How one man discovered sailing – and soothed his own stormy seas

Peter Bourke bought a boat -- even though he was still a novice sailor. Sailing, he had discovered, helped him to work through the grief of his wife’s sudden death; after three years he had transformed into able seaman. In 2009, Bourke entered OSTAR, the Oldest Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race, at the ripe age of 58.

SEA TRIALS: A LONE SAILOR’S RACE TOWARD HOME (International Marine; June 2014: HC, $24.00) is a nautical memoir, Bourke’s account of those 40 days of racing on his 44-foot sailboat Rubicon. It’s a story of passage: of adventure, time, grief, remembrance, and finally facing the future.

As a travelogue, we share the wheel with Bourke as he crosses The English Channel, following his passage in the race which ends in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Told with grace, insight, and humility, SEA TRIALS bares both the boredom and adventure of racing solo and provides insights to the value of going to sea. For Bourke, it provides reflection, solace, adventure, and a renewed passion for life which allows him the full return referenced in the subtitle.

Writes Bourke, “The captain of a sailing vessel must be a craftsman who can fashion his boat and his behavior to the rhythms of the sea. At the end of a passage, that ephemeral construction that was the passage goes to memory, where it cures and reflects who you are.” This is the essence of his experiences in SEA TRIALS.

Bourke will donate all author payments to the Semper Fi Fund, an organization that provides assistance to injured soldiers, sailors, and marines and to their families.

About the Author: Peter J. Bourke (Newport, RI) was born in London, and came to the United States at age 6 when his family emigrated from the U.K. Following three years in the Marine Corps, Bourke went to college on the GI Bill and discovered economics. He retired from the financial services industry to sail. This is his first book.