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Sailing Kind

Sailing Kind, my new book, has gone out into a different world to the one that was familiar when I last posted a blog. Nothing lasts forever, I wrote then, bad and good times alike. All we can do is find joy in the small moments and make the most of every hour. That’s also the thinking behind Sailing Kind, a book that was lying becalmed in a ‘work in progress’ file until I picked up a fresh breeze and sailed the manuscript into harbour.

The book’s about the adventures Tom and I - sometimes, with my daughters - had in our small wooden boat, Veryan. What surprises me is the sheer number of sea miles I’ve clocked up considering I’m horribly seasick - and I still continue to sail. Why? I feel a bit like Roy Batty delivering his ‘Tears in the Rain’ monologue at the end of Blade Runner writing this, but it’s the wonder, the beauty and - occasionally - the acute fear which being at sea in a small boat brings, the extraordinary sights and the sharp sense that life is for living. 

Some of the moments along the way...



Ramsgate: the calm...

... and the storm.













The Smuggled Budgie


Calm seas at Portland Bill
Lower Fishguard Town Harbour - and the troublesome yacht legs.

Sailing Kind 
“Funny, magical and poetic - and absolute joy” 
After nearly drowning in Greece, Christine Stovell was determined never to get on a boat again. The sailing kind? Definitely not. Yet when she married a keen sailor and became joint owner of a vintage wooden yacht, she somehow managed to sail halfway round Britain, despite never finding her sea legs. 

Insightful, funny and raw, Christine’s story captures the joy, terror and wonder of a novice, seasick sailor out on the waves in a small wooden boat. Her adventures have taken her through sleepy backwaters and high seas, from Essex to west Wales and across to France. Along the way, she’s experienced long, lonely passages under starry skies, met mysterious creatures, lost her dignity and faced her worst fears. Strangely, it’s the experience of being completely out of her element, sailing this beautiful and sometimes wild coast, that has made her feel most alive. 

More than a sailing book, Sailing Kind is also a story of family, love and self-discovery.



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