The Voyage of the Northern Magic: A Family Odyssey

by Diane Stuemer and Ferdinand C. Lane

Book Overview

Ever dream of selling up and running away to sea? Diane Stuemer and her husband, Herbert, were once a typical suburban couple entering middle age, with a comfortable home and three boys under twelve. A year later they had sold their business, rented out their house, and were setting out to circumnavigate the globe in a 40-year-old yacht. Their entire sailing experience consisted of six afternoons on the Ottawa River. Over the next four years, squeezed...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771082606
• ISBN13: 9780771082603
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.87 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great Travelogue

This book pulls you into to a great family adventure - where you get to share in the experience of seeing the world thru the eyes of a gifted journalist - Diane. I was touched by the vastness of their experiences and the courage to push thru the many trials at sea. As an avid traveler who has taken 6 months off with family to enjoy a similar (albeit - less trying) experience, this book was a great parallel in many ways. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has dreamed of seeing the world - after reading this book - you just might take the final step and do it!

Thanks

When we read this book we were carried away to the ends of the earth. When we finished it, we said it could be done. Its a year later and our family has taken sone sailing lessons. This summer we are chartering a boat in the Carribean. By next summer we will own our own boat. For our family, the adventure began with this book. How can we thank you?

An author with extreme passion!

I received the 'Northern Magic' for Christmas and I managed to met Diane Stuemer this past winter at the Toronto Boat Show ... I even got the book autographed. Her book was an excellent armchair sailor read but she definitely has the gift in public speaking. I also recently found out that she died of cancer .... I must admit that I did shed a tear or two when I heard that.

Living through others

Join in on a three year experience cruising around the world with three children. After reading a good review of the book and being new to sailing with children of the same age I thought this would be a good read. I have since been unable to put the book down, it has been uplifting to read about a family simmilar to my own living through extreme experiences. A lit bit of cruising, a lit more about traveling and experiences and even more about a family living an extreme experience together for three years.

The Voyage of the Northern Magic

This is one of the best travel and adventure books I have ever read.The author has such a superb command of the English language that she literally brings this exciting voyage alive in the reader's mind. While the author's vivid description of the various countries she and her family visited, and the people and friends they met, was most interesting and highly educational, I personally was particularly fascinated with the episodes at sea both on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The description of every aspect of their long voyage had such an impact on my mind that I actually found myself experiencing everything the family was being subjected to on the high seas; the gigantic waves crashing into the side of the boat and attemtpting to push the Northern Magic off its established course, the cold and huge waves splashing over Diane and her husband Herbert as they attempted to keep their boat on course;their constant struggle to survive in spite of periods of sea-sickness, long periods in the cockpit without eating a proper meal, their very real concern for the safety of their boys and the boat, which often required immediate attention by Herbert to fix the engine, the sails, the mast, untangle the propellor and so forth, really increased the flow of adrenelin in my body. I highly recommend this book to all those who enjoy the spirit of adventure and wish to have a realistic experience of such a fantastic voyage. The information covering the visits to the various countries is highly educational and most enjoyable. The Stuemer family left the Ottawa area as novices and returned as seasoned sailors.