The Cure for Anything is Salt Water

'Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'

OK, it's not a book, but it's one of the best quotes in the history of mankind, delivered by the champion of sea faring anecdotes, Mr Mark Twain! Closely followed by:

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." Ratty (aka Kenneth Grahame), The Wind in the Willows

But now to some maritime tomes. There are so many great books it's hard to know where to start. So I'll begin with a personal favourite, The Cure for Anything is Salt Water.

This autobiographical tale, first published in 2007, is written by Mary South, senior editor and contributor at Yachting magazine. She wasn't connected with the marine industry when she wrote the book; far from it. She was a successful book editor, working in Pennsylvania without a boat in site. Here's the blurb from the back cover:

At forty, Mary South had a beautiful home, good friends, and a successful career in book publishing. But she couldn't help feeling that she was missing something intangible but essential. So she decided to go looking for it...at sea. Six months later she had quit her job, sold the house, and was living aboard a forty-foot, thirty-ton steel trawler she rechristened Bossanova. Despite her total lack of experience, South set out on her maiden voyage - a fifteen hundred-mile odyssey from Florida to Maine - with her one man, two-dog crew. But what began as the fulfillment of an idle wish became a crash course in navigating the complicated byways of the self.

The book is written with a self-effacing humour that is engaging; but what I like most about it (apart from the fact that it proves that a middle-aged woman can reinvent herself as a mariner, sans armchair!) is that the journey from landlubber to sea captain becomes a metaphor for personal growth and self-mastery. And that resonates with me because, if I'm honest, I really do believe that if I can sail a boat safely across the sea, then I can do anything I set my mind to.

My only gripe with the book was the lack of photos of Bossanova - the other hero of the story. I emailed Mary to tell her how much I loved the book and to share my disappointment at the lack of pics. She was nice enough to send me the ones below.
Isn't the boat gorgeous?!

I loved this book. Read it and let me know what you think. :-)

'Do you know, I've never been in a boat in all my life?'

'What?' cried the Rat, openmouthed: 'Never been in a - you never - well, I-what have you been doing, then?'

Sorry, but just had to finish with another quote from dear old Ratty. He had his priorities right, that rodent!