Red Right Returning

Ted Thring is a book reviewer for the Queen’s University radio
station.

Red Right Returning is many things: a romantic chronicle of the
author’s sailing life with her husband and their boat, Hirondelle; an
account of cruising the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, the Rideau, and the
Thousand Islands; a handbook for cruising sailors covering everything
from boat maintenance to outfitting the galley; and a cookbook featuring
recipes that can be prepared in the confined quarters of a small sloop.

When the author first saw Hirondelle, the boat was high and dry and
neglected. Many man and woman hours later, she became a summer home for
11 yeaars. Hirondelle was a Duet-class wooden sloop, 23 feet overall,
with barely enough room below decks for a galley, a head, and two
adults. After making her seaworthy, Caadham and her husband had to learn
to sail her, to navigate, and to live aboard. As the author says, if you
can survive this experience you need never fear divorce!

The book’s many photographs reinforce the feelings of contentment
experienced by two congenial people in love with each other and with
their vessel.