Eye on the Sea: Reflections on the Boating Life

This collection of essays on the sublime joys of sailing and boating is an elegant addition to maritime literature. In a series of short, three-to-five-page essays, Hayes dilates upon such ineffables as the feel of the wind, the quality of light on the water, the pull of the sails, the sailor’s fears, the poetry of boat names, the unexpected, the rhythms of the sailing season, the peculiarities of a marriage of two sailors, sailing at night, storms, fogs, winter, and many others.She sees it whole: the raw physicality of boats, together with their metaphorical and spiritual possibilities. She writes: Boats – beneath their infinite variety – are but one (and one of the most versatile and inspiring) of the outward expressions of the spirit of man: and in particular, his courage, his curiosity and ingenuity, his desire to be challenged – his capacity for delight.

Together these meditations truly capture the heady feeling of being afloat. Reading them will leave boat-loving readers yearning for the sea, and a little unsteady on dry land.