Sailing in Circles, Goin' Somewhere ― Not Your Typical Boat Story

Not all dreams have happy endings. Sailing in Circles, Goin' Somewhere is the funny, bittersweet memoir of a Prince Edward Island man who, over seven years, builds a classic 1930s wooden sailboat and, in 2004, attempts to circumnavigate eastern North America. The author leaves a small fishing port on the Island and tracks along the rugged coast, up the St. Lawrence River, and through the Great Lakes. Alone, he encounters heavy fog, near-collisions with freighters, mechanical breakdowns, enormous seas, several brushes with disaster, and even a hostile reception at one French-speaking port. He meets odd and curious people. It all comes to an inglorious and mundane end when the author and his boat, the Arja D., are stuck in, of all places, Peoria, Illinois. Was it worth it? Maybe.

Written by Finley Martin, a respected Island fiction writer, this finely crafted and humorous book will appeal to adventurers, sailors, and lovers of a good yarn.

Finley Martin's education includes a B.A, M.A. (English) and a B.Ed., as well as Master's Certificate for forty-ton vessels. For two years he was public relations director for International Correspondence Schools and its subsidiaries. He had taught writing courses at the University of Prince Edward Island. His publishing credits include poetry and short stories. He wrote one history book: A View From the Bridge (1984). He edited and contributed to a literary anthology called New Atlantic Writing (1975). He penned feature stories for US and Canadian magazines and wrote and narrated five broadcast journalism pieces for CBC-Radio. He wrote two novels, The Reluctant Detective (2011) and the award-winning The Dead Letter (2015).