The Water in Between: A Journey at Sea

Twenty-nine year old Patterson, fleeing a failed love affair and the Manitoba winter, buys a 37-foot sail boat in Vancouver and sails to Tahiti and back. Patterson has no sailing experience, but he attracts a companion, Don Lang, who does. They brave storms and boredom. They even survive a brief stay in Hawaii.Not surprisingly, the voyage gives Patterson a chance to think. The results, included here, make this more than just a travel book. He discusses the reasons why men roam and travel writing as a genre. Among the author's inspirations are Bruce Chatwin, Wilfred Thesiger, and Eric Newby. For a modern-day Canadian (or American) to have heard of these classic travel writers, let alone discuss them with any measure of authority, is an achievement. I'm impressed. For that alone I have to give this a high rating.The author concludes that while men may travel to escape, it is no solution to their problems. It is better to stay at home and deal with them. Travel as escapism solves nothing: you just bring your troubles with you.Patterson's critique of Chatwin is spot-on. For all their enthusiasm for nomadism, Chatwin and the others fell far short of the ideal. They were never true nomads. Chatwin always had his American wife ensconced in an English cottage to come home to. And Thesiger, despite living for years in Arabia and Iraq, relied on a considerable annual private income and his mother's flat in London. They travelled only because they could afford to: home was always there for them.And that, I think, is one of the points of this book. It is settlement -- home -- that first encouraged the growth of civilisation, which in turn has allowed men to think, to travel, and to write at leisure. And of course without that we would not have such fine books as this one. I highly recommend it.

Kevin Patterson's journey is a richly written autobiographical work of a wonderful journey taken from British Columbia to Tahiti ad back. In addition to being a challenging journey for a man who has never sailed before, it is also a fine literary analysis for reasons of taking a journey of this kind. The book is a thrill to read on a literary level for the amazing understanding of the writing of Bruce Chatwin as well as other writers, sailors and friends who have taken serious voyages and were "going" places and loved both the voyage as well as the locations and the natives. It is a real deeply thought out and analyzed work that add a new and comprehensive insight on meaning and home and happiness. The references in the text that are elaborately exposed gives me a list of books to read and re-read for a lifetime.

As a "belly scratcher", I was suprised as to how quickly a was sailing alongside Patterson as he recounted his travels. It takes superb writing to transport me from my favorite chair in my living room and plunk me in the middle of the Pacific, enduring both gales and doldrums. I found "The Water in Between" an engaging and thought provoking read. I cannot imagine, even given my failed relationships, purchasing a ship and following my wanderlust. Yet this is not a tale of bravado and fearlessness, but a very human account of one man's quest. Patterson recounts his voyage with a comfortable style and language. I could identify with the yearning to depart from the inanities of a job and begin a search for ... more. I am not sure if it is the resources or the impetus that I lack. My curiousity about other travel writers is most certainly piqued. Excerpts of Theroux, Chatwin, Slocum and Moitessier (all on my to-read list) are brilliantly used to supplement Patterson's own travelogue. While his journey may have began based in self-pity and sorrow, it finishes with the realization that independence is a truly joyous attribute. Pvovided that you have a place to call home. A fantastic writing debut! Awaiting more.

Though I would think twice about joining Kevin Patterson on his journey at sea, I would not hesitate to read this book. Kevin Patterson has a way of taking you along anyway. Through wild weather and days and days in the doldrums, subsisting on noodles and frozen pie, you gain a pretty real sense of life at sea. There are mishaps and no apparent way of bathing, but at the same time you get to visit some rare places: Penrhyn Atoll, Palmyra, Tahiti. You also get to read over Kevin's shoulder and drink brandy long into the night in the dimly lit cabin and discuss writers you otherwise may not have read: Chatwin, Theroux and many other accounts of sea adventure. Then you wake in the morning, a little fuzzy and bleary-eyed only to discover the main sail has torn and wrapped itself around the mast. But wait. You are not at sea at all. You are on the sofa by the fire, reading a great book. He's the one who has to deal with the sail and eat cold curry noodles for breakfast. What a relief. What an incredible book.

Even those of us who have had little or no sailing experience, will not be able to resist the charm of Kevin Patterson's writing. It is a tale for even those who get weak at the knees at just contemplating the idea of being surrounded by nothing but water, wind, rain and sky, or by being truly alone with the slapping reality of oneself, will not be able to stop turning the pages. He writes as if he is reading to you, and he teaches you that you can make anything happen, if you so desire it, or if you are just plain bored with the routine of life. "The Water in Between" is not simply the tale of a 29 year old man fulfilling some egotistical plight to capture his youth, or his attempt to 'bodly go where few men have gone before', rather it is an honest, and at times a hilariously sarcastic narrative, about a person who decided to shed the skin of self-pity, and go for it. For me, the most enjoyable part of this book was that while the story itself is real, so to is the author!