Reflections in a Sailor's Eyes

Jack grew up in a megacity of Earth and received a good education in the topsy-turvy time just after WWII. For him there were few escapes from city life. One was a donkey ride down into the Grand Canyon with his father and mother. That day kindled a spark into a raging fire of love for the great outdoors when his norm had been skyscrapers and super highways. Rarely the stars for smog and streetlights hid all of them. Judith, aka Jude, had a very different youth. Raised in the much more quiet surroundings of a north England town, her family often took walks and picnicked on the open green hills overlooking the North Sea. Nearly fifty years later they are grandparents to ten little ones. They love all of them dearly and spend six months of the year close to them, and then escape on their yacht, the one they built with their own hands after their African Honeymoon. Their Banyandah, an aboriginal word meaning Home on the Water is now a family treasure. It was their first home. The boys were two and three when they first moved on board. It safely took them around the world touching more than eighty countries in an odyssey that was suppose to last only one year, but it's still going strong after nearly fifty years. Jack and Jude are environmentalists; they dearly want to reconnect people to Earth so that we all can have a much better future. They write books and make films of places they've been, to communicate that there still is adventure and wonder waiting to be discovered. And that all it takes is a bit of hard work and a lot of determination. When sailing the world with their two sons they went to many unusual places, like Easter Island, the Galapagos and quite a lot of isolated rocks that just pop up mid-ocean. Every location held its own fascination, especially when visited with two inquisitive kids who wanted to touch, smell, feel, and climb everything while asking lots of questions. During those special years, they recorded the magic moments in words that captured the drama and beauty of being a family exploring Earth. These stories lay dormant for many years, locked away in exercise books while their active lives continued unabated. More recently, now in their mature years, Jack and Jude sail around their new homeland of Australia and have discovered that much has changed, some for the better, some worse for Earth and her creatures. The adventure, drama, and history were still the same, and so they wrote their first book to capture the essence of what it's like to be mature aged mariners controlling a powerful craft through some of Earth's harshest conditions. And because their stories were supposed to educate as well as entertain, they recorded the history of the many out of the way places they visited. Not surprising, they called their first book, Two's a Crew. Communicating has always been a major part of their journey through life, so they naturally turned to video making as another media to bring Earth closer to those that cannot do what Jack and Jude have been doing all of their lives. There are now six full length videos and four books proudly on their achievement shelf, plus of course a swag of articles and handful of informative cruising guides that help others safely reach magical destinations. Their latest offering is the jewel in their crown, a collection of short stories celebrating their life together, starting right back where it all began with an African Honeymoon. Reflections in a Sailor's Eyes will take the reader to faraway places. Woven within its stories our readers will find a family facing life threatening dangers that hone them into a team capable of taking on even greater challenges, told with a touch of humour and great helpings of history and knowledge. Written for they young and young at heart, but be warned, Reflection in a Sailor's Eyes is highly infectious.