Author Talk and Book Signing: Frank Blair "The Schooner Maggie B: A Southern Ocean Circumnavigation"

Description

In 2005, Frank Blair set off on an adventure of a lifetime. Blair built a 63-foot wooden schooner in Nova Scotia and then with a group of friends and volunteers set out on a two-year voyage to circumnavigate the globe. Now Blair recounts his 4,000 mile voyage in the book “The Schooner Maggie B: A Southern Ocean Circumnavigation.” Join him at the Jesup Memorial Library on Wednesday, July 11 at 7 p.m. for an author talk and book signing as he recounts the stories of this circumnavigation.
 
The Schooner Maggie B” tells both about the failures along the way as well as the great success: a sailor’s dream voyage well executed. Blair recounts both the breakdowns but also the recoveries, great ports and how to surmount their bureaucracies, the sublime pleasures of a clear night watch and other days with fresh gales, and the apprehension and joys of 4,000-mile blue water passages.
 

Caroline Alexander, author of “The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” writes, “Some adventures are thrilling to read about, but the reader is glad to be safe at home; more rare are adventures you would actually want to share. ‘The Schooner Maggie B’ is the latter—a sailor’s story of fulfilling the old dream of circumnavigation. The highly-readable narrative unfolds not only daily events of wind and weather, but also the decisions of seamanship and sea-lore each day brings—leaving you with the heady feeling you are now a seasoned Blue Water sailor.” And, Peter Neill, editor of American Sea Writing, adds, “sailors, experienced and armchair, will love [this book] for its literate log entries, informative seamanship counsel, and evocative tales of family, friends, faraway places and global adventure under sail.”
 
Blair served in the U.S. Navy for five years as a fighter pilot flying single-seat fighters off of carriers in the Mediterranean and the Western Pacific, and received five Air Medals for low-level reconnaissance over North Vietnam. His love of sailing began in childhood and he worked Hurricane Island Outward Bound School for 20 years teaching seamanship. The US Coast Guard licensed him as a Master for Sail and Power. He lives in Maine and on his new schooner, Farfarer.
 
Books will be on sale that night courtesy of co-sponsor Sherman’s Books and the talk is co-sponsored by Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.
 
For more information on this talk, contact the Jesup at 207-288-4245 or mrice@jesuplibrary.org.