RED SKY IN MOURNING

A dramatic debut in which Oldham relates the incredible tale of her sailing into, and surviving, Hurricane Raymond in 1983.

In September of that year, Oldham and her fiancé, Richard Sharp, departed Tahiti to deliver Hazana, a 44-foot ketch, to a couple in San Diego. On the 19th day of the voyage, 140-knot winds blew Richard overboard and capsized the boat. Forty-one days later, Oldham arrived in Hawaii alone, the Hazana mangled and mastless, with one small sail tied to the spinnaker pole. With the overwhelming death of her fiancé occurring in the first chapter, Oldham survives her solo adventure by retreating into her mind. Engaged just before leaving Tahiti, she remembers the happy scenes of their courtship: their first meeting in a California boatyard, sailing the South Pacific together, Kon Tiki Island, the pearl farm on the atoll Makemo, Bastille Day on Tahiti. Richard remains an idealization, always saying and doing the right thing. The mundane tasks of making it to Hawaii keep Oldham sane—she takes sextant readings, sails to the proper latitude, and budgets and savors her remaining food and water. She also begins having conversations with the Voice, an internal friend with a sense of humor and good advice that keeps her on course. Two months out of Tahiti, she is rescued just off Hilo, Hawaii, and given a fervent welcome from anxious family and reporters. It takes three beauticians two days to detangle her salt-matted hair. The owners of Hazana arrive and are stunned by the wreck of their boat (before and after photos are startling), and Oldham’s mother takes her home to California. A visit to Richard’s family in Cornwall, England, brings little comfort to anyone. Tami ends on a hopeful note with her marriage to Ed Ashcraft in 1992, the birth of their two daughters, and her seaside life on San Juan Island, Washington.

A sad story, movingly told. (8 pages b&w photos)