When the Wind Blows

About the Book

One hot November day in the Cayman Islands, Robin falls in love with a newly-confiscated drug boat offered for sale by the government. Maggi suggests he submit a bid, never believing that he would be successful. It is a bitter-sweet surprise to her when they become the owners of a 55-foot ferro-cement yacht. Now she must learn to sail, as Robin intends to go cruising.

Months of hard work, fun and mishaps follow while they refurbish the newly-christened yacht, Orca, move on board and take her on sea trials in preparation for a Pacific Ocean crossing. Reality sets in when Maggi finds herself alone on night-watch for the first time. They settle into an uneasy routine for the 36-day passage from Panama to the Marquesas, tackling each adventure and adversity as it arises. En route to Australia, idyllic days are spent on South Pacific islands where they encounter some hilarious and entertaining characters. This is the year when the SE Trade Winds refuse to blow. Sailing seems all about too little or too much wind: they roll in the doldrums and battle one of many squalls to avoid being run down by a Korean factory-fishing vessel.

After several months in Australia, Robin and Maggi prepare the boat for the journey round the North Pacific to Canada via the Solomon Islands, Japan, Korea, Russia and Alaska. Two days outside the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea, Orca is overtaken by an unforeseen cyclone which refuses to move. They struggle to set a parachute-anchorÑtheir last line of defence in untenable conditions. Orca is knocked down and the adventure peaks in the powerful telling of an incredible air-to-sea rescue at dusk, when Orca is abandoned just 8 miles from the reef where she will founder before morning.

The rescue crew received many commendations and bravery awards, including the Bronze Cross; an award endorsed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the Golden Hour Award for the most outstanding helicopter rescue world-wide for 1997.

About the Author

Maggi Ansell, is published in Reader's Digest in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and in Sail Magazine, USA, Yachting World, UK, and Cruising Helmsman, Australia. She has written for the heavy-weather sailing 'bible' — K Adlard Cole's Heavy Weather Sailing by Peter Bruce, 5th edition, UK; and for the Drag Device Data Base, Para-Anchors International, USA.

Travelling with Robin, her engineer husband, she has lived and worked in the UK, Canada, Libya, Cayman Islands, Philippines and Australia. She gained a B.Sc. degree with High Distinction when she was 42, from the University of Toronto, majoring in Psychology.

Maggi has been a barmaid in South Wales, UK; a teacher in Bristol, England; a scuba diving instructor in Libya, North Africa; a writer and editor in Manila, Philippines and worked for a publishing company in the Cayman Islands. She holds a private pilot's licence, and has sold organic foods at her local Farmers' Market for the past seven years.

Married for 39 years, Maggi and Robin live on Vancouver Island, BC, on a tiny organic farm tucked under the Beaufort Mountains with their dogs, cat and other farm animals.

Maggi's maxims are: "If an opportunity arises, take it. Don't spend your life regretting the things you never attempted. If you fall on your feet – good; if you fall on your face, don't stay there!"

You can contact the author at her website www.maggi-ansell.com or email wtwb@shaw.ca. Please put "Book" in the subject line.