I bought it because they did a trip I thought I wanted to do in a boat very similar to the one I have. After reading about the 55+ days of rain of the 70+ days of the trip I'm a lot less ready to quit my day job and go a-rowing.Anyway the couple did this after they retired, not when they were young and dumb. The had sailed the Southern portion of the trip over several summers in a much larger boat and so were well aquainted with the possible weather. However the summer of '83 was the summer of no summer and they ended up going North that year.I'm impressed with their stick-to-itness and their ability to shake off a bit of water and press on. I'm not so sure I would have kept at it. Of course I'd be thinking how can it get worse but then I'm an optimist.Anyway its another one of those, "you can too" do it books. Just get the boat, pack and go. Nothing to it, other than perserverence, good luck and some seamanship skills.