Kijana: The Real Story

by Jesse Martin

At age 18, Jesse Martin became the youngest person ever to sail unassisted and nonstop around the world. To top that, he and four friends decided to realize another a three-year fantastic voyage full of adventure, interesting people, and exotic places, limited only by their imaginations and documented on camera. In this travelogue, Martin explains where they went, what they found, and what they learned, good and bad, about themselves and each other. Readers follow the five friends over the entire trip, from planning and purchasing to on-board tales and life after their early return. There are beautiful moments and there are moments when the sailors' resolves are tested, as they weather storms both within and without. The ship becomes a microcosm in which the needs, feelings, failings, fears, and weaknesses of five people crash into each other, sometimes resolving and sometimes not, and Jesse's recounting pulls no punches. Adventure log readers, memoir fans, and anyone interested in being taken to another place will enjoy this warts-and-all recounting of the friends' journey.

Genres: Adventure

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Anne Millen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hard to review because it is hard to separate the story from the book. Start with the story, then. It is an account of a sponsored voyage by five young people (the captain famous already for being the youngest person ever to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world) who set off on a circumnavigation to be filled with adventures, filmed and followed by modern media. That should tell you something, if you are a sailor. You cannot run a vessel according to the expectations of the 'office'. Publicity and finance became paramount and the television world cannot distinguish authenticity from their reality shows or their a... umm, arms.
The book achieves what the story could not - authenticity. This is it's great strength. It is well paced, funny, interesting and sad. I would have liked more sailing details, as they had a fantastic cutter rigged ketch, built in New Zealand and designed by Culler, but the author wisely realised that for most readers that is enough. Enough.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few thoughts on the book here ::

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