Photograph by Byron Newman
Long Lost Log is witty, charming, and proof that some risks are worth taking. This once-in-a-lifetime adventure is easy to read - the story flows from one event to another. Long Lost Log is a true story, written like a novel – a rollicking page-turner written with verve, keen observations and sparkling with wry humour.
Michael Chapman Pincher
Author
Long Lost Log : A virgin sailor's bawdy tale of crossing the Atlantic
Michael has turned his 1974 diary into a vivid, spellbinding account of an adventure of a lifetime as author and narrator. Long Lost Log is a true story, packed with insights into the human condition – a rollicking tale written with verve, keen observations and sparkling with wry humour. Narrated in the present, Michael is as surprised as the reader by what's coming along.
During 'lockdown 2021', Michel received a surprise package - a logbook of a sailing trip he'd made across the Atlantic 47 years ago – one he thought log-lost. Returned by a young love who found it in a keepsake box in her attic, Michael was inspired to tell a tale never told before.
'Until now I'd kept the adventure to myself as I know old sailors become pub bores but rereading the diary entries brought my rite of passage back to life. It was an intense time as I had never sailed before and was on a small boat with an irascible skipper running away from Ireland with his mistress, not to mention the cat.'
Michael wrote up the clash of a free-loving, dope-smoking hippy with the class prejudice, racial stereotyping and failed tweedy attitudes of his 'elders and betters' in the confines of a 37' cruising yacht, heading for the Caribbean.
Lilliput Press, Dublin, is publishing the illustrated Long Lost Log as a handsomely printed gatefold cover.
Photograph by Byron Newman
Long Lost Log is a beautifully crafted book, multi-layered and bravely written, Long Lost Log has many interesting insights into the skills and craft of sailing and the broader history of the day. Chapman Pincher describes the people he meets and the voyage he makes with incredible clarity and of the moment. Set in the 1970s, Long Lost Log is a period book for the nostalgic traveller and the armchair adventurer of any age.