Jack M. Thompson

Turtle Dove: One Man's Odyssey Jack M. Thompson

WoodenBoat Magazine called it "fulfillment of a unique vision." TURTLE DOVE is a true story of a 20-year journey of love. Based on a newsman´s vivid recollections and his detailed ship´s log entries, the book tells how a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper undertook an enormous part-time backyard project -- the 12-year construction of a big ocean-going wooden sailboat, its triumphant launching, and then a voyage around the world with a colorful collection of volunteer crew members (33 in all), some of whom had never set foot on a boat before. The trip took eight years, involved stops in 40 different countries and included several romances, two near-disasters, nude volleyball in the Caribbean, two trips through the Panama Canal, pool games with tattooed Maori tribesmen in New Zealand, solo trombone serenades in mid-ocean, all-night musicales with native pearl divers in the Tuamotus, and water tag with playful porpoises in the Red Seas.