Breaking Seas: An Overweight, Middle-Aged Computer Nerd Buys His First Boat, Quits His Job, and Sails Off to Adventure

Like the Downeaster full-keeled cutter he sunk his life savings into, software instructor Damato's lengthy tale of proving himself at sea against all odds%E2%80%94armed with information gleaned from the Internet%E2%80%94is not quite salty enough for smooth sailing. A self-described nerd, Damato locates his need for radical change at middle age, and hopes to find solace aboard the ironically named Serenity. However, he soon finds himself facing unrelenting problems and full-blown disasters during his planned around-the-world voyage. The author's obsession with marine toilets and graphic descriptions of their usage, and superior attitude to his female crew, co-workers, and sailing-school classmates will chafe some readers, while those without sailing knowledge will get lost amidst Damato's jargon-filled narration and wish they had diagram of Serenity%C2%A0and a glossary of technical terms. Still, some readers will likely admire Damato's outrageous self-confidence%E2%80%94"I believe that anything worth doing is worth overdoing," he states in the prologue%E2%80%94and his willingness to take full responsibility for equally outrageous errors of judgment.