LEAVING THE SAFE HARBOR

In chapters with nautical titles (“Learning the Ropes,” “All Hands on Deck”), Hackney writes about how she and her husband, high school sweethearts who married soon after college, decided that the world of suburban Atlanta did not suit them and arranged their lives to realize their dream of full-time boat living. Hackney, a former teacher, home-schooled her five children (the youngest arrived after the family moved onto the boat) as they traveled between Florida and the Bahamas, adding more challenging destinations in the Caribbean and Central and South America as they grew more skilled and adventurous. Hackney, a religious person, was intentional about her family’s way of life, and she writes thoughtfully about the connections between her spirituality and her independent lifestyle and how boat living shaped their relationships to one another, their friends and occasional neighbors, and the wider world. By the book’s conclusion, the family has returned to a permanent port to accommodate a new phase in life as the oldest children neared adulthood. Hackney is a strong writer, at home describing her band of sailors successfully pulling together in a sudden squall or the disorienting effects of snorkeling in deep water. She presents a cleareyed assessment of her family (“The truth is that we more often resemble the cast of Gilligan’s Island than an Olympic sailing team”) that makes them sympathetic and accessible. Hackney writes about her parenting decisions in detail but without giving the impression that others should follow in her footsteps, allowing the reader to join the crew vicariously without feeling inadequate and to absorb the book’s lessons without being bludgeoned by them. The blend of reminiscence and analysis makes for a satisfying read, both entertaining and insightful.