The Library in May: Water Adventures

by Anne Pelish

Many RVM residents enjoy adventures with water, which include writing first person accounts of their personal sailing odysseys and fiction river mysteries, sailing from Washington State toward Alaska in the summers, managing a marina on Washington’s Hood Canal, participating on the sailboat race to Cabo, rafting the entire length of the Grand Canyon’s Colorado river, cruising the Columbia River and many European Rivers, Eastern U.S. coastal sailing, plus teaching sailing.  RVM even has its own yacht club and sailboat races on campus.

The RVM library has a great selection of books on this theme. Classics include Moby Dick or The Whale by Herman Melville, The Sea Wolf  by Jack London and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

James by Percival Everett, a present best seller, is the retelling of Huckleberry Finn and Jim’s adventure on the Mississippi River.

RVM has many books by RVM authors in our library.  Two in this category include Stumbling Aboard: A Reluctant Mate Sails through 20 Countries. (NF) This first mate, RVM resident Janice Johnson, lacks basic sailing, seamanship, and swimming skills but agrees to a two-year voyage aboard a forty-four-foot, schooner-rigged sailboat. Sunset Island:  A Paradise in the Pacific by former resident Robert Plattner tells of a group of seniors lost for several years on an island.

For mystery fans Man Overboard by J A Jance, A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch, Blood on the Water by Anne Perry and Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark are a few examples.

Closer to home is The Rogue, a River to Run (NF) by Florence Arman with Glen Wooldridge. It is the story of pioneer whitewater river runner Glen Wooldridge and his first eighty years on the Rogue River.  Other non-fiction includes Endurance:  Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, and The River of Doubt:  Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard.

Compliments to Ken Brandt, Commodore of the Quail Point Yacht Club for a display of his own ever popular Victor 32 Single Class boat.  This very boat will race in the first regatta of the season May 8.  Ken also provided a display of Yacht Club pictures from activities at the lake.

Enjoy a good book and be sure to attend the RVM Yacht Club sailboat races this year for an exciting adventure.

Ken Brandt and his yacht