Maiden Voyage

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Although not instantly hooked in the beginning or even midway through, I stuck with it and ended up really enjoying Tania's story. The beginning is a bit choppy and the writing style takes some getting used to as Tania jumps back and forth between past/present and many details aren't revisited until later in the book. Initially, this frustrated me, but as I made my way through the book things came together more.What stuck with me the most was Tania's coming of age and growth during her journey. Here's a girl just 18 years old with no real direction in her life given the opportunity to take off and sail the world for 2 years. She has little sailing experience and an incredibly faulty engine, yet she perseveres and accomplishes something many can only dream of doing. She really matures and comes to terms with a lot throughout her journey and I loved reading about that. I guess confrontation with yourself is kind of inevitable when you're in the middle of the ocean all alone.While I loved this I did feel that the story was only told at surface level. Tania does divulge some details of her romance with Olivier and her rocky past with her parents, but I kept feeling like something was missing. I also kind of disliked Tania's father for most of the book - the whole voyage was his idea and it felt like he kind of pushed it on Tania as a way to live through her…it just didn't sit right with me.While this wasn't as good as another sailing memoir I read (Love With a Chance of Drowning) I still really enjoyed it and applaud Tania for such an amazing accomplishment.

Review of "Maiden Voyage" by Tania AebiThis is another autobiographical book about a teenager who sails around the world. The difference is in this one her father pushes her to do it because she is an aimless 18 year old living in NYC.The book isn't as detailed with the day by day journey as "One Girl One Dream" but does give nice summaries of certain days at sea. Especially her first knockdown (Wind forcing boat onto side) also when her 26 foot boat was hit by tanker in the Mediterranian sea. This book mostly covers the relationships she forms with 2 guys on her voyage, One named Luc and another named Olivier.The biggest problem I had with this book is the unexpected flashbacks to her childhood and in one area I had to read the section (where she flies home due to her mom being sick and dying) twice in order to get what was going on since the writing of that section was confusing.Over all this is a very good book but due to some confusing reading I can only give it 4/5 stars

I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW I ENJOYED THIS BOOK. I ACTUALLY COULDN'T HARDLY WAIT TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT...MY HUSBAND HAS CRUISED ME FROM ONE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY TO ANOTHER AS I EXPLAINED TO TANIA WHEN SHE CAME TO MY HOME TOWN TO SPEAK AT A LUNCHEON. THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BOOK THAT I CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON....MAYBE IT'S JUST THAT I FELT LIKE I HAD SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH TANIA AS I HAVE VISITED SO MANY OF THE PLACES SHE SAILED TO..... I READ IT SO SLOW THAT MY HUSBAND ASKED ME IF IT WAS A REALLY THICK BOOK..I LAUGHED AND SAID "IT'S NOT THICK ENOUGH " THIS WAS QUITE AN EXTRAORDINARY ACCOMPLISHMENT...ONE THAT I CAN'T IMAGINE IN MY WILDEST DREAMS. ONE DAY SOMEONE IS GOING TO COME UP WITH A REMEDY FOR MOTION SICKNESS. WHEN THIS HAPPENS I'M GOING TO DO THE ONE THING I DON'T DO WELL....RIDE IN THE OCEAN AND NOT LOSE THE CONTENTS IN MY STOMACH. I PURCHASED TWO BOOKS FROM TANIA THAT DAY BUT I'M BEING GREEDY ABOUT WHO WILL GET THEM..JUST TODAY I HAVE FINALLY MADE MY DECISION ON WHO WILL GET AT LEAST ONE OF THEM AND SHE IS GOING TO BE ECSTATIC..THANK YOU FOR SHARING ONE OF YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCES WITH US.

I picked up this book on the recommendation of a speaker at one of my grad school classes. The speaker, Roland Legiardi-Laura, is making a film with John Taylor Gatto that examines the problems with schooling and alternatives to it. He recommended Maiden Voyage as a glimpse at one young woman's real education. By choosing sailing the world over a college education, Tania changed the course of her life. I was thrilled to take the voyage with her through her book.I'm not into sailing and will probably never set sail any farther than a day trip on the Chesapeake Bay, but I loved this book. The beauty of it is seeing a young woman experience the world through fresh eyes. The reader watches as Tania comes into her own and experiences the 'real' world outside of the traditional path from high school to college to the working world of materialism. It inspired me to re-examine everything I take for granted in my life and think about all the things I might be missing in life. Everyone should read this book. My cousin graduates high school in May and I'm going to give her a copy of this book. Not to encourage her to sail around the world, but to find her own passion and chart her own course in life.

At 18 years old, without motivation or direction, author Tania's highly adventuresome father gave her a choice upon her high school years drawing to a close - she could either go to college or take a 26-foot sailboat around the world. By herself! She had some writing talent so he thought the experience would give her no end of subject matter to launch a writing career, and though intimidated by the idea, she chose the boat. And the commitment. Tania is a really good writer. There were so many times when these pages brought me right there with her, from the day she left New York filled with totally understandable fears until the end. We meet lots of people through her travels and get an idea of what such an experience would be like. Though there are a lot of technical sailing/boat/navigation references as she runs into various scenarios, you don't need to know a thing about them to enjoy being taken along with her through storms, doldrums, mishaps and joys. This was a really good book, I was sad to reach the last page because I enjoyed reading it so much.

Of all the 'Round the World' sailing books I have read, this one stands out, though quite why, I am not really competent to judge. Not only is it beautifully written but the mixture of the author's previous quite tough life, with all the adventures, trials and tribulations of the long-distance sailing life, made for a most attractive story. There are many passages in the book I will remember for a long time - and the fact that she eventually married the man she met in the Pacific, also a single-handed sailor, was a lovely ending.

read it many years ago, lost it and bought it again, this time bought it in english (the first two were in dutch) just to see if there are any differences.the english version has several photos included that are not included in the dutch version.this is a terrific book, I`ve read it probably 30 times or more. you just want to buy a sailboat and follow in her footsteps (or in her wake)she shows that sailing around the world is possible not just for the rich with million dollar boats but also for the adventurous with small boats andshallower pockets.highly reccomended

A great read. Tania Aebi's true story was quite amazing. What a fantastic father too to encourage his daughter to step outside of her comfort zone in this way and to discover sailing, whales, dolphins, Galapagos, Pacific Islands... Wow - they both rock!

Supewrb but not quite finished yet.What a dramatic start to the story, pehaps for those who have difficult children, set them a challenge.. Anyone who has aninterest in sailing will enjoy it

I read this story 20 years ago in a small paperback. I found it again on amazon and was pleasantly surprised it was a larger format and there was some pictures of her adventure in there. I have a hard time reading books but this exciting story captivated me and I couldn't put it down.