Sailing home: A journey through time, place & memory

by Gary Geddes

Fully aware that his mythical home-place might have vanished forever into memory (or at least into sad disrepair), Gary Geddes set out to discover his roots in a 31-foot British sailing sloop, christened the Groais. Those tangled roots wound their way up British Columbia's famed Inside Passage, an ancient sea route of nearly one thousand miles, an often turbulent waterscape where Geddes discovers a vibrant history, livelihoods come and gone, dramatic scenery, and ghosts of the past.The result of that search is Sailing Home , a wonderful meditative literary journey that is both a poignant personal memoir and a crow's nest view of the west coast's rich 10,000-year cultural, social and economic heritage. Despite his seafaring background -- Geddes' grandfather was a fisherman who drowned mysteriously off Point Atkinson and his father was a deep sea diver, shipbuilder and salmon fisherman -- he knows he is navigationally challenged with nautical experience anchored by raw fear, mechanical ineptness and bouts of seasickness. Setting out with the latest in technology (along with indecipherable charts, an adventure library, and the writings of George Vancouver and Charles Darwin), he soon finds himself at the mercy of a willful boat and an even more headstrong sea. But as he sails through unexpected storms and cotton wool fogs, he discovers that his own past is becoming a strong current in the shifting tides of coastal history.Lyrical and evocative, this is a book for all those embarking on their own personal journeys, whether they be by water, land or the flight paths of the imagination.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Canada

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[W.L. Hawkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this poetic non-fiction chronicle for research. I am writing a novel in which characters tackle the Georgia and Johnson Straits by yacht and I wanted some second-hand experience, especially regarding hazards. Geddes is a writer, teacher, and well-known poet in Canada, a wordsmith who can spin a yarn with a sense of humour. It's really a memoire, but interspersed with anecdotes about his past are clips about people he meets on his present journey; as well as, historical lessons about others who've lived and sailed the BC coast (like George Vancouver).

In the end, Geddes discovers that "the home-place, it seems, is a state of mind, a series of routines, a reservoir of memories, rather than a unique location in space." Hence the complete title -- Sailing Home: a Journey Through Time, Place and Memory.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geddes sets out in his sloop Groais to reconnect with the people and places of his childhood, but somewhere along the journey, he seems to lose his way. I had no real sense of journey - certainly no sense of travel by sail - from this book. Instead, it is mostly bouts of introspection mixed with repetitive anecdotes of family history. Geddes' grandfather was drowned in a sailing accident and his body was never recovered, his father and uncle were left severely traumatised by their wartime experiences, and his mother died in her 30s from cancer. These incidents obviously left a lasting and traumatic impression on Geddes, but while the reader can sympathise with him, at the same time, it feels self indulgent for him to write about these things multiple times in one book.

Towards the end, Geddes writes "Was there any point to this salvage work, these sightings or reconnections with people and moments in the past?" And later, when his daughter asks him "Did you find what you were looking for?" He responds: "More or less, but I've forgotten what it was." That line pretty much sums up this book.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I only made it through one third of this book. I can't remember not finishing something once I've picked it up but I was looking for a sailing adventure and this wasn't it. Too much in the way of old memories - which would have been fine if they were interesting. Just not for me.

[Marlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book it's hardly about sailing, so far it's been a boring account of different life events, that the author thinks will some how be interesting to the general public.

I found the beginning so melancholic, I could barely keep going. I have the 100 page rule if I'm still not into it by page 100 I'll quit, I never used to do this or even think of quitting a book, but there are many many noteworthy novels, life is too short to read something you re not interested in. I could not continue. It did become a best seller. This one is not for me. Quit at page 105

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much sailing, mostly memories.