Two in a Boat: The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage

by Gwyneth Lewis

When she was in her forties, recovering from depression and alcoholism, Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis decided to trade in her landlubber existence -- a house in Cardiff, Wales, and a responsible job at the BBC -- for life aboard a small yacht with her husband, Leighton, a former bosun with the Merchant Navy and now in his midsixties. After buying a yacht -- Jameeleh -- and teaching themselves to sail it (a process not without its fair share of disasters, from psychotic seas off St. Govan's Head to a battle with buoys off Ballycotton), Gwyneth and Leighton set out to cross the Atlantic. But Gwyneth's seasickness and Leighton's daily deterioration into Captain Bligh were not the only catastrophes they had to contend with. This strange, stirring, and often hilarious account of their voyage is as much a beginner's guide to sailing as it is a portrait of a marriage under pressure. Gwyneth Lewis's training, as a poet and a filmmaker, lends her prose a wonderfully visual quality, and her contagious optimism in the face of inconceivable adversity makes this unique memoir both witty and wise.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Gwyneth Lewis was Wales' National Poet from 2005-06, the first writer to be given the Welsh laureateship. She has published eight books of poetry in Welsh and English. Chaotic Angels (Bloodaxe Books, 2005) brings together the poems from her three English collections, Parables & Faxes, Zero Gravity and Keeping Mum. Her latest book is Sparrow Tree. Gwyneth wrote the six-foot-high words for the front of Cardiff's Wales Millennium Centre (which are located just in front of the space-time continuum, as seen on Dr Who and Torchwood.)

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must admit I was disappointed with this book.

The premise was what first caught my attention: A married couple put their lives on hold to teach themselves to handle a sailboat and strike off to sail off into the unknown. Sounds good doesn't it?

Gwyneth's depression became contagious. It seemed to me, the book was written as an apologetic attempt to make something from a failed attempt at their voyage. I felt that she held me hostage, like someone you just met at a party who traps you in a corner telling you about their problems.

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thought of a boating tale featuring a middle-aged couple sailing across the Bay of Biscay to Spain didn't immediately appeal and I almost cast it aside. However, the punchy, lively confessional writing style of Gwyneth Lewis, the National Poet of Wales, kept me reading and engaged with the various nautical diversions as well as with the trials and tribulations of the trip which turned out to be as stern a test of the couple's marriage as it was of their novice seafaring skills.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is half of a two in a boat scenario, I found the book reassuring that the troubles and triumphs we've experienced traveling over the last few months on a sailboat aren't unique to us. It is a realistic perspective of how it feels to be the female half of a sailboat, not completely confident in your own skills and more dependence on the other half than you ever imagined in your land lubbers life. While the ending isn't as I'd expected, it does close out the book as philosophically as I'd expect from a sailing memoir.

[Charmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Marriage on a boat can be only as good as it is on land.

2. This is a medium that puts constant pressure on a vessel, ruthlessly exposing any structural defects, careless stilling of goods, or negligence on the part of its crew.

3. A Marriage is like a boat, it has to be structurally sound before you can expect it to take you any distance in life.

4. Both marriage and that need constant attention if they are to remain seaworthy.

5. Ceiling together on a small vessel is like living in a particle accelerator designed to show up in the most hidden faults of your character, traits that are easy to disguise in comfortable conditions onshore.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad to have read it, but I did find it a bit tedious and without momentum in parts, albeit from a refreshing perspective. Perhaps this is my fault for expecting to read a different story than the one the author wrote? Nevertheless, it was a valuable read on many levels, and for this, I am happy to have spent the time reading it.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't remember reading a book with a protagonist that I dislike so much. Sad, because its an autobiography.

[Daisygirl825 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Boring.

[Ray Noyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brings a knowing smile to every marriage, even those that stick to dry land!