An Ocean Away: Small Boat, Big Dream

Dave ‘Sharky’ Clarke might be a typical Northern lad, yet from a very early age he harboured an extraordinarily untypical ambition. He dreamed not only of sailing, and not merely of sailing solo, but of sailing solo across the Atlantic.What in an unsettled upbringing, a fractured family life, and a catastrophically disrupted education, had brought him to that ambition? Perhaps it was in spite of those things that he set himself so monumental a challenge. Furnished with only an eighteen-foot sailboat, which lovingly christened Sharky, the remarkable adventure of Dave Clarke’s life began, with its highs, lows, its near-death scrapes, and the people who lit his path along the way - not least the woman he was eventually to marry.As the author himself points out, ‘The Atlantic…is 76,000,000 square miles of turbulent menace, vengeful and forgiving in turn. Not a place for the foolhardy or reckless, but a challenge to those who dare test themselves against its mesmerising power. Few have sought to pit themselves against it, armed only with those precious commodities, personal skill and determination.’ Dave Clarke, with no seafaring tradition, a sailor entirely self-taught, lacking finance, and blessed only with a steely resolve, turned his dream into reality. An Ocean Away is quite simply an unforgettable account, by turns poignant, modest, full of longing, but above all hugely inspiring - required reading for all those with a sense of adventure in their souls.