Somewheres East of Suez: The Incomparable Welsh Storyteller Sails to Thailand in A......

At the end of The Improbable Voyage, the author and his German crewman Thomas were heading for Turkish waters on Outward Leg, a 38-foot trimaran. Jones here takes up his narrative in Istanbul. The first stop of the continuing voyage eastward is Israel, where a young Swede, Svante, comes aboard, and the trio sets off for the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, where Jones had sailed on Barbara 16 years earlier (The Incredible Voyage). On the 1400-mile passage of the Red Sea, they dodge ship traffic, reefs, challenges by Egyptian and North Yemeni soldiers and a terrifying storm. Because of political unrest, visits ashore were few (Port Sudan and Aden, South Yemen). They run into a monsoon in the Gulf of Aden and around Cape Gardafui (off the Horn of Africa); it is calm and torrid in the Indian Ocean. They make landfall at Cochin, India, sail to the port of Halle in Sri Lanka and then to Thailand, two months behind schedule. Readers have come to expect a colorful tale of adventure afloat and ashore from Jones; they will not be disappointed in this book and will look forward to his next voyage. (March)