Running Away to Sea
The dream of leaving land behind – and how to do it
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:7th Jan '27
£16.99
This title is due to be published on 7th January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
An enthralling story of a love affair with the sea, how one man and his family transformed themselves into ocean sailors, and found themselves in the process.
‘A beautiful story of sea-soaked obsession.' Philip Marsden
'A deeply life-giving book... Thoroughly enchanting.' Kim Brown Seely
‘A captivating tale…a must read.' Paul Heiney
‘The truth is you’ll likely never have lived in rougher, more beggarly conditions than on a small offshore yacht. Yet I will show you that the sea will also make you a king.’
Running Away to Sea is the compelling and moving tale of ditching everything to search for new life – and meaning – away from land.
In an age of AI takeover, unbridled materialism and social media addiction, Sebastian shows how adventure at sea can restore the raw authenticity we all crave. Joining him on chaotic attempts to learn how to sail in England, we progress to thousand-mile voyages spanning African backwaters, Venezuelan coral reefs, and cliff-bound Atlantic islands.
But it’s in tumbling through the places between - the mysterious Sargasso Sea and wild, lonely ocean stretches - that Sebastian and his young family confront the really big questions. What is the true meaning of love, fear, beauty? What are our lives for? And the ocean responds.
For anyone curious about the life offshore, Sebastian will guide you out there – one mile, one boat at a time.
But this book is just as much for those who may never go to sea and yet, deep down, are longing for a new compass course to the meaning of life itself.
With honesty, lyricism, and hard-nosed practicality, Running Away to Sea provides a blueprint for all who feel the world is not quite enough.
‘So, step aboard. Steer by that star there and hold fast.’
‘Part travelogue, part meditation…a beautiful ode to the sea.' Lulu Garcia Navarro, New York Times journalist
‘A chart of how life can be lived to the full.' Tom Cunliffe
A delightful and beautiful ode to the sea and the desire in all of us to be transported. Sebastian Smith has written a book that is part travelogue, part meditation on our enduring fascination with sailing and our need to pit ourselves against the elements and our own self-imposed limitations. * Lulu Garcia-Navarro, New York Times Journalist *
A beautiful story of sea-soaked obsession. Sebastian Smith charts his sailing life from absolute novice to ocean-master, from war reporter to husband and father, leaving you with a profound sense of the rewards and perils of life aboard - life enhanced, life enlarged and enriched. * Philip Marsden, author of The Summer Isles: A Voyage of the Imagination *
A captivating tale, and an inspiring one, yet packed with good advice based on hard won experience. High seas and high ambition. It's a must-read if you want to follow in his wake. -- Paul Heiney
Sebastian Smith’s Running Away to Sea is a thoroughly enchanting tribute to the pull of the ocean – and one of the best books I’ve ever read about learning to sail and leaving land behind. Smith shows us, in seamless prose, how wedded to screens and schedules most of us are and proves how anyone with enough moxie can learn to sail different boats at different stages of life. By his third boat, he and his wife are deftly bluewater cruising and adventuring with two young daughters. A deeply life-giving book with excellent advice on the nitty-gritty of boating and voyaging, step by step. * Kim Brown Seely, author of Uncharted: A Couple's Epic Empty-Nest Adventure Sailing from One Life to Another *
Sebastian Smith's advice on running away to sea is as sound as eight bells, but he gives us so much more – a chart of how life can be lived to the full, 'as trespassers, forever tiptoeing in wonder through the house of God'.
Smith goes beyond telling us how. He also tells us why, and nobody does it better.
* Tom Cunliffe *ISBN: 9781399426930
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
288 pages