"Anyone crazy enough to buy a boat deserves all the headaches he gets," said Chuck. "What kind of boat are you looking for?"

"Oh, something about 35 feet. We're going to sail around the world."

"You poor kids," he said sympathetically.

At Middle age, Herb and Nancy Payson decided they needed a change, why not give up life on shore, quit their in jobs in the smoky nightclubs of Los Angeles and take up the cruising life. In Sea Foam, their 36-foot ketch, the Payson's and their large brood of teenage children cruised the Pacific for six and a half years. They experienced a certain amount of stark terror, but their delights far outbalanced the draw backs.

Anyone seriously dreaming of setting off to sea should read Blown Away. Families who are already out there should make it bedtime reading as Herb shows the way families interact in the close quarters of a sailing boat at sea. But even those who find their ordered onshore existences good and fulfilling can hardly escape a twinge of envy while reading this amusing, instructive and wholly delightful adventure.

This special 35th anniversary edition is enhanced with a foreword by Lin Pardey plus Herb's reflections on how cruising affected his children and his relationship with his determined, lifelong partner/wife Nancy.