BOOK · 2016
Alone Together
At 71, alone from Marina del Rey to Kauai and back - 6,000 miles aboard a 32-foot Ericson named for Thelonious Monk.
At age 71, Christian Williams sailed alone from Marina del Rey to Kauai and back - roughly 6,000 miles - aboard Thelonious, his 32-foot Ericson sloop named for the jazz pianist. The subtitle is Sailing Solo to Hawaii and Beyond, and the "beyond" is the interesting part.
The book runs on two tracks at once: a genuinely useful course in offshore seamanship and yacht preparation, and a meditation on what solitude does to a mind raised in an overconnected world. Fifteen years at The Washington Post taught him to report; a TV-drama career taught him when to cut. Both show.
Author-narrated, and the Ericson connection makes it required listening aboard any California boat of a certain age.