One of my joys as a boy was reading the practical and humorous columns in magazines. In Field & Stream, I read Ed Zern's humorous end-column first, then the editor's hello in the front, and then the features. Likewise with my grandparents' horse-magazines and Reader's Digest, with my family's National Geographic and Sports Illustrated. I think my ability to write essays quite young, to have a sense of voice and paragraphing, came from this particular reading. Or peculiar, to some. Who reads the Editor's column in a surf magazine? I always have. Even as a boy, perhaps especially as a boy, I liked how those columns spoke directly to me, quite literally, using "I" and "you." Sometimes, when I am between books or just fatigued from teaching duties, I pick up my Best of Surfer Magazine collection or this slim volume of columns from a sailing magazine. Short, direct, humorous pieces are my favorites. A knowing, yet kind voice. And, as in those Ed Zern end-of-the-magazine pieces, Sam Llewellyn provides a recurring cast of characters, and that's a joy of its own too.
