I was able to pick up O'Brian's The Thirteen Gun Salute while at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. While I hope to finish soon and provide more on this book, here's a quote that really needs to be reproduced here.
It had always appeared to [Jack], that one of the purest joys in the world was sailing a small, well-conceived, weatherly boat: the purest form of sailing too, with the sheet alive in one's hand, the tiller quivering under the crook of one's knee and the boat's instant response to the movement of either, and to the roll and the breeze. A more stirring, obvious joy, of course, in a moderate gale and a lively sea, but there was also a subtle delight in gliding over smooth water, coaxing every ounce of thrust from what light air there was: an infinitely varied joy.We experienced some of that this past week and, with winter seemingly closing in around us as I write, are not likely to experience much more this season.
