Spindrift: A Wilderness Pilgrimage at Sea

reviewed by Sally Campbell

Spindrift is the story of a sailing odyssey, but also of an inward journey into deep truths about who we are and how we belong in the universal scheme. A meditation on sailing and life, it is a hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking book for landlubbers, sailors, philosophers and naturalists alike.

It is a story of pilgrimage, of reflection through solitude and through connection with nature. Mostly sailing alone, Peter Reason invites us to share in the minute-by-minute challenges of seamanship and navigation, on his enthralling journey in his 31ft yacht from the Cornish coast, to the Scillies, across the Celtic Sea, visiting harbours and islands in County Cork and County Kerry, and finally circumnavigating Great Blasket and Skellig Michael.

Exploring far more than the seaways, the author successfully manages to tell the story of a journey with another dimension – that of investigating and reflecting on our human place in the ecology of the planet. He reaches towards his stated aim of re-opening the ‘great conversation’ with the Earth, in contrast to our modern ways of living, which leave us speaking only to ourselves. Above all, this book shows us that Nature is not just a place to visit, but our home.

Stephan Harding, resident ecologist at Schumacher College, describes it as ‘A truly great reading experience that drew me out of myself into the turning world of the oceans and into the depths of ecological awareness.’

Spindrift: A Wilderness Pilgrimage at Sea, by Peter Reason. 978-1-908363-10-7 HB £16.99 Publication 24th April 2014. The book will be available for sale from 1st April – at www.valapublishers.coop/spindrift