Shortly after his retirement, author Robert S. Ashton buys a 1983 Nordic 40 sailboat. He names the boat Chandelle, not realizing at the time that it will be his home for the next ten years. Along with his friends, Don, Roger, and Martha, Ashton soon joins a group of boats preparing to brave the Gulf Stream and adjacent waters from Norfolk, Virginia, to the Caribbean. During the next ten years, "Captain" Ashton sails to numerous destinations...