Seaworthy Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting (Audible Audio Edition) T R Pearson Brian Holsopple Audible Studios Books
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Welcome to the daring, thrilling, and downright strange adventures of William Willis, one of the world's original extreme sportsmen. Driven by an unfettered appetite for personal challenge and a yen for the path of most resistance, Willis mounted a single-handed and wholly unlikely rescue in the jungles of French Guiana and then twice crossed the broad Pacific on rafts of his own design, with only housecats and a parrot for companionship.
His first voyage, atop a 10-ton balsa monstrosity, was undertaken in 1954 when Willis was 60. His second raft, having crossed 11,000 miles from Peru, found the north shore of Australia shortly after Willis's 70th birthday.
A marvel of vigor and fitness, William Willis was a connoisseur of ordeal, all but orchestrating short rations, ship-wreck conditions, and crushing solitude on his trans-Pacific voyages. He'd been inspired by Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl's bid to prove that a primitive raft could negotiate the open ocean. Willis's trips confirmed that a primitive man could as well. Willis survived on rye flour and seawater, sang to keep his spirits up, communicated with his wife via telepathy, suffered from bouts of temporary blindness, and eased the intermittent pain of a double hernia by looping a halyard around his ankles and dangling upside-down from his mast.
Rich with vivid detail and wry humor, Seaworthy is the story of a sailor you've probably never heard of but need to know. In an age when countless rafts were adrift on the waters of the world, their crews out to shore up one theory of ethno-migration or tear down another, Willis's challenges remained refreshingly personal. His methods were eccentric, his accomplishments little short of remarkable. Don't miss the chance to meet this singular monk of the sea.
Seaworthy Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting (Audible Audio Edition) T R Pearson Brian Holsopple Audible Studios Books
I had read this title before and purchased this copy as a gift for someone who enjoys nautical adventures. That person has been absent and I started to reread this title and soon I was sucked in. Meet William Willis, a nut job of the first order. Who else would set off on such fool hearty expeditions at an age when most people are considering slowing down. Willis is an extraordinary specimen who purposely sought out privation and solitude on his quest for adventure. Surviving on starvation rations, Willis defies the odds and the advise of all who question his sanity. This is an enthralling tale of the sort of man upon whom the epic of the hero's journey is recounted to the ages, if he manages to succeed. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.Product details
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Seaworthy Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting (Audible Audio Edition) T R Pearson Brian Holsopple Audible Studios Books Reviews
A right book about the adventures or misadventures of the protagonist.
Entertaining reading.
Buy This. Read This. You will not regret one moment of time you spent reading this amazing true story. How this is not yet a movie is completely beyond me...
Pretty amazing story, told well. Given Willis's haphazard way of preparation, etc. it is surprising he survived his first trip, much less all the others, until the last.
Amazing story of a guy who was extremely resourceful and courageous and also foolhardy and scatterbrained. And lucky, too. But finally his luck ran out.
It's hard to image now, but when Thor Heyerdahl's set out "Kon-Tiki" in 1948, most people said he was crazy and was sure to die - so when he lived to tell about it, becoming a world-wide celebrity, it set off a raft of imitators in the 1950s and 60s, which Pearson calls the "Golden Age" of rafting.
The subject of the book, William Willis (b. 1897) was a working-class German immigrant blessed with physical stamina and mechanical know-how from a lifetime of working odd-jobs at sea and land, he was a man of extreme habits and strong personality - for example he lived on a bizarre diet (for the 1950s) of home-grown organic raw vegetables and grains. A greybeard in his 60s, he decided to test himself and follow Heyerdahl's example in a balsa raft, setting adrift from Peru westward, he went entirely alone. His successful expedition, global press attention and books which followed made him a household name for a brief time, but today he is largely forgotten and unknown.
The book discusses not only Willis' five separate raft trips over a 15 year period or so - Willis was well into his 70s by the end - it is a survey of other rafting expeditions from the "Golden Era" including Kon-Tiki, Tahiti Nui (I,II and III), Lehi (I,II,III,IV), and Alain Bombard. Each is a fascinating mini-account told by an accomplished novelist.
Pearson's portrayal of Willis is often unsympathetic - perhaps rightly so and for the same reasons critics in the 1950s and 60s were. Unlike Heyerdahl who set out for a scientific reason and greater purpose, Willis did it for no reason other than to see if he could personally do it. Willis often made major mistakes such as taking contaminated water, not taking a spare set of sails, not correcting a dangerous medical condition - Willis knew better and understood his risk but seemed to undermine himself for the thrill of the adventure.
T. R. Pearson recounts Willis' adventures with wry wit and compassion, and weaves a narrative that is almost impossible to put down. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever had a bad vacation; you will have your parameters readjusted by the way this man handled his misfortunes throughout his voyages. There are some accounts of similar misadventures on the part of other explorers in the middle chapters of this volume which show that Willis was not unique in attempting ambitious voyages with insufficient preparation.
I've read another Pearson book or two, and actually didn't even realize this was by him until I'd bought it. I like him a lot and this book was no exception. It is the story of several open ocean, open boat rafting voyages in the 50s and 60s, predominantly, including a little background on Kon-Tiki. Mostly the book centers on William Willis, about as eccentric a fellow as one ever runs across. He'd probably be a base jumper or some kind of adrenalin junkie were he alive today- he was ahead of his time in many ways. Extremely fit and health conscious, and most amazingly to me able to survive for weeks at a time drinking sea water and eating handfuls of grain. He didn't start rafting until he was 60, and made it to Australia from Peru when he was 63. He was also a bit of a contradiction, able to plan and be extremely disciplined, then suddenly making the most monumental decisions on a wing and a prayer, if that.
The stories might seem to tell themselves, but some tell them better than others, and Pearson tells them better than most. He has a nice turn of phrase and is able to inject humor in his observations without disparaging his subjects- unless in the case of one Mormon guy with an issue or two he really intends to. Even in that case he probably cuts the guy more slack than not.
Adventurous, humorous, informative. A quick read and very enjoyable. Highly recommend.
I had read this title before and purchased this copy as a gift for someone who enjoys nautical adventures. That person has been absent and I started to reread this title and soon I was sucked in. Meet William Willis, a nut job of the first order. Who else would set off on such fool hearty expeditions at an age when most people are considering slowing down. Willis is an extraordinary specimen who purposely sought out privation and solitude on his quest for adventure. Surviving on starvation rations, Willis defies the odds and the advise of all who question his sanity. This is an enthralling tale of the sort of man upon whom the epic of the hero's journey is recounted to the ages, if he manages to succeed. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
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