My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn » (Reprint)

David Hays is the Founding Artistic Director of the National Theatre of the Deaf. He is a graduate of Harvard, with a long career in the theatre in England and America, who holds honorary doctorates at Connecticut College, Gallaudet University, and Wesleyan University. He is the author of a book on stage lighting and is a lifelong sailor. He lives in Connecticut.

Some fathers and sons go fishing together. Some play baseball. David and Daniel Hays decided to sail a tiny boat 17,000 miles to Cape Horn and back. This is the often hilarious account of how two men overcame the unforgiving forces of the oceans to accomplish what few had done before them. More importantly, it is a moving story of how father and son overcame the distance between them to find a deeper love and respect for each other.

Publishers Weekly

As a child, David Hays regarded sailing around Cape Horn as the ultimate adventure. Now, in middle age, he makes the voyage with his 24-year-old son, hoping to regain a youthful perspective on life. Daniel, just out of college, wanted time to think about commitment to a career. Together, they built a 25-foot sloop, Sparrow, and set out across the Caribbean, navigating by compass and sextant. Sparrow carried neither motor nor radar, only a two-way, short-range radio. Father and son take turns giving their accounts of the 17,000-mile voyage. Their course was through the Panama Canal, then south by way of the Galapagos and Easter Islands. On day 179, they passed the Horn, having made 230 miles in 36 hours without being able to search the sky for sights because of the weather; in return for that feat of navigation, Dan became the captain. It is an engaging adventure, and a remarkable story of a father-son relationship. First serial to Sailing magazine; author tour. (June)