V-222 A Ghost Story of the Great Lakes - a Book Review

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We are currently at anchor off DeSoto Point, near Bradenton, Florida with the gusty winds and forecast rain giving us little incentive to go ashore.  We are kind of stuck here it seems, while we wait to see if we are going to need further assistance of the Refrigerator Repairman variety.  I am tentatively thinking now that we may be on our way South soon...

My worries that my mind would never settle down enough to allow me to get any reading done, have been allayed.  Or, maybe I have just found a book that was entertaining enough to hold my easily diverted   attention.  V-222 A Ghost Story of the Great Lakes, by Ed Helenski has done just that.

No matter where you stand on the subject of Ghosts... if you're a sailor who likes a little bit of romance, you should enjoy this book.  It is entertaining for sure, and reasonably accurate from the standpoint of all things sailing.  There have been a lot of comments heard around the dock these days about a certain movie now playing, that depicts a sailor for whom things are going badly... The hubbub has been that anyone who knows anything about sailing, will find the movie intolerably flawed and too far from reality to be enjoyed.  This book, I promise you, will not incite such comments from any but the most hard-nosed of fault finders.

I know that many of my Blog Readers are here because they want to know more about the sailing lifestyle and have an interest in sailing in general.  Many of you may be women who are new to sailing and to you, I believe this book would be of particular interest.  The main character goes from being a total non-sailor, to being able to single hand her new-to-her pocket cruiser, a McGregor Venture 222.  

The story brings numerous events together to support the title, while the Sailor-to-Be sails along her learning curve using many familiar sailing terms very accurately.  The book was obviously written by someone who has been around the Lake a time or two... It is because of this, that I was able to relax my own natural objections to all things Hocus-Pocus and allow myself to be led along at a gentle pace without being spooked into bolting!

I won't give the story away, but I will say that for the very low asking price in the Amazon Kindle Store, this book could provide the nautical minded person, be they Newbie or Old Salt, several hours of light and familiar entertainment.  So now that I've finished the book, what will I do with the rest of my windy and rainy day?  Maybe a wet dinghy ride!