Title: Lowana Comes To Darwin: A sailing voyage from Mackay in Queensland to Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia, September 1993
Author: Russ Swan
Publisher: BookVenture Publishing LLC
ISBN: 978-1-64069-458-9
Pages: 88
Genre: Non-Fiction, Journal

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Synopsis

What compels someone with almost no experience of sailing to go and buy an eight-ton, thirty-foot cruising yacht? Especially when it’s located not only in another city but in another state! Why would someone like that risk sailing the boat home on a 1,600-nautical-mile voyage, even if it meant facing the daunting prospect of sailing through hundreds of miles of the largest reef system in the world—across the infamous and fickle Gulf of Carpentaria and the open waters of the tropical Arafura Sea? This book has an often humorous description of events in an easy-flowing journal style. The progress of the voyage can be followed closely with map illustrations and photographs, and the descriptions of day-to-day-to-day events provide a wonderful insight into what life at sea on a cruising yacht might be like. Rich passages describe equipment failures, rough seas, being caught in torrential defiles, airless days, wondrous anchorages, sites of historical interest and scenery . . . and how a man became a sailor.

About the Author

This is the first in a series of stories about actual voyages under sails.

The stories originally consisted of notes taken during the trips, and then later typed up to be put into a photo album. The resulting photo-journals were meant as a permanent reminder of the trip and to share the experience with family and friends. Later stories included additional sailing notes as a reference source in case I ever returned to an area, or if any other sailboat skipper needed information about a place I’d visited.

I’d thought that only people with an interest in the sea would appreciate them. But I soon discovered a surprisingly widespread interest. Associates and work colleagues read them enthusiastically and kept asking for more. I was astonished to learn just how closely readers followed events and progress with the available charts and photographs.

Some people had made comments about publishing but I wasn’t all that convinced. In my view they were just being polite. Then one day I showed the photo-journal story A Tanimbar Experience (in its note form) to my good friend and neighbour Mr Dave Fields. Dave happened to be a freelance journalist as well as a published author. He knew what he was talking about and I knew I could respect his opinion. Dave not only encouraged me to publish the material but also showed me how to improve the text.

I would like to thank Dave for his voluntary enthusiasm, friendliness and practical assistance in getting started, and thus bring these stories to you. Also to my wife for her support and to the many who have stiffened my resolve when I needed it.

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