Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage

Readers who enjoyed Airborne and Atlantic High have a further treat in store as the world's consummate sybarite sails the Pacific, from Honolulu to Kavieng, New Ireland. Buckley and his companions are back aboard Sealestial, the 71-foot ketch with crew of four. Provisions for the 30-day cruise included 25 cases of vintage wine plus one of champagne, 100 packets of Swedish crackers, unspecified quantities of peanut butter and Goo-Goo bars. There were also 28 full-length movies and assorted games for evening entertainment. As prologue to this voyage, Buckley recalls previous cruisesin the Caribbean, the Azores, Tahiti, the Galapagosand reiterates his contention that luxury charter cruising is compatible in cost with staying at first-class resort hotels. He discourses on navigation, a favorite subject. Sealestial called at Johnston Atoll, a military installation inhospitable to drop-ins, as well as ports in the Marshall and Caroline islands. To sailing purists, this may sound like an episode from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous; Buckley fans will have as good a time as he did. Major ad/promo; first serial to the New Yorker; Dolphin Book Club main selection; BOMC alternate; author tour. (May 27)