Carroll J. Savage
The Caiad is structured around a decade-long around-the-world voyage in a sailboat undertaken in his fifties by a novice sailor who takes his family with him and learns along the way about boats, sailing and the sea, as well as about himself, “learning the ropes” amid many embarrassing and potentially dangerous errors caused by his inexperience. As he survives exhausting and terrifying trials at sea, Caius, who grew up as a shy child and became a tentative, irresolute and insensitive adult, gains confidence and self-respect, gradually achieving a softer and more observant and sympathetic nature and ultimately a composure and tranquility that had eluded him most of his life. Harrowing events―storms at sea, a tear-gassing in Panama, a broken rudder cable in the Pacific Ocean 1,500 miles from the nearest land, a brush with piracy in the Indian Ocean, and an arduous passage during the Gulf War through the hostile waters of the Middle East where the boat is fired upon by a Sudanese military unit―are interspersed with idyllic cruises along the Caribbean island chain and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and among the mysterious islands of Indonesia and the antiquities and Old World charms of the Mediterranean. Alone at the helm at night in the middle of the great oceans, the author reminisces about his past and muses about life, science, religion, quantum mechanics, cosmology, and the nature of time, infinity and mortality. This is a work as expansive as the oceans it traverses, a story not just for sailors and armchair sailors, but for all dreamers who would like to set out on their own to experience the world but do not know how to start or are afraid to let go the dock lines of their society and careers. At once an adventure story, a guide for those who may want to follow, and an exposition of fascinating ideas and questions on a wide variety of subjects, this narrative is unique among modern-day sailing memoirs.
Orders accepted now. A limited printing of The Caiad in hardcover inscribed by the author upon request is available for $39.95 plus postage. The soft cover and e-book editions may be ordered from Amazon.com or other online booksellers.
What readers have been saying about The Caiad:
“The Caiad is beautifully written and nothing short of terrific. I enjoyed it more than just about any book I’ve read in recent years. You achieved a wonderful balance of high adventure, compelling characters, suspense, personal introspection, and lessons on just about every aspect of the challenges, technical and personal, of organizing and executing a round-the-world voyage.”
"I finished The Caiad about a week ago, and I felt very deprived that there wasn't any more--very much the way I've felt after finishing other great, long books--Moby Dick or War and Peace, for example. I'd see my copy of The Caiad lying on the table and be tempted to wistfully open it again just to check that there really wasn't just a little something more--another list of supplies, a missed supplementary glossary, or anything... There was something about the volume of information and detail (not to mention your fine writing) that in their very different way acted like the digressions into the dissection of the whale and such in Moby Dick to make me feel that I'd gone very far in, and consequently required a certain amount of recovery time to completely leave it."
"Carroll Savage's book is one of the best books I have ever read. It is the perfect mix of real-life adventure on our planet's seas and waterways, philosophies of life's experiences, and personal insights into an enigmatic soul. I am ready to read it for the second time!"
“Deep Thoughts over Deep Waters. . . . A fascinating family adventure undertaken because of the author's desire from a young age to sail the oceans and spurred on by an adventuresome and encouraging wife. The around-the-world sailing dream was completed over a number of years despite the duties of family and work which allows us to experience the changing lives of the author's family and various crew members. The book will appeal to sailors and non-sailors alike as the author was a novice sailor and his learning experience over the years complements the ocean adventure that he undertakes. Most interesting is the deep philosophical reflections at sea of this broadly educated first time author.”
“Loved the book! Very well written and so interesting on so many levels. . . . Will appeal to both "armchair" and serious ocean sailors alike.”
“[A] wondrous jumble of facts, ruminations, esoterica, and quirky off-hand observations . . . . a vade mecum for sailors, . . . a spiritual autobiography . . . . a sort of modern-day Haliburton's ‘Travels’.”
"I thank you for providing me the opportunity to be in Piscataway’s cockpit with you, at least vicariously, during the sublimely peaceful nighttime hours of those long passages when you shared your ruminations on life, evolution, the cosmos, quantum mechanics, relativity, relationships, and much more. On the other hand, I was very happy to be in my armchair during those terrifying times when challenges were close to overwhelming. I think of you swinging through wild arcs atop the mast in that storm in the Arabian Sea."
“An incredible journey that explores the deepest realms of philosophy, meta-physics, spirituality and a life lived upon the precarious confines of a beautiful teak yacht that traverses the world. But even more stunning is the brutal self awareness of a man that comes to terms with himself, faced with the savage seas and the undulating waters that carry all of us from the beginning of a journey towards its terrifying end. Rarely has a more self-revealing tome been written and the shocking honesty of this beautiful memoir will keep us coming back to its fluid pages over and over again. Any fan of Joyce, Hemingway, Coleridge, or even Teju Cole, will surely delight in the immensity of this massive achievement. Not a book to put down easily, nor to confine to just a "boat book," this vast and far-reaching memoir will entice even the landlubber as it surprises at every turn and undulation.”
“I found your book absolutely fascinating; so much so that I read the entire book in about four days of almost uninterrupted reading. . . . I found the story of your great adventure most appealing. Frankly, I was surprised that in a book so much of which is consumed with the minutia of day-to-day sailing, my interest never flagged. In fact, when I would sometimes find it necessary to put the book down, I would find myself thinking of some of the stories that you had related and the characters who populated those stories.”
From the review in Cruising World Magazine: “You’ll want to set aside some time to finish this 700-plus-page account of a decade-long voyage. The author, a lawyer, drew from his own transformation from novice to seasoned offshore sailor for the tale. The tome includes a guide to the three principal sections, footnotes, glossary and specifi-cations of Piscataway, the 45-foot custom ketch that’s the platform for the adventure. No matter your focus, you’re bound to learn something new and find inspiration in the bountiful asides.”
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