You Can't Blow Home Again

"It was a rainy morning in Orange County, California, a soggy, raw morning, which is the way I remember most of the times that I've gotten bad news." That was the day Herb Payson and his wife Nancy learned that Sea Foam-their old wooden sailboat, made famous by Payson's book Blown Away and now halfway around the world in a Tahitian cove-was in desperate need of repairs.

You Can't Blow Home Again is the charming story, both comical and thought-provoking, of the Payson family's rescue of Sea Foam and their subsequent return voyage from French Polynesia to the U.S. Whether wrangling with dour customs officials or bargaining with shrewd pearl divers, Payson's unique determination and self-effacing humor are irresistible. Equally engaging are his comments on everything from marine heads ("Getting intimate with a marine head is very much like dealing with toilets on land, except that the cramped spaces on most boats make the job much like mud wrestling in a phone booth.") to navigation ("There is really nothing to worry about, even if you don't know where the hell you are."). And even when beset by adversity-as they invariably are-the Paysons enjoy enough moments of that intense delight which only the cruising life can afford, so as to never forget why they went sailing in the first place.