Quivering Binnacles

Quivering BinnaclesA ripping yarn of adventure and romance as Vanessa Marchant tries to break into the male dominated sailboat racing scene in the 1980s. A look back at the way things were before emancipation hit womens sport. And a look back at a life before the Internet, Web and the iPhone. In the days before GPS, yacht racing was all maths, paper charts and tide tables. Will Vanessa conquer the challenge or hit a rock? The reader will also be rewarded with five short

A ripping yarn of adventure and romance as Vanessa Marchant tries to break into the male dominated sailboat racing scene in the 1980Õs. A look back at the way things were before emancipation hit womenÕs sport. And a look back at a life before the Internet, Web and the iPhone. In the days before GPS, yacht racing was all maths, paper charts and tide tables. Will Vanessa conquer the challenge or hit a rock?
The reader will also be rewarded with five short stories, all with a twist in the tale. The stories are imaginative and cover a variety of subject matter from bereavement and smuggling to Aboriginal beliefs. Some extra courses to enjoy around the main dish.
The stories are set in different eras, but all before the internet or web; when basic mobile phones were huge and rare. A reminder to those of us who were working at the time of the massive electronic revolution which has taken place in the last thirty years. My heroine has to use FAX and phone boxes and film cameras; she writes letters and gives slide presentations rather than Powerpoint. She even has to stop and consult a map because her car has no GPS. Sailing was also amateur with big money sponsorship and ÔsuperyachtsÕ well in the future. We talked in thousands not millions or billions. In this respect Quivering and the short stories offer an amusing snapshot of the gentler age before the frantic hall of mirrors that 21st Century ÔconnectivityÕ and Ôsocial networkingÕ has brought to our lives.
Chris Freer has been writing for over fifty years on such varied subjects as yacht design, philosophy and aerodynamics. Here he unleashes his desire to entertain and amuse among subject matter that demonstrates his eclectic interests and his life of travel.