Coincidence - Alan May [0]
A NOVEL
COINCIDENCE
A LAN MAY
Toronto and New York
Copyright © 2010 by Alan May
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in 2010 by
BPS Books
Toronto and New York
www.bpsbooks.com
A division of Bastian Publishing Services Ltd.
ISBN 978-1-926645-35-3
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available from Library and Archives Canada.
Cover: Gnibel
Text design and typesetting: Casey Hooper Design
Although some of the characters and events in this book are based on real characters and events, this is a work of fiction and is not a comment by the author or the publisher on any real people or school programs.
Printed by Lightning Source, Tennessee. Lightning Source paper, as used in this book, does not come from endangered old-growth forests or forests of exceptional conservation value. It is acid free, lignin free, and meets all ANSI standards for archival-quality paper. The print-on-demand process used to produce this book protects the environment by printing only the number of copies that are purchased.
To Karen and Ryan,
for providing me
with the inspiration and motivation
to write this novel
PREFACE
Writing a book had been in my mind for more than thirty years, but I was never able to come up with a viable topic. It was when my daughter Karen sailed around the world on the Concordia as her grade eleven year of high school, through the Class Afloat program, that the topic became obvious.
“How was the cruise?” many of Karen’s friends inquired of her upon her return, but her year away was far from a cruise. In fact, it was a lot of work. She and her classmates were required to help maintain and sail the ship while keeping up with a normal amount of school work. It was tough on her to get up in the middle of the night to do her two-hour watch, as it was when she and the entire crew were called on deck at night to perform sail changes. Not to mention washing dishes and cleaning the mess and galley, tasks routinely required of her and her fellow students.
Initially this book was a record of Karen’s travel, to provide insight into what was required of students aboard the ship. As I wrote the manuscript, however, it evolved into a novel. Although Coincidence is fiction, much of the story line was inspired by what happened that year, including the process of finding out about the program, the interview, and the romance. Names have been changed, including those of professional crew members. The names Inspiration and Blue Water Academy are fictional. To paraphrase Joseph Heller, from his book No Laughing Matter, everything in the book is true except that which is not.
Obviously the drug-running part of the story is totally fictional, but a medical emergency at sea did happen.
Karen, my son Ryan, and I have sailed onboard the Concordia and have a great love for the ship. The Concordia actually sank in a storm in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil in February 2010. There was no loss of life, which is a testament to the continual training that was a normal part of life aboard ship. Some of that training is outlined in this book. I am pleased to say that a new ship has been obtained and the program continues.
I am also pleased to say, as I look back on it all, that my daughter’s adventure set me on an adventure of my own: writing this book, as well as a sequel, which will cover the rest of the first semester voyage from Easter Island through the South Pacific to Bali, Indonesia.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Agreat deal of thanks must go out to Terry Davies, the owner of the Concordia and the Class Afloat program, whose guidance and direction brought clarity and insight to this novel. Early in his life Terry had a vision of high school classes on the sea, an educational model which he developed in his master’s degree thesis. He put his model