MY LIFE'S DREAM TOOK ME TO SEA

Epner recounts living out his dream of sailing around the world in this debut memoir.

At the age of 42, the author writes, he “had accomplished virtually everything [he] had set out to do.” By this point in his life, he had graduated from Cornell University Medical College, worked as a chemical engineer, lived for a while in Mexico, founded a successful orthopedic practice, and lived in “a big house with expensive cars in the garage.” Yet, he recalls, he “didn’t feel joyful or complete.” After a bit of soul searching, including completing a vision quest at a Native American reservation in the Southwestern U.S., Epner decided to pause his lucrative career to spend time with his children and then-wife and to return to the passion of his childhood: sailing. A sailor, navigator, and racer, Epner’s father had often invited the author aboard sailboats and yachts throughout his childhood in the 1950s and ’60s (at age 14, Epner had even saved enough money to buy his own sloop). The bulk of the memoir is divided geographically, charting the author’s subsequent decades spent at sea with entire chapters devoted to specific destinations (from the Caribbean and South America to New Zealand, Fiji, and Southeast Asia). Interspersed throughout the technical commentary on the logistics of sailing and travelogue observations of places encountered are reflective passages conveying Epner’s personal insights into his childhood, his eclectic brand of spirituality, and his quest for purpose. Readers are given intimate details of the dissolution of his first marriage and the fostering of a new romantic relationship and follow his children as they grow into adulthood with families of their own. There are harrowing moments along the way, most notably a heart attack suffered by Epner while hundreds of miles from land. The book balances detailed knowledge of sailing (which will appeal to fellow mariners) with an accessible, vulnerable writing style. The text includes a lengthy glossary of nautical terminology for neophytes and is accompanied by an ample assortment of photographs.

A thoughtful chronicle of an adventurous life at sea.