THE URGE TO GO TO SEA
A book with my collected sailing stories was recently published in Holland. The newspaper Trouw called it “One of the best books of 2010”.
For information in English, send an e-Mail
THE SIPRIZ EXPEDITION
On Île à Vache in Haiti I built a traditional wooden boat and sailed it to Florida. For details and pictures click on Sipriz Expedition. See also the feature articles in Soundings, Outside, Ocean Navigator and The Miami Herald
For pictures of my sailing voyage to Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba, click here. We also kept a blog and updated it from every island we visited. Click Log of the Sea Scout.
Earlier we sailed to the Bahamas, Bermuda, Labrador and Greenland. Click on the names for pictures, and read The Greenland Log
‘The Madmen of Tenakee’ is a collection of my American short stories. Copies, in Dutch, can be ordered from the publisher Nieuw Amsterdam.
“One of the best books
of 2007” (Trouw)
“A writers’ writer” (HP)
“The New World as poetic spectacle” (Trouw)
“In the classic Raymond Carver tradition” (De Tijd)
For English synopsis, excerpt and reviews of my novel ‘The Smuggler of the Exumas’ click here.
For the independent US Web Site Cuba Cruising Net I wrote an article about our sailing voyage to the island. Click on:
Two short stories in English:
MISSION TO HAITI
After the earthquake I sailed With the schooner Liberty from Miami to Jacmel on Haiti’s southern coast. We delivered 10,000 pounds of food and medical supplies. Check out the video and read my article in Yachting World
Kay Angel, the Jacmel orphanage of my friend Lia van de Donk, was destroyed, and needs help to rebuild. Please visit her website
A new edition of my novel ‘Noordtij” (North Tide) came out recently, and is now also available as an eBook
From the cover: ‘As the Arctic night descends, suspicion, demoralization and tragic mistakes aboard the polar ship Gerrit de Veer lead to a shocking dénouement.’
“Breathtaking (...) a fascinating story.” (AD Magazine)
For information in English click on North Tide
The waterseller - a novel
“A young man from Haiti is arrested in Miami shortly after beaching, in the dark of night, a small sailboat he built himself. Police have not only found the boat, but also the body of another Haitian. The young man now faces more than just deportation. He may be sent to jail and, if convicted of murder, to the electric chair.
His lawyer tells him to write down his life story to gain favor with the judge and the jury. Without embellishment or melodrama, the young man (a boy, really; he's only eighteen) describes the world in which he grew up. It's a world of poverty, decay, crime and superstition, where human relations are marked by lies and betrayal. The boy's only defenses are his will power, his sarcasm, and his bleak sense of humor.
Writing in a Florida jail cell, he produces much more than a report for the court. His story becomes a novel of adventure, a raw crime drama, and a heart-rending autobiography.”
