Audiobook Review: Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey by Wendy Hinman
(Published by Salsa Press, March 31, 2012)

4.25 Stars.

Audiobook production review: Excellent quality. Terrific first-person narration by Robin Karno, along with an equally talented crew with authentic accents - Nihongo, Bislama, Chamorro, Pidgin English, Fiji-Indian, Tahitian French, etal.

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Seven years, 34,000 miles on such a small craft! What courage and determination!

This reviewer's sentiments, as someone who's been to most of those places, albeit by air, and did spend lots of time with God, the wind and the sea on cats and kingfishers, is best summed up by Jiro & Kohei:

"Then", Jiro asked, "where you go next?"
"Fukuoka.", Garth said.
"After Japan?"
"We sail to America.", I said.
"J-j-japan-n-n to America???", he said slowly, shaking his head.

Before Jiro could translate, Kohei looked instantly surprised. Kohei then stood up, squared his body, gave a full bow from the waist.

Then, kneeled, and bowed low, nearly prostrate to the ground.

His gesture touched me deeply, though, I was well aware we hadn't done it yet.

"You are v-very brave!", Jiro said. Then after a pause added,

"Crazy, maybe."

We laughed. "Yes, maybe a little bit crazy", Garth said.

-----

As the humble Japanese put it, we're not worthy, indeed!

And deep お辞儀 (Japanese bow) to Wendy and Garth.

(Photo)
The lovely Wylie 31 "Velella"

Thanks for the ride. Marvelous read!

Review based on a "late" ARC from Salsa Press and NetGalley.

Married couple, Wendy and Garth, set out on a sailing adventure that takes them to many different countries and lasts 7 years. Wendy recounts their adventures and encounters in this book.
I enjoyed the narration of the story. However, some parts felt a little slow and sometimes redundant. I think someone with more knowledge or interest in sailing would love it.

I enjoy memoirs & the story of a sailing adventure sounded great!
In this audiobook, we journey with Wendy & Garth on their sailing adventure, travelling over 34,000 miles round the Pacific. The journey lasts over seven years, during which time they are living in very cramped conditions on a 31-foot boat – bought to fit their budget, not so much Garth’s large frame!
The story is full of humour, tales of kindness and many challenges that they face on the way. There are vivid descriptions of the culture they encounter & the many encounters with local people. There are moments of humanity when the local people and/or the sailing community pull together to help people in need (there are of course the negatives such as being over-charged in the Philippines for being American) – the book really does show the highs & lows, the “good, the bad & the ugly”.
The narration is so well-suited to the story that I thought it was being narrated by Wendy herself – the narrator has a very conversational tone rather than it sounding as if she is reading a book!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook free from the publisher via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the publisher & author for the opportunity to listen to it, all opinions are my own.
#TightwadsontheLoose #NetGalley

picked this up thinking hearing someone else's adventures would be comforting in times where most of us barely adventure even to the grocery store if we can help it.


The narration initially feels like an exuberant teenager reading her diary. When a male's voice is done, mostly the husband's - I'm transported to a dark dingy nightclub where an ancient chain smoking drag queen is reminiscing on her sailing days.

The sailing adventures of this couple are a decent enough distraction, I usually love “on the sea” memoirs but I just couldn’t lose myself fully in the stories. It could be the narration, perhaps it’s just something you need to read on the page.

Thanks, Netgalley for the copy of the audiobook.

I love adventures, but I live a pretty unadventurous life. This book gave me a chance to travel alongside Wendy and Garth around the Pacific ocean, with all the highs and the lows. I learned so many new things about people living in the Pacific, history, nations. Each chapter was loaded with new places, details and observations. I think what also made this story so relatable as the author and her husband were travelling on a budget, saved to buy a boat for years and worked sometimes to fix their boat while travelling. I enjoyed the book and the message that comes along with it - alternative life is not easy, but it is a fuller life!

Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey - Audiobook

Wendy Hinman (Author)
Robin Karno (Narrator)

Tightwads on the Loose is the story of Wendy and Garth, They take on a huge adventure, travelling the seas by boat on an extremely tight budget. There are plenty of tales to be told from along the way..
This book – although not exactly gripping.. kept my interest.
The narration was very good – clear, read at a good pace and easy to follow.

I was thrilled to see a travel book in the audio category! And the fact that it's about a sailing adventure makes it even more unique. Wendy Hinman narrates her own story of her travels with her husband around the Pacific with humor and historical tidbits (many relating to WWII). It's a great mixture of lifestyle, culture, sailing minutia, and personal experiences. The cruising life is definitely a different life, and this book shows the good, bad and the ugly, but does so in a way that still makes it sound like a fun adventure. I loved that she shared the details of the cultures and history of each port of call, because it gave the book much more depth. I really enjoyed listening to this book and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in travel and/or sailing in the Pacific.

Tightwads on the Loose by Wendy Hinman is a story that details the adventures of a young couple exploring the high seas of the Pacific Ocean aboard a 31-foot sailboat.

Hinman tells the story from her perspective. She uses a journal she kept to discuss in detail how she and her husband left Seattle's corporate "rat-race" to explore parts of Mexico, the French Polynesian islands, and Japan as well as other islands along the way.

While at sea, she describes how she and her husband devoured books and listened to music for entertainment. She also goes into great detail describing the mechanics and the tribulations of sailing. On land, she talks about the relationships she and her husband created, her comradery with other sailors, and the history of the locations they visit. She also mentions some of her tourist activities, such as hiking mountains.

I appreciated how the writer understood the significance of using strong verbs, short sentences, and clear visual details. The audiobook's advantage was the ability to pull up a map on my computer screen while listening so I could follow their route. I would occasionally go to Google images to visit the islands with them so I could get a better idea of the scenery and the culture.

When I listened to the book, I thought the focus would be on her tourist activities on the islands she and her husband visited. I also thought it would describe the culture more. She does this mostly in Hong Kong. After a while, it became apparent that sailing is her passion, and the book was more about sailing the open waters. However, my sailing experience is limited. Upon listening to the first chapter, I felt like I should have picked up a book about sailing or watched an introductory video about the basics of sailing to understand the terminology. I also thought she had some additional opportunities to discuss the strain of being isolated on the boat with one other person, and how it affects the relationship.

Overall, I liked the book. It had the right amount of suspenseful moments. I would recommend it, but I would highly suggest for the sailing community.

One thing for sure: sailing around the world in a small boat is the last thing I would do for fun. In fact, after listening to this audio book, it seems to be just one big nightmare with everything decided by the weather and how your mode of transportation is behaving.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed Wendy Hinman's story. Even my husband seemed to enjoy it as he had no choice but to listen whenever he was nearby. Ha! It was fun to visit so many countries and peoples vicariously through her eyes. She is an excellent writer!

The narrator rose up to the challenge of doing so many different types of accents. I thought she did the Australian one particularly well and couldn't help but chuckle at her take of the Japanese ones. Her narrating helped keep me engrossed in the story as I cooked, cleaned and tackled pottering on my thankfully stable home that does not sway.

Thank you Netgalley and Salsa Press for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey, by Wendy Hinman, narrated by Robin Karno

Initial impressions. You might think that a seven year odyssey might get dull at some point, about a 1/3 of the way into the book I'm still in awe of Wendy Hinman's excitement and her colorful description of her adventures. Chapter 10 (of the NetGalley Advance Read Copy) describes visiting Fiji and it sounds incredible, to spend several weeks being a connoisseur of swimming spots with natural slides, waterfalls and swimming spots and markets full of fresh fruits, veggies, smells (with the best of the days bounty beautifully wrapped for the village chief).

After completion. This book was released in December 2019, this book should be a GoodReads Best Of for either Memoirs or Humor or BOTH! I'm not a boater and have only been on fishing boats or pontoon boats or canoes; but this release was a fabulously entertaining book regardless of the readers boating experience.

The last 1/4 of the book was just as exciting as the earlier chapters, in a completely different way. I'm so glad that I stumbled upon this audio.

Robin Karno did an excellent job narrating the audiobook. There were many different accents she provided and it provided additional depth to these travels.

This book was read courtesy of NetGalley Advance Read Copy; thank you to the author/Wendy Hinman and NetGalley!

Travel. Travel. Travel. I love to travel! Discovering new place, tasting local delicacies and meeting interesting people. Unfortunately, due to the current state of the world, I’ve not be able to take my annual trip to Europe, visit countries yet to be discovered by my little party of two. So, when I came across Tightwads on the Loose I thought it would be a great way to get a bit of travelling in from the comfort of my home. At first, I found it difficult to get into the story and thought it was going to be a bit of a chore to listen to, however, I soon got into Wendy’s and Garth’s travelling adventures.

After years of scrimping and saving Wendy and Garth’s dream to sail around the world finally comes true and they set of on their 7-year trip. Wendy’s tale of her sailing trip around the world with her husband Garth on their little sailboat is both inspirational and informative. The description of the places and people they encounter easily conjures up colour images that helps the listener to visualise Wendy’s story. I would have liked to have heard Garth’s take on their trip, especially when he wants to return home to build his dream boat. Tightwads on the Loose is a tale I could relate to. Even though I do not travel the seas, I do enjoy travelling and often feel the pull to travel and explore new places.

I received an audio copy of Tightwads on the Loose in exchange for an honest review.

The armchair traveler will find this seven-year adventure on a 31-foot boat, at times as thrilling as a roller coaster ride. Garth Wilcox and Wendy Hinman paid off their mortgage and just decided to sail away. As a child, Garth had sailed with his family around the Hawaiian Islands, the Chesapeake, and around the world as a teenager. A great deal of this experience came in handy as the couple made off on a once-in-a-lifetime trip of their own. Was it all smooth sailing? Hardly. You’ll learn a bit of geography such as Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands where they worked for the US Army base while fixing broken boat equipment. Imagine typhoons in the Soloman Islands and South China Seas as well as menacing-looking people in the Philippines. For me, the downside to this audio version was listening to the narrator imitate the speech patterns of the island people. Meant to add humor perhaps but unrefined and naive in my view. Despite this and some disparaging remarks about people, a fun and unique travelogue maybe better read as a book than listened to.

I found this book to be entertaining. I enjoyed listening to their sailing and travel adventures.
I admire those that travel this extensively and love hearing about it.

Did this book make me want to sell everything and buy a boat? No. But it was fun to hear the stories of a couple traveling by sailboat for years. The descriptions are such that the listener can visualize the setting and it was fun to learn about different ports and the good and bad at each. This is certainly a different way to live and not suited for everyone, but the stories are humorous which made for a good listen.

Thank you to Salsa Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.