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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | “The tale of Carl Wake and the hurricane that was waiting for him goes straight to the heart of the greatest sea stories: they are not about man against the sea, but man against himself. John Kretschmer’s book is as perfectly shaped and flawlessly written as such a story can be. In addition to being the best depiction I have ever read of what it is like to be inside a hurricane at sea, At the Mercy of the Sea is as moving a story of a man’s failure and redemption as can be found anywhere in the literature of the sea. This book is surely destined to become a classic.”—Peter Nichols, author of Sea Change and A Voyage for Madmen “John Kretschmer has transformed this story of three men on a collision course with a hurricane into a modern seafaring classic.”—Peter Nielsen, editor of SAIL magazine “With expert analysis and taut writing, he draws readers into that mad storm. You can’t turn away. You keep reading until it breaks your heart.”—Fred Grimm, columnist for the Miami Herald “Once begun, his vivid and powerful narrative is impossible to put down.”—Derek Lundy, author of Godforsaken Sea and The Way of a Ship “I felt I knew Carl Wake, because John Kretschmer found in him an archetype—an aging sailor with an age-old dream.”—Jim Carrier, transatlantic sailor and author of The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome “A remarkable book, impossible to put down.”—Herb McCormick, sailing journalist | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | John Kretschmer | | Paperback: | 240 pages | | Publisher: | International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press | | Publication Date: | August 02, 2007 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0071498877 | | Package Length: | 8.6 inches | | Package Width: | 5.5 inches | | Package Height: | 0.9 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 16 reviews |
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More than man against the sea Jul 28, 2010
The author delves quite deeply into personalities and motivation. This makes the book a bit more deep and interesting than just a story about a storm. The author has a very wide range of experience and knowledge which adds a level of authentic detail. Also try Flirting with Mermaids. The author is a pretty good writer and story teller.
Finest sea story I've ever read -- beautiful, finely crafted, moving Jul 27, 2010
This book is special. The story and characters are so compelling and so beautifully caught in such a terrible mess of a storm that it almost seems like Kretschmer had to make it up, but it's true. You will recognize, in Carl the amateur cruiser, a kindred spirit if you've ever dreamed of sailing or messed about in boats, but he rises (under horrific circumstances) to a noble, albeit ill-fated act of courage that will bring a tear to your eye.
Kretschmer's style is top-notch; right up there with some of the finest literary authors I've ever read--and I'm saying that as a literature professor who has read a LOT of books. The narrative takes a sophisticated reader for the first half, which separately traces the paths of four individuals (including the author), whose fates and lives cross in the midst of a storm that builds to a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. At that point, the book becomes poetry. You will hear the rigging moan and shriek in the wind, feel the spray biting into your skin in 100-knot winds, watch the wave surge up in dark mountains and blast across the deck in white foam. You will learn a little bit about weather forecasting and hurrican patterns, a little about heavy weather sailing, a lot about nerves and anxiety on a sailboat in a storm, and much more about the human spirit--its restless dreams, its iron-willed persistence, its ill-fated confidence, and the cruel twists of fate it is sometimes dealt.
Buy this book. It is truly phenomenal. The finest sea story I've ever read, or am likely to read.
A tribute to four remarkable men Apr 24, 2010
John Kretschmer's "At the Mercy of the Sea: The True Story of Three Sailors in a Caribbean Hurricane" is about three sailors on a collision course with a borderline category 4 and 5 hurricane named "Lenny" in mid November 1999. With sustained winds of up to 125 knots and huge breaking waves in excess of 60 feet high Kretschmer says the chances of surviving such a storm are remote especially for a small sailboat. "It will be broken apart as if made of kindling."
Kretschmer, a seasoned sailor and writer, explains, "The pace of a storm, even a hurricane, isn't the frenzy depicted in a Hollywood film. It is agonizingly slow, there is a rhythm. After a while a sailor can feel what's coming. A tracer slap on the hull means the next breaking wave is about to crash over the boat." Despite the tightly dogged hatches and port, torrents of water slosh into the cabin after each wave. Without experience of winds and seas of that magnitude and not knowing what to expect or how much abuse the boat can take nurtures fear.
Kretschmer's exciting and tragic narrative about Carl Wake (age 53) in 41-foot "La Vie en Rose," Steve Rigby (age 42) in 21-foot boat "English Braids" and Guillaume Llobregat (age 36) and his deck hand Jacques Santos (age 26) in 65-foot "Fredrick-Anne" will break your heart. It's also a moving tribute to the courage, fortitude and foibles of four remarkable men.
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Anything by Kretchmer! Feb 13, 2010
John is a joy to listen to at his lectures and his books do not disappoint either. This book is a great sea story.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
You can't put it down Jan 14, 2010
Wow, I love this book! I told my wife that I had to get back to reading the book, as I had left the three sailors in the swelling ocean.
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