Douglas Arvidson is a past winner of the WICE/Paris Transcontinental International Short Story competition. His short fiction has been published in Paris, Prague, and in literary magazines in the United States and he was recently invited to be a staff writer for the Prague Revue, a cutting-edge, online literary journal (http://bit.ly/1mMT6ZC). The novels in his fantasy series, The Eye of the Eye of Stallion, include The Face in Amber, The Mirrors of Castaway Time, and A Drop of Wizard's Blood. His new novel, Brothers of the Fire Star, was selected as a finalist in the ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year national awards and as a finalist in three categories in the 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards: Action Adventure Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Young Adult Fiction. It has become part of the pantheon of Pacific literature and is now included in school literature programs. Brothers of the Fire Star is an adventure story set in the Pacific during World War II and concerns two boys of different races and cultures who escape the island of Guam in a small sailboat when the Japanese army invades. They must then struggle to survive as they master the secrets of the ancient Pacific navigators. Appropriate for young adults as well as adult readers, Brothers of the Fire Star is available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com (http://amzn.to/1j3axVk) and Crossquarter.com. Visit the author's website: douglasarvidson.com



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

In Which We Navigate a Brand-New, 70-Ft, $3.8 Million-Dollar Yacht Up the Chesapeake Bay

This is a Horizon 69. My son, Eli, a commercial captain, and his long-time companion, Bailey, were hired to bring her up the coast from Ft. Lauderdale to Annapolis, stopping along the way to let brokers try to sell her. Here she is tied up at Cape Charles, VA, just across the Bay from VA Beach and down the penninsula from Onancock.


Captain Eli and His Mate, Bailey

The Galley/Salon



The Master Suite

The night before we leave Onancock for the final run to Annapolis, we host a cocktail party on the upper deck.

The morning of departure, Eli logs in and fires up the engines--two 380 H.P diesels.

Leaving Onancock, we steered from the upper bridge.

Onancock Creek at sunrise: We had perfect weather.

Onancock Harbor

The lower-bridge controls

In air conditioned comfort, we stand watch. It was a bit of a learning curve for me. In fact, I was overwhelmed.

Eli and Bailey have been running boats together for eleven years--she is, variously, mate/chef/chief steward. They just finished taking a 112-ft. yacht from Ft. Lauderdale, around the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and up to Mexico and San Diego.

As we approached Annapolis, we passed this very nice staysail schooner.

In Annapolis,we are dwarfed by the 130-ft Winning Drive, owned by the owner of the Baltimore Ravens.

The next morning, in Annapolis Harbor, I sit at the bridge, drink coffee, and watch the local traffic. The old joke is that Annapolis is a "drinking town with a boating problem." Nice.


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