A SHIPWRECK MIGHT END
A DREAM OF CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE.
NOT FOR THE WILCOX FAMILY.
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF TIGHTWADS ON THE LOOSE
COMES ANOTHER RIVETING HIGH-SEAS ADVENTURE
For Immediate Release:
SEATTLE – JANUARY, 2017 – From Wendy Hinman, the author of laugh-out-loud award winning Tightwads on the Loose, comes another true story of adventure and the stubbornness of dreams. Salsa Press announces the release of Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire. The book will be available through most major outlets in April 2017.
Sea Trials is a timeless story of a family and their struggle in the pursuit of a dream, filled with daunting challenges, glimpses of the fascinating cultures they encounter and enough levity to keep readers of all ages hooked to a suspenseful, satisfying ending.
NOTE: Of particular interest to the media:
The Wilcoxes returned home to San Francisco to media fanfare in July 1978 after a five-year trial, during which they were shipwrecked, rebuilt the boat, and faced daunting obstacles, from wild weather to threats from pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves, a broken rig, scurvy and starvation. This story generated big press coverage at the time of the shipwreck (Sept 1974) and again upon the family’s return after completing their voyage around the world (in July 1978). The story went out over the AP and UPI news wire services and was picked up in various publications around the world, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and newspapers in Toronto and Geneva, among others, and a television interview with Maury Povich.
The book description from the book’s cover follows:
Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire
by Wendy Hinman, award-winning author of Tightwads on the Loose
(Genre: Travel, Biography, True-life adventure, family drama, sailing)
In 1973, the Wilcox family sets off to sail around the world aboard the 40-foot sailboat, Vela. Thirteen months later, they are shipwrecked on a coral reef, with surf tearing a huge hole in the side of their boat.
After years invested in saving money, preparing the boat, and learning to navigate by the stars, parents Chuck and Dawn refuse to give up. Fourteen-year-old Garth is determined to continue, while eleven-year-old Linda never wanted to go in the first place. Can they overcome the emotional, physical and financial challenges to transform from castaways into circumnavigators?
To triumph, these pioneers must rebuild their boat on a remote Pacific island. Damage sustained on the reef and a lack of resources haunt them the rest of the way around the world as they face daunting obstacles, including wild weather, pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves plus pesky bureaucrats and cockroaches as stubborn as this family. Without a working engine and no way to communicate with the outside world, they struggle to reach home before their broken rig comes crashing down and they run out of food on a trial that tests them to their limits.
**
Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire
by Wendy Hinman
ISBN 978-09848350-3-4
Paperback edition 434 Pages, including photographs and a glossary
Published 2017, Salsa Press, Paperback $20, eBook $5.99
This gripping story will appeal to readers of all ages: adults, young adults and even kids.
For wholesale pricing, visit Ingram or please contact info@wendyhinman.com. To order your copy of Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire, please visit: www.amazon.com, your independent book seller, http://wendyhinman.com, or www. SalsaPressPublishing.com.
Early reviews for Sea Trials:
“…The author’s expressive writing captures the wonder of being at sea in all its glory… her engaging narrative succeeds in capturing the thrills and frustrations of this intrepid family. Taking in remarkably far-flung destinations such as Christmas Island and the New Hebrides, this exhilarating book should appeal to any would-be explorer who has stood at the prow of a ship and dreamed of the possibilities. Highly readable and sufficiently evocative to sense the scent of sea air in the pages.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review). Selected a Kirkus Book of the Month.
“A modern, swashbuckling adventure, Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire will quickly transport readers through a fascinating, light read out to sea aboard the Vela.” —Seattle Book Review
“A gripping tale of a family’s harrowing journey to sail around the world against seemingly insurmountable and deadly odds.” —Robert Dugoni, the #1 Amazon and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series
Sea Trials is a skillfully told story of perseverance, ingenuity, and grit. Wendy Hinman is back with another gripping sea saga, one that’s vivid enough to make you feel you’re aboard the 40-foot Vela…or shipwrecked on a reef in Fiji. Hinman’s pacing keeps the story humming along and her eye for detail helps us savor the voyage. Brief, well-placed excerpts from the family’s letters read like gems in a treasure hunt. —Janna Cawrse Esarey, author of Motion of the Ocean
“This true story of the Wilcox family is completely riveting and simultaneously insanely frustrating – which means it’s a great book! Hinman’s attention to little details like family squabbles and disagreements or stop-gap repairs make the whole trip vivid and real and their concerns intense… you are intensely caught up in the family’s decisions and dilemmas while they are facing them and can sympathize with their recurrent optimism and desire to achieve their goal. Sea Trials immerses you in the Wilcox’s world as you share their great adventure, for good and ill. It is an adventure that, for readers, is well worth the trip.” —San Francisco Book Review
“In a time before cell phones and laptops, the Wilcox family set out to sail around the world, but after a shipwreck, their adventure takes a dramatic detour. Thrilling, poignant, and hilarious moments surface as this family struggles to cope with each other, repair the wreck and most of all, to keep going. The only thing missing are recipes for their extreme-budget meals!” —Debra Daniels-Zeller author of The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook
“A satisfying read about the costs and rewards of human endeavor and the effects they have on a family.” —Jan Burak Schwert, author of Geezers’ Guide to the Galaxy: A Lifetime of Travel Encounters
“A nail-biting adventure story with thought-provoking lessons for today’s sailors.”—Elsie Hulsizer, author of Voyages to Windward and Glaciers, Bears and Totems
“Hinman has written a compelling story of a family’s quest to sail around the world, a trip that starts with equal parts of hope and hubris and becomes a survival tale as the family surmounts one obstacle after another to keep their ship afloat.” —Sharon L. Morris, Adventure Travel Writer
“This tale of the numerous near-fatal hardships her husband’s family endured during a five-year around-the-world sailing journey in the 1970s — before the advent of affordable long-range electronic navigation gear made such undertakings advisable — blows me away every time I read it. It is nothing less than a first-rate, immaculately reported and researched work of narrative journalism and high adventure.” — Jim Thomsen, editor
“I couldn’t put it down.” — Chuck Wilcox
About the author:
Wendy Hinman is the award-winning author of Tightwads on the Loose, the story of her 34,000-mile seven-year voyage aboard a 31-foot boat with her husband, Garth Wilcox, the teenage hero of Sea Trials. She is currently the Editor of the Writers Connection and her writing has appeared in a variety of publications. She is an inspiring speaker on turning dreams into reality—or succumbing to delusions and the crazy adventures they provoke. Her presentations are filled with humor and hard-won lessons that amuse and encourage. As a president of Toastmasters, she is a polished presenter and storyteller, who has shared her stories across various media. For more information, visit www.wendyhinman.com.
Contact information:
Wendy Hinman, Author
Website http://wendyhinman.com
206-335-6756
Email: wendyhinman@gmail.com
Book Wendy Hinman today for an interview or to present to small or large groups as a keynote speaker.
Also by this author:
Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey features the exciting story of two vagabonds who explore far flung islands and civilizations for seven years aboard a 31-foot wooden boat and learn that a sense of humor is more important than what most might consider “necessities.”
Reviews for Tightwads on the Loose:
“A light-hearted tone and unaffected style make this an entertaining tale.” San Francisco Book Review
“Dreams of freedom and adventure: For most people, they remain just that — dreams. For certain others, like Wendy Hinman and Garth Wilcox, such dreams are the stuff life is. In 2000 the couple set sail from Puget Sound for a Pacific Odyssey in their 31-foot cutter, Velella. Seven years later, the couple returned home. Along the way, they logged some 34,000 nautical miles, touched 19 countries, endured typhoons, experienced close calls with freighters, potential pirates and phantom night vessels, swam in snake and crocodile infested waters and made do without refrigeration and Internet. A compelling read, “Tightwads on the Loose: a Seven Year Pacific Odyssey” flows as an adventure narrative with a “you are there” flavor. Ms. Hinman had done plenty of professional writing before the voyage: She’s as competent with the written word as she is at sea. And she clearly has a sense of humor — a necessary, conjugal survival tool within the confines of a 31-foot boat small enough to prevent her husband from standing straight up.” Mike Dillon, Magnolia News
“Alternately hilarious, exciting and thought provoking, Tightwads on the Loose tells what happens when two people with very disparate personalities set out in a too small boat with a too small budget. Tightwads on the Loose will take you on a glorious romp around the Pacific.” Elsie Hulsizer, author of Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska and Voyages to Windward: Sailing Adventures on Vancouver Island’s West Coast
“In this e-age of shoddy, sloppy sea yarns, it is nice to discover a wordsmith who cares how the words fall upon the page. Wendy Hinman does. She crafts each sentence with care. She is a pleasure to read. I enjoyed this book right from the title. Funny, too!” Cap’n Fatty Goodlander, author of numerous books about wandering under sail, a featured columnist in All At Sea and an Editor-at-Large of Cruising World magazine.
“Enjoy a wild ride with Wendy Hinman’s Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey. The pragmatist and the dreamer (at one point Wendy likens herself to Tinker Bell) make entertaining travel companions, and the places they visit capture the imagination.” – Janna Cawrse Esarey, author of The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife
“Lively, thoughtful and entertaining, “Tightwads on the Loose” offers a realistic glimpse into the ups and downs of living the cruising dream. Armchair sailors can enjoy the ride, while aspiring voyagers will appreciate Hinman’s honesty. She aptly demonstrates that like most worthwhile pursuits, long-distance voyaging is far from easy, and that’s a large part of what makes it so satisfying.” Three Sheets Northwest Online Boating News
Tightwads on the Loose is the charming true story of a couple whose big dream is to circumnavigate the Pacific Ocean was not deflated by a small budget. Hinman’s self-effacing style and eye for the hilarious make the seven-year, 34,000-mile tale a pleasure to read. Sailing Magazine
More than 140 positive reviews on Amazon.
Find out what readers are saying on Amazon.com and at http://wendyhinman.com/tightwads-on-the-loose/what-some-readers-are-saying-about-tightwads-on-the-loose/.
About Salsa Press Publishing
Seattle-based Salsa Press specializes in books about embracing life’s opportunities, living simply and boldly. Salsa Press is passionate about stories that offer a taste of adventure and history, with an eye towards creating the life you want to live and redefining the world for the greater good. We aim to foster compelling stories that transport readers to new worlds and open possibilities. We love travel stories, stories that explore history, culture and geography and the lessons we can take from them that help us reach higher and farther. Mostly we celebrate stories that inspire. The idea of turning dreams into reality excites us and our titles are focused on turning plot-twists into opportunities. As we like to say, “Adventure is the spice of life. Bring on the spice!” We publish fiction and non-fiction, serious and funny. For more information, visit: www.salsapresspublishingcom.
info@salsapresspublishing.com
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