When I first saw this book and read the reviews I felt that no publisher would spend this much and produce a book that looked this good unless it was either written by someone who knew what she was writing about, or made it clear that her ideas were only opinions, not based firmly on real hard earned experience. A three year sailing experience limited to one boat does not seem to make this woman an expert - especially on the matter of real seamanship, heavy weather, and such. I'd say this is a good look at a really easy voyage using the trade winds, not too much happened to test the people or boat. But it definitely is not a handbook and people looking for real serious seamanship advise should look elsewere. I did agree with many of the ideas presented here, just wish the author had stuck to what she really knew, not tried to write the complete handbook. voyage.