Hugh Howey
Bestselling author of Wool and other books. Currently sailing around the world.
I’m sitting here in Tasmania, on the other side of the world from the small farming town in which I grew up, reflecting on the wild adventure my life has become. This past year was one of the best of my life, even as it contained some of the most difficult things I’ve ever wrestled with. My father is bravely battling cancer. The country I love is taking what I feel to be massive steps backwards. I’ve spent many a dark hour thinking about what’s slowly slipping away. But I…
I’m sitting on my boat in Georgetown, Exumas, watching the sun rise. The last time this was true was seventeen years ago. My boat then was Xerxes, a 27′ Watkins that served as my home for five years. I dropped out of college after my junior year and sailed south. It was one of the defining moments of my life, that decision. I’ll never forget the terror I felt selling everything I owned and tossing my dock lines. It was petrifying, but I trusted that the rewards on the other…
I’ve never seen eyes like hers. I’ve seen eyes that weaken knees, eyes that made my stomach flip, eyes that wobble the earth, but never eyes like these. Eyes that cripple. All the joy was a fathom from the ground. A street party in St. Lucia. The Friday night “Jump Off,” with rum concoctions, laughing tourists, entrepreneurial locals, food scents wafting, pockets of exhaled ganja, flirtatious smiles, happy chatter, the bliss of a warm Caribbean night. All the joy was a fathom from the ground—misery at our knees. I saw…
There was a Milky Way above me and a Milky Way below. I’ve never seen a more breathtaking sight at sea. The sky was clear, the sea alive with life and light. We’d rounded Cape Agulhas — the Cape of Good Hope — around sunset. Hours later, I was up for the 2am shift, and we were heading north toward Cape Town. The stars were bright, as they can only be when away from civilization. With no contacts on the radar, I turned off our running lights and all the…
Welcome aboard WAYFINDER. In a few days, we set sail around the Cape of Good Hope for Cape Town. In another few weeks, me and three companions will sail across the Atlantic for the Caribbean. This is without a doubt the best cruising catamaran I’ve ever set foot on. It’s all due to the excellent workmanship by the fine men and women at St. Francis Marine.