A novel by Roger Vaughan
Published by Choptank Word Bank 249 pages $17.95
If you read the excerpt from Fastnet; One Man’s Voyage in our October edition (windcheckmagazine.com/article/an-excerpt-from-fastnet-one-mans-voyage/), a compelling firsthand account of the ill-fated 1979 Fastnet Race aboard Jim Kilroy’s 79-foot maxi Kialoa, you know that author, yachting historian and longtime WindCheck contributor Roger Vaughan is a superb storyteller. His first novel Coming About is a first-rate thriller. The striking cover photo by Carlo Borlenghi sets the hook, and the fast-paced story reels the reader in from page 1.
Wealthy, spoiled and usually inebriated, wastrel Andy Moss is content to cruise through life on his industrialist father’s vast wealth. But when he commits a social gaffe at a New York Yacht Club dinner, Andy’s mindlessness makes it impossible for his father not to enter a boat in the upcoming Round the World race. The enraged father demands that Andy become a crewmember on his 60-footer for the grueling 30,000-mile event. Resentful of his very presence aboard All American, Andy’s eleven shipmates are making his life miserable. Can he muster the fortitude to survive the Roaring Forties…not to mention the bad guys – perhaps even on board – that are out to ruin him? With a surprising love interest and a gripping narrative akin to a 40-knot “firehose” reach, Coming About is essential reading.
Roger Vaughan (rogervaughan.net) has written twenty books, six of them about sailing including The Medal Maker (a biography of Victor Kovalenko), the Strenuous Life of Harry Anderson, Closing the Gap: World Sailing’s Emerging Nations Program, and Learning to Fly: America’s Cup XXXIII 2010. He lives, works and sails on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. To order Coming About (and extra copies for your favorite young sailors!), visit amazon.com. ■
