Three years with Sylvia

by Michael Hoare

The author fully expects the title of this book to lead the reader to expect an account of the goings-on between a man and his mistress. In a sense, that is what it is. Sylvia is a large ex-Baltic trading yacht who made outrageous demands on her lover's heart and pocket. For three years Mike Hoare and his family made her their home, sailing round the western Mediterranean in Sylvia and visiting many ports in Spain, France and North Africa, seeking and finding romance and adventure, strange places and great people.Three Years with Sylvia is written in a lively style, and interspersed in the narrative are many anecdotes of the sea and sailors, and of earlier voyages undertaken by Hoare. Scattered here and there are also golden nuggets of truth about sailing and life.

Genres: Biography

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 1977

Reviews

[Dylan Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colonel Mike Hoare documents his 3 years sailing around the Mediterranean with his family. Follow a humourous, francophilic and a pious man through yacht cruising. The age of sail may be over but the joy of such expeditions can never be so. Hoare's character, quite a reserved gentleman of old really shines through.

He skillfully weaves between historical anecdote and episode, his own adventures, poetry, the human condition, and hilarious cultural exchanges. He paints pictures of people wide and varied, and never comes off cruel or judgmental - nor self-aggrandizing. He delves trials and suffering (you think sailing would be trivial to a mercenary man, it is not ! ) - without the all too common modern self-pity. Rest in peace Mike.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book by Mike Hoare (famous mercenary from Angola, Congo, and a failed program in Seychelles) about his time aboard an old Baltic trader converted to sail, exploring the Med with his wife and sons. Overall, a pretty good book about sailing an old boat, life lessons, and insights into the character of Mike Hoare, but maybe not interesting to anyone uninterested in sailing or Hoare. The first chapter or two were pretty rough going, but the book gets a lot more interesting once the boat is at sail.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Hoare buys a sailboat and spends three years sailing and staying out of conflict. He interacts with the film industry, meets Oliver Reed among others and learns how to maintain a budget while keeping his ship operational.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite pleasant, after you get the meter of his voice. It seems the imbroglios sailors get into are similar in every sea. I was expecting a much firmer hand.... I could have been reading Buckley!