From the critics
Reviews of books by Rebecca Hayter
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Reviewed by
Jenny Nicholls
Waiheke Weekender
A sailing book by Rebecca Hayter is always a great read. . .
Storms Ahead - Rick Dodson: America's Cup champion to Paralympian
Rick Dodson is one of the brightest stars of New Zealand sailing – two-time world champion, skipper of the only New Zealand team to win the Admirals Cup, and strategist to Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth on Black Magic in two America’s Cups. For more than two decades he also co-owned a high-tech company which supplied sails to many a race winning international yacht.
But Dodsons’s business and sporting success is only part of this story.
For years, Dodson competed at the highest levels of his sport despite a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), a progressive disease which he kept secret. After suffering double vision during the 1995 America’s Cup, he was told his symptoms had been caused by MS, an illness he managed through two more America’s Cup campaigns and a stretch as tactician on the Volvo Ocean Race. After his symptoms became impossible to ignore, Dodson competed in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, only just missing out on a medal.
A sailing book by Rebecca Hayter, a former editor of Boating New Zealand, is always a great read, and keen sailors will appreciate her mastery of the technical details. Storms Ahead is gripping, funny, scandalous and heartrending in equal measure, filled with anecdotes from the likes of Russell Coutts, in his youth a bitter competitive foe of Dodson, and other members of Team New Zealand. Hayter’s interviews, coupled with memories from Dodson’s immediate family, paints not only a portrait of one of the most vivid personalities of New Zealand sailing, but also of the people surrounding him during an era of glittering success: Peter Blake, Kevin Shoebridge, Tom Schnackenberg and Peter Montogomery, to name a few.
‘Winning the America’s Cup in 1995 is one of the greatest stories in New Zealand sport,’ says Hayter. ‘Rick was a key part of that campaign under Sir Peter Blake and in its wake, he was at the height of his career. Suddenly, it was under threat when he was diagnosed with MS. So the story follows the brutal transition from success as an able-bodied person to sailing as a disabled person. The clock was ticking on his physical abilities but even now, he lives his life by looking ahead and he hopes this book will be inspiring for other people with MS.’
Reviewed by
Ivor Wilkins
Breeze Magazine
Wild Seas to Greenland - a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field
In 2017, Whitbread Round the World Race winner Ross Field made an attempt on the notorious Northwest Passage with a sturdy, French aluminium cruising yacht. It was a far cry from the lightweight racing machines in which he carved an international ocean racing career. Entering harbours, it made such an intimidating impression that other yachts scrambled to get out of the way and sales of fenders soared.
The yacht called Rosemary made it to Greenland, final stepping point for the Northwest Passage attempt. However, faced with unreliable compasses and the prospect of having to handsteer through hazardous, icy high-latitudes, Field called the expedition off and returned to Ireland.
Journalist and author Rebecca Hayter crewed aboard Rosemary and has produced a self-published account of the voyage. Arctic passagemaking is serious business and anybody would be proud to include Greenland on their sailing CV. But at first glance an expedition that fails to achieve its purpose, in which nobody suffers life-threatening injuries, there are no mid-ocean capsizes, or boat-crushing encounters with ice, might seem unpromising material for a book. Everyone gets home safely.
It is testament to Hayter’s writing skill that in Wild Seas to Greenland – a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field she has nevertheless woven a spellbinding story of seafaring adventure with a “warhorse of the seas”.
The fact that there were no major disasters, that problems and challenges were overcome or avoided through good seamanship, careful weather-routing and sound decision-making is the story. There are lessons here that anybody contemplating offshore passage-making would do well to absorb, particularly in relation to weather strategies.
Be assured, though, this is no dry, how-to manual. Written with a light touch, it is full of humour, honesty, fear, insight, contemplation, spirituality, yoga, even recipes – and occasional moments of sheer poetry that stop you in your tracks. “Fish guts and diesel smell like love and integrity to me,” for example, as part of an evocative description of the scruffy anchorage at Nuuk. How she and Field get on as crewmates is peppered with hilarious incidents, minor crises and mishaps.
Extracts from Field’s own emails and Facebook posts add to the texture of the narrative. Another constant voice is Hayter’s father, Adrian, who sailed single-handed from England to New Zealand in [1950]. Passages from his book, Sheila in the Wind introduce each chapter.
His daughter has produced a book of which he would have been proud.
NZ Booklovers
Q&A with
Rebecca Hayter
Wild Seas to Greenland - a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field
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Tell us about Wild Seas to Greenland
Wild Seas to Greenland is a four-month story of Ross Field, a tough, professional ocean racer who decided that his retirement would involve expedition cruising. He turned his 35 years of ocean racing experience to the refit of an even tougher 20-year-old aluminium yacht that no one else wanted and set sail for the North West Passage, with me on board.
As a yachting journalist of nearly 30 years, I wanted to take the story deeper, including details of Ross Field’s decision process as he applied his own DIY hard graft and informed selection of modern technology to bring the boat to her potential, and to make the journey safer and more comfortable.
In the North Atlantic, I observed Ross’s storm tactics and his use of modern weather routing systems which, he says, are the greatest advance in ocean safety.
I started writing for yachting readers, but it has become a story for all adventurers at heart. By writing a book rather than a series of magazine articles, I could set free my sailing-writing wings; it’s pretty candid in parts and Ross is a fascinating character – decisive, skilled, intelligent and funny.
Greenland is a rugged, Arctic destination seldom visited by Kiwi yachts. After a brief exploration, we were back into the ocean for even bigger storms.
As Wild Seas to Greenland developed, I included brief excerpts from Sheila in the Wind, written by my father, Adrian Hayter, who sailed around the world single-handed in the 1950s.
Like Dad, Ross Field and I experienced the ocean wilderness. Unlike Dad, we had latest weather routing technology and plenty of food; we didn't have to eat the barnacles off the bottom of the boat.
What inspired you to write this book?
I had hoped to write a series of magazine articles about the voyage but although I sold several articles in New Zealand and overseas, I was unable to sell a series of the voyage. I believed the voyage was an extremely unusual opportunity: a famous sailor, a major DIY refit, latest technology and a rare destination, written by a yachting journalist who could cover the technical depth where it counted. I supported Ross Field’s view that his knowledge could help to save lives at sea, and I couldn’t bear to see the material go unused.
When I couldn’t sell the series of articles, I started writing the book as a reluctant option, but Wild Seas to Greenland has evolved into far more than I envisaged, including my foray into self-publishing.
What research was involved?
Most of the research happened naturally during the voyage. Afterwards, I interviewed Ross Field and his son Campbell Field at length about technical details, especially the weather routing. I spent about four months on those chapters, so that it would be easily readable. I interviewed several other technical experts on equipment on the boat and researched the history of the North West Passage and Greenland. I also contacted the harbour master in Greenland.
What was your routine or process when writing this book?
Initially the process was piecemeal as I was trying to publish it as a series of articles. I had some success: Small Boat to Greenland ran in North and South magazine which won Highly Commended in Philippines Airlines Best New Zealand Travel Feature, and several articles were published in boating magazines in Australia and USA. Writing the book was a back-burner process and I had multiple files on my computer at various stages. When Covid happened, I made it my lockdown project and finished it over the next few months.
I decided fairly early on to self-publish. I knew it would be a useful learning curve, and that as a magazine editor I had skills to ensure a polished product and yachting contacts to help me promote it. I love having the book the way I want it, instead of a publisher’s view. The self-publishing decision led to building a website, so it’s been a much bigger process than I imagined.
If a soundtrack was made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.
It sounds a cliché but I’d have Spartacus from Khachaturian, the theme from The Onedin Line. It’s such stirring music that captures the drama of a storm.
I’d also choose Guadeloupe written by Tom Russell and sung by Gretchen Peters. It’s poignant and spiritual, which also relates to being at sea. There is a line: I am the least of all your pilgrims here; I am most in need of hope. Sometimes being a speck on the ocean makes me feel exhilarated; at other times, like a tiny traveller in the great order of things.
What did you enjoy the most about writing Wild Seas to Greenland?
I always say that writing a book is like pushing a wheelbarrow to the top of a hill. It gets harder and harder, but then suddenly you’re cruising down the other side and the book is finding its own path. That’s a fun stage.
Some chapters were based on articles I’d already written, so they were relatively easy, but they bring changes of mood. The chapter in Ireland started life as a short story and is quite different from the rest, but it fits with the change in scenery. It is one of my favourite chapters.
I love the title. I went through hundreds of ideas and had pretty much resigned myself to settling for second-best. One morning I was washing the dishes and wildseastogreenland slipped through my mind. I nearly missed it and had to mentally make a grab for it. Straight away, I knew it was perfect.
What was favourite part of this journey in real life?
I can easily recall coming back across the North Atlantic two-handed, with only Ross and me on board. It was like being up on the shoulders of the planet, and it’s amazing to stand in the cockpit at night, knowing there are only a few other human beings on ships within 1000 miles. There’s a line in the book: Even though I looked forward to being There, I knew how lucky I was to be Here. I think that sums it up.
What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?
I was at home alone. I stood on the deck and looked out to sea and just absorbed the feeling.
Reviewed by
Chris Moore
The Listener
Wild Seas to Greenland - a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field
Ever since I read Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World at an early age, I’ve had a hearty appetite for tales by those who go down to the sea in ships. But if it takes skill to sail a boat, it also requires a certain adroitness to write a book about it.
Seasoned yachting journalist Rebecca Hayter knows exactly how to chart a course for the armchair sailor. WILD SEAS TO GREENLAND (Oceanspirit Publishing, $39.95) is her account of an Arctic voyage on the 20-year-old aluminium yacht Rosemary, captained by flinty ocean-racing skipper Ross Field.
The course lay across the North Atlantic to the chilly expanses of Greenland’s fiords and the allure of the Northwest Passage. These heady ingredients are interwoven with memories of her father’s book, Sheila in the Wind. In the 1950s, Adrian Hayter sailed solo around the world in an age before satellite navigation and modern technology.
The human face of the Rosemary’s voyage dominates the book, but despite all the pages of high adventure, there are times when the language tosses the non-sailor overboard. A passage such as “I furled in the little genoa, loaded up what would be the new mainsheet winch and removed all the winch handles on the windward side” tends to become a navigational hazard in what is otherwise an enjoyably full-blooded tale.
Reviewed by
NZ Fishing News
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...Ross Field, the hard-charging offshore racer...
Wild Seas to Greenland - a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field
Many of our readers will remember Ross Field, the hard-charging offshore racer who won the Whitbread Round the World Race as crew on Peter Blake’s Steinlager 2 in 1990, and went on to win the race four years later as skipper of his own campaign on Yamaha. These days Ross is older and wiser, but definitely not softer – he retired from ocean racing
to go cruising in the Arctic.
Former Boating NZ editor Rebecca Hayter joined him on a 5000-mile voyage from England, setting out for the Northwest Passage in Field’s bare aluminium yacht Rosemary. This may
be a sailing book but there is plenty for diehard fishermen – starting with an in-depth report
of a DIY refit of Rosemary prior to departure. The work, including total engine replacement,
achieved a 30% improvement in performance, under motor and under sail, thanks to Field’s
commitment to simplifying the boat’s systems and removing surplus weight.
With 15 awards in writing, Hayter deftly provides gruelling descriptions of North Atlantic
storms, the stunning wildlife of Greenland and her skipper’s Dad-style sense of humour. But
Field is a tough nut and Hayter doesn’t hold back in presenting him as he is: the banter, the
swearing, friendship and even the odd disagreement are part of this book’s appeal.
After 35 years as a professional ocean yachtsman, Ross Field is an expert weather router. He
describes modern weather routing technology as the greatest advance in safety at sea,
although it has received little coverage in New Zealand. Hayter gives a highly readable
analysis of Field’s use of Expedition software to take the boat safely around a series of
intense storm systems across the North Atlantic. At one point, the waves were so big that
her skipper told her: “Don’t look out the back.” She looked.
Wild Seas to Greenland has wide appeal: DIY experts, real-life and armchair adventurers,
and even those who enjoy a bit of soul-searching will love this romp through ice-chilled
waters.
Reviewed by
Jenny Nicholls
Waiheke Weekender
...a stirring, hilarious and foam-flecked adventure.
Wild Seas to Greenland - a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field
“Frostbite on the lungs, sinking by iceberg and the possibility of being lunch for a polar bear’s picnic – just a few of the reasons I kept saying ‘no’ when former Whitbread winner Ross Field asked me to sail the Northwest Passage.” But Rebecca Hayter, Nelson farmer, experienced sailor and former editor of Boating New Zealand, eventually relented – and the result is this superbly funny, detailed though crisply written account of a trip not, after all, through the infamous Arctic Northwest Passage but across the high seas of the North Atlantic, a trip from England to the fjords of Greenland and back again. Along the way, Field’s single-masted sloop Rosemary encounters pistol-bearing French customs officials, icebergs in fog, whales and towering seas.
Sample quote:
“That night was wild, black as pitch. Ross was hand-steering in huge, confused seas when he asked me to go below and switch on the bilge pump.
I nearly turned on the light at the nav station to read the label but, mindful that it was good seasmanship to save my night vision, didn’t. I flicked the switch.
‘F**k! You’ve turned off the sailing instruments!’
Oops.”
To add to the excitement, Hayter includes excerpts from her father’s remarkable solo sailing memoirs. Adrian Hayter sailed around the world in the 1950s and 60s, and his navigation by sextant, combined with harrowing battles to find fresh water during the trip makes quite a contrast with the modern hi-tech voyage by the well-fed crew of the Rosemary. (The author includes a recipe for meatloaf). When Adrian Hayter arrived in Western Australia in 1954, he had been at sea, alone, for 100 days. “Having run low on food, he had eaten the barnacles growing on the boat’s hull.”
His skilled sailor/writer daughter manages to keep non-sailor readers amused and, also, on the edge of their seat, while capturing enough detail for the most technically-minded seadogs.
Well-illustrated with photos from the trip. Altogether a stirring, hilarious and foam-flecked adventure, perfect for our locked-in times.
Reviewed by
Peter Thomas
Flaxroot Productions
...the skilful use of original metaphor and simile...
Wild Seas to Greenland - a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field
Rebecca imparts awe for the changing moods of ocean and sky. She achieves freshness in her writing by the skilful use of original metaphor and simile while its occasional cheeky use adds sparkle and makes the book a delight to read. At times I almost believed I could feel the thump as their vessel came off the top of a big one and ploughed into the following breaking crest.
This is a book that will hold a special appeal to members of the yachting fraternity. Readers unfamiliar with boats may have some difficulty with a few of the technical terms but this shouldn’t be considered detrimental to enjoying this delightful adventure.
With extensive experience in ocean racing, Ross persuades an initially reluctant Rebecca to transit the Northwest Passage – arguably the world’s most hazardous maze of islands, ice and ocean. It runs between Northern Canada and the Arctic ocean – a graveyard of failed attempts.
The preparation for the voyage started in France with the purchase of Rosemary, an elderly aluminium vessel notable for its hull strength rather than its equipment or standard of maintenance. At what must have been eye-watering expense, the hull was refitted in preparation for the hazardous voyage ahead. Those with an interest in boats will find these preparations provide an insight into the character of Ross.
The book contains numerous excellent photographs relating to the voyage and took me a little way towards experiencing the spirit of Rebecca’s Wild Seas to Greenland. It’s a journey that along the way captures vibes of the Irish during a port call to Dingle before they face the North Atlantic storms, ice, fog and crazy compass readings as they get closer to the Magnetic North. Lacking a gyro compass meant they had to steer manually.
Knowing nothing about either Nuuk – the capital of Greenland – or Greenland’s fiords I absorbed Rebecca’s descriptions with fascination.
Pressed hard by heavy weather they sailed along isobars rather than across them thus avoiding more severe storms. This technique was supported by weather routing the North Atlantic using meteorological satellite data transmitted to them. It got them home and resulted in an outstanding story.
I recommend Rebecca Hayter’s book to any nautically obsessed readers and those interested in a seagoing adventure told with wit and humour.
Readers' Reviews
Wild Seas to Greenland
From the readers
Both Jeannie and I have read your book [Wild Seas to Greenland]. It makes me want to go back. I especially found 'Sailing by Isobars' enlightening. I have never done that. I admit that I don't spend much time with routing programs and have seldom hired a weather router.
I used to think weather forecasters were dirty lying bastards but the forecasts have gotten a lot better and I have gradually evolved from looking at swells and clouds to GRIB files to Predict Wind. Using the barometer to update the movement of the forecast is an interesting idea. There is still a lot I have to learn about this life.
Thanks for your contribution. You are a great writer.
Jim Foley, SV Onora
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