In the spring of 1977, Frank Stilwell launched Vingila, 17 tons of welded-together 11-mm steel plates, in Durban harbor. An electrician by trade, Frank’s experience of sailing amounted to not very much – an unpleasant spell on a Scottish fishing trawler as a young man and a brief holiday on someone else’s yacht off the coast of Mozambique a couple of years before. Never one to be daunted by a challenge or to be resisted in any way, he took his nine-year-old twins, Robert and Nicky, out of school, persuaded his wife Maureen that they would all learn how to sail and cope with life on the open seas as they went, and prepared to follow his dream of circumnavigating the world. Facing real danger from the elements and at first having to live more by their wits than their skills, the Stilwell family set off boldly, determined to become part of a community of sailors and adventurers who spend more time on the ocean than they do on dry land. In this unique coming-of-age memoir, Martinique Stilwell’s recounting of her true-life gypsy childhood is poignant, funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. With the wisdom and innocence of a child’s point of view, it is a powerful yet tender story of physical and emotional adversity, of family dysfunction and the ties that bind, and of the shackles and exhilarating freedom of growing up.

Thinking Up A Hurricane

Biographies & Memoirs

Stilwell, Martinique

Travelers & Explorers

Penguin Random House South Africa

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stilwell, Martinique. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Stilwell, Martinique

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stilwell, Martinique. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Thinking Up A Hurricane