Seeking Adventure Stories for Possible Book

Fellow Classic Swan owners and enthusiasts...

I love my boat (Corazon, Swan 411 #41) and by extension, all the S&S Swans, and moreover all beautiful sailboats, but to keep it to the point...I also enjoy reading non-fiction sailing adventures, and other related books such as Olin's autobiography, and other books on S&S yachts, such as Kinney's The Best of the Best, and Pace's Classic Modern Yachts, you get the idea. 

Recently, I re-read Force 10 - Rousmaniere's account of the '79 Fastnet, where he was a crewmember aboard Toscana, a S&S Swan 47.  I was fascinated by his account of the race in general, but in particular it seemed to my (somewhat biased) eye that he was somehow safe aboard Toscana, because of her integral characteristics of strength and good design, which, any other arguments about location of the yacht compared to the storm, I believe to be valid to a large degree.  There is little doubt that the '79 Fastnet represented a crucial point in the evolution of racing sailboats, in particular as it relates to the survivability of lightweight boats compared to safety-first classic designs such as ours.  The argument that sailboats should be safe first and fast second continuues to be hammered home time and again:  e.g. this year's tragic loss of two lives during a brief but severe storm during the Mac Race on Lake Michigan, the emergency aboard Rambler in the Fastnet this year where there could easily have been lives lost, the stories coming out of the '98 Sydney-Hobart race, Mike Plant's demise when his Coyote overturned in the North Atlantic in 1992 after losing her keel bulb...the list goes on.

All that got me to thinking about putting together a book of several real accounts of high adventure experienced aboard our vintage Swans exclusively, where conditions of weather or other extreme challenge were overcome ultimately, and where the final success of the voyage and safety of the crew could be attributed to the strength of the boat and her design.  I envision collecting these stories directly from the first-hand participants, which could be owners, captains or crew members aboard any of our boats.  The stories could be written and submitted to me for inclusion more or less as presented, or I could take and record verbal accounts and do the writing.  In either case, we end up with a collection of short but hopefully exciting stories, and by design, they all have happy endings, which I particularly like. 

If you have a story or two and would like to participate, please let me know.  If you do not, I am not suggesting anyone put out in a hurricane to get one, but latecomers will be considered.  I think if we get the right kind of stories, there could be enough there to get it published - but let's not put the cart before the horse.  For now, I'll just try and get started.  All three of my stories of difficult weather and surviving dangerous conditions happened before I came to own the Corazon, so for now I am left out of my own project, but as I am considering an Atlantic crossing next spring, one never knows....

If I can get permission from John Rousmaniere and/or Toscana's former owner, I would definitely include that story, as it is a great one, so hopefully we have one in the bag, so to speak.

Please email me on my personal account valveman@sbcglobal.net with subject line of 'Book Project' or similar if you have a story and would like to get involved.  I'd love to hear it, and look forward to working on this project with as many of you as would like.

I will give feedback to the group on the viability of this project as it unfolds.

Best Regards and Fair Winds,

Geoff

Corazon, 411 #41