Damn the Torpedoes!: And More Tales of Liveaboard Life

Lynne Perras teaches communication arts at the University of Calgary.

Damn the Torpedoes! is the second book by Catherine Dook chronicling her
adventures aboard a 44-foot sailboat in the waters off Vancouver Island.
Consisting of 52 brief stories (many of which first appeared in a
variety of boating magazines), the book is part homespun humour and part
how-to, but most of all a celebration of life on the sea, with its
multitude of challenges and rewards.

While sailing, Dook, her retired husband John, and their shipmates
experienced equipment malfunctions, food shortages, and unpredictable
weather, but (consistent with the book’s lighthearted tone) nothing
too serious or life-threatening. For Dook, a middle-aged teacher by
occupation, the enjoyment of the seafaring life clearly overshadows any
inconvenience associated with it. She and her husband’s mutual love of
sailing is surpassed only by the love they feel for each other.

Although some readers my find the author’s unremitting cheerfulness a
bit hard to take, Damn the Torpedoes! is an engaging little book that
will be best appreciated by aficionados of the sailing life.