarn August 5, 2002
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I liked this book and found it to be a good sea story. It is well written and interesting. I especially enjoyed the father's recounting of his memories of boating with his own father before WWII and other random tales. And while I admire the courage of David and Dan's low-tech approach, I do not think this is something for us sailors to emulate; and indeed much has changed in the few years since the book was written due to GPS and improved communications. The book has its faults. There is a bit too much patronizing half-baked philosophy and sentimental cogitating about personal relationships for my tastes, and the father/son-love-discovery bit gets to be cloying. The title is an indication of much of the off-the-wall, Woody Allen type humor that characterizes their writing. Sometimes their recounting of the jokes they play on each other, and the witty observations they make seem to be aimed at impressing the reader with how clever the authors are. I know they are wittier than I am, but instead of being entertaining, their superior wit left me brooding about my own inadequecies. (Note: Although Bill Bryson is very witty he never leaves the reader feeling inferior or inadequate.) The actual voyage that the father and son made is not that remarkable and has been done by dozens of yachties. Nevertheless there are details, such as managing with a small motorless yacht, that make the story interesting. Dan and David are expert sailors and boatbuilders and there is much for the weekend sailor to learn from this book about boat handling and managing. Also I found the descriptions of the off-the-beaten-track places that they visited to be perceptive and engaging. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in books about voyaging in small boats (and who has a tolerance for BS).
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