9 Years on the 7 Seas
Anne E. Brevig's new book, 9 Years on the 7 Seas (7 Seas Productions, Port Moody, Canada), is a testament to the magic and beauty of traveling around the world.  Anne Brevig and Martin Vennesland spent nine years sailing to 76 different countries and logging over 56,000 nautical miles aboard their 40' sloop, Nor Siglar.  On returning, Brevig set to work on a book that is different from any other cruising adventure ever written.  It's not a how-to book, nor is it a memoir it's a unique combination of photos that belong in a magazine like National Geographic and beautifully written passages about their journeys, the local cultures they encountered along the way, and their thoughts and feelings on life aboard. Perhaps the most obvious difference between Brevig and Vennesland's journey and most peoples' was their desire to take things slowly and let the world shape their schedule.   We met people from all corners of the world, experienced the delight of bonding with fellow cruisers, brushed up on history and language skills and learned about other cultures,  Brevig writes on the sleeve.   We came to know and understand lifestyles completely different from our own and learned that is it possible to live quite happily in a variety of ways in this complex and fascinating world.    Before they left, they both had strong careers, Vennesland as the head of a Canadian forestry consulting firm and Brevig as a manager of an international shipping company.  Inspired by stories in boating magazines of couples who lived aboard and sailed around the world, they lived and worked at the dock for about five years while getting their new boat ready.  Not only was it a trial period for the boat, it was a trial period for their relationship.  They knew that living in close quarters can be very difficult, so they made the wise decision to move onto the boat together long before taking off.  The week before they were scheduled to leave, they got married. Nothing is glossed over in this book.  Brevig writes candidly of visiting Skikda, Algeria, where, even though there has been a recent epidemic of violence, they are carefully looked after by Port Authorities, who bring them fresh-baked bread in the morning and appoint two armed soldiers to guard the boat.  When one of the soldiers boards Nor Siglar in the middle of the night, machine gun in hand, the situation is tense.  But human goodness prevails, and Brevig and Vennesland leave Algeria with a new understanding of how bad politics can ruin the lives of good people.   For each country they visited, a sidebar is included listing the location, government, area, coastline, population, capital, languages, religions, currency, industries, agriculture and exports.  These informative at-a-glance pieces help the reader understand the dynamics of the countries, and the narrative moves from place to place as smoothly as the water under Nor Siglar's hull. But the best thing about the book is, without a doubt, the photography.  In the first chapter, a fully-suited Brevig steps off Nor Siglar in her high heels and stockings on her way to her last day at work, the buildings of Vancouver behind her.  By page 24, she is clad in a bikini inside the boat, operating the vessel's ham radio, and Vennesland loses all his clothes by page 33.  There's nothing smutty about it they are simply two people basking in their freedom to explore a beautiful world.  In Morocco, Brevig shows off gorgeous bridal henna (temporary) tattoos.  An iguana stares down a red crab in the Galapagos.  9 Years on the 7 Seas belongs on a coffee table or in a yacht's library or both. ---Melanie Neale, The Crew Report, TRP Magazines, London, UKFew dare to live the dream of circumnavigating the globe as Anne Brevig and Martin Vennesland did.  They followed their hearts when they made the big leap from weekend and vacation sailing along the British Columbia Coast to completing a nine-year odyssey aboard their sloop, Nor Siglar. 9 Years on the 7 Seas documents their exciting adventure in a beautiful, informative, more-than-a-coffee-table book.  Their circumnavigation was not one of speed and impressive records as they did  not rush through paradise, but stopped to smell the roses and to live for the moment , the author writes. The couple visited 76 countries and island nations, often in remote areas seldom visited by cruising boats, skipping some of the more popular destinations.   In the places we liked the best, we stayed the longest and got to know the people,  Anne writes. 9 Years on the 7 Seas is a must-read for those who hope to circumnavigate.  It s also a wonderful book for the dreamers among us who would love to follow in their footsteps. --Jo Bailey,48 Degrees North, Seattle, WA.It's every sailor's dream to sail the seven seas but few ever get to realize that dream. One couple who did live out their fantasy are Anne Brevig and Martin Vennesland. Originally from Norway but living in Vancouver, the modern-day Magellans circumnavigated the globe aboard the Nor Siglar, or "Northern Sailor" in old Norse, (a 40-foot Gib'Sea sloop ) and survived to write about it. In a saga ranging somewhere between Mutiny on the Bounty and Survivor Marquesas, the couple sailed from Vancouver to Panama (September 1991-April 1992), the Caribbean (May-December 1992), the Atlantic Ocean to Norway (January 1993-July 1994), North Sea, Mediterranean and Atlantic (August 1994-March 1998), Pacific Ocean (April 1998-August 1999), Indian Ocean and Mediterranean (February-June 2000) and Gibraltar to Norway (July-August 2000). Total distance logged: 56,000 nautical miles). What makes this epic voyage even more amazing is that Brevig was a farm girl in her native Norway, didn't learn to swim until she was 16 and became easily seasick. All told, Brevig and Vennesland visited 76 countries and island nations and, because they learned how to slow down, got to interact with people from many different backgrounds and cultures. A warning to those of you who are tempted to put this book under the Christmas tree for that sailor in your life: You just might not get to see him or her again for a long, long time as he or she sails into the sunset. ---Joseph Kula, The Province, Vancouver, B.C.