The Voyage of the Cormorant by Christian Beamish

The Voyage of the Cormorant Reviews

• 
  David Lor

  It's not that, in the end, The Voyage of the Cormorant didn't have a deeper meaning or story. Because it did. I think where it fell short is how long it took to get to the meat of Beamish's story.
  
  For a long while you're reading about the mizzen, the main, and the efforts to get ashore. It borders on repetitive. I understand that it's a huge theme of his journey--the neverending tedium of getting from place to place on a 27-foot boat--but while he reinforced the tedium he missed opportunities for something a little deeper.
  
  About 70% of the way through the book though, when he makes the push to Isla Cedros, it redeems itself. Does he push on? Does he have the necessary supplies? Is he getting too comfortable back in civilization? Are his thoughts on 'the ideal' now gone? These are the questions that needed probing.
  
  Like I said, it ends the way I expect such an expedition to end, I just didn't expect it to take quite so long. Then again, neither did Beamish, I suppose.
• 
  Steve

  Synopsis: Surfer dude puts to sea in an open boat.
  
  I hope that was not too snarky, but I just really didn't care much for the author's writing style. (Beamish does know how to compose, he is a professional). I much preferred Tom Pamperin's JAGULAR GOES EVERYWHERE as a work of open boat sailing but then again, Pamperin, like me, is from the Upper Midwest, whereas Beamish is *clearly* a child of Southern California and it shows. I think the author is just trying too hard to be the rugged, solitary, but also socially engaged Whitmanian individual. In places, this reads like a strange inversion of Hemingway.
  
  This should not put anyone off reading this, but there are times when any reader will not be able to cotton to a particular writer.
• 
  Gregory Lamb

  Author Beamish is not only a surfer and sailor, but a fantastic writer. His memoir of cruising the southern coast of California and Baja in an open boat is an inspiring adventure. As a surfer/sailor myself, I've read quite a few works in this genre and am pleased to say that SURFERS CAN WRITE.
  
  The Voyage of the Cormorant is so much more than a sailing adventure or surf safari. Beamish introduces his readers to the subtlety of getting along in the mis-understood settlements of the Baja coast. We meet generous fisherman who share their catch and village families willing to take in and feed a stranger. The best part of these written vignettes is the discovery that human kindness exists in the most unexpected places.
  
  Whether you are a surfer, sailor, reader, or adventurer, you'll want to read Voyage of the Cormorant. It belongs on the shelf next to works by Kem Nunn, Tim Winton, William Finnegan, and Daniel Duane, just to name a few other surfers who can really write.
• 
  Patrick Dean

  This is a wonderfully-written account of an inner and an outer journey. Christian Beamish built a small boat, and sailed and rowed it down the coast of Mexico, meeting wonderful people, challenging weather, and good surf.
• 
  Matt Faludi

  Really enjoyable book to read. Beamish’s surf writing in The Journal has always been something that I’ve liked and I thought his style transferred well to a full length book. Ending felt a little anticlimactic but I like that he didn’t shy away from the reality that comes with sailing a lifeboat down the coast of Baja. Great adventure book.
• 
  Chase Parnell

  Kind of a slog. Wasn't a quick read for me. Enjoyed the sailing/surfing/travel/adventure bits but was kind of repetitive. Needed to go deeper into the story of the man.
• 
  Taylor Douthit

  Little bits of magic from the natural world.
• 
  Tuck

  well written 1st book by a surfer, surf magazine journalist, board maker, and now boat maker.
  he makes an 18 foot Scandinavian style open sail boat (Shackleton and his crew escaped certain death in one) and puts his 2 surf boards in and heads to baja. author tries and succeeds mostly in immersing himself in natural world, no mobis, laptops, or any of the mash/hum/hustle/bustle of built-up world. he does this to try and concentrate on self, nature, writing (and not dying in his little tiny sailboat busting it southbound along wild mexican coast). meets lots of generous and empathetic folks along the way who help him out.
  i read this mostly because it is published by patagonia, and am curious to see their book products. so far, very good maps, writing/editing, illustrations and topics.
  
• 
  Karen

  good read, shows the need to find spiritual self yet also need for human contact
• 
  Joseph

  "I was too enraged to die" (pp. 226).
• 
  Rod

  loved it, love surfing, love sailing, love adventure
• 
  Bobby Johansen

  Perhaps not the best written book, but definitely a fascinating and inspiring read with quite a bit of crazy.