Flirting with Mermaids, John Kretschmer
Flirting with Mermaids, John Kretschmer
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Flirting with Mermaids
The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper

Author: John Kretschmer

Narrator: Mitch Crawford

Unabridged: 8 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/30/2025


Synopsis

Over the course of twenty years of delivering sailboats to far-flung quaysides, John Kretschmer has had innumerable adventures, both humorous and terrifying. In Flirting with Mermaids, he recounts the most memorable of them.

He crosses the Western Caribbean with a crew of eccentric Swedes researching ancient Mayan mariners, lands in Aden at the outbreak of civil war, and endures a North Atlantic crossing during which he discovers the existence of Force 13 winds. Approaching Japan at the end of a particularly trying delivery, he finds himself sailing in "a high impact debris zone," but his resolve is unshaken. "If a piece of rocketship jetsam fell out of the sky and sank [me] after encounters with Hurricane Floyd, General Noriega, a tsunami, an erupting volcano, and Typhoon Roy, then it was meant to be."

About John Kretschmer

John Kretschmer is a writer, sailor, philosopher, lecturer, and businessman whose successful sail-training business takes a uniquely philosophical but hands-on approach to offshore sailing. He is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Cape Horn to Starboard and At the Mercy of the Sea, as well as hundreds of articles for the sailing press, Life, and the Los Angeles Times.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Donald Stollmeyer on October 19, 2021

This is an exceptionally well written book. I particularly enjoyed the thread of humor that was carried throughout, at times even in very non-humorous situations. My wife and I are currently sailing my home-built catamaran across the Pacific and we can relate to some of the stories that John shares......more

Goodreads review by Harold on June 13, 2023

I love buying and reading these types of books. Boats, yachts, historical events and books about the sea are generally excellent. If there are sequels in your series, I would love to read them. The beauties of owning the books of important authors cannot be discussed. I'm looking forward to your new b......more

Goodreads review by Becca on July 08, 2017

A quippy book about the life of a delivery captain. It is told in a conversational manner, which is certainly not everybody's cup of tea. It's a quick read, I started and finished it on a travel day. I enjoyed (and can relate to) some of John's accounts of the struggles involved with passages and bo......more

Goodreads review by Mike on June 13, 2022

I’m not knowledgeable of nor have any practical experience with sailing but I really enjoy reading this fun book. I originally read this ~2 decades ago while on a small sailing cruise and recently reread while on a large cruise ship trip. While there are some technical terms and such, the stories ar......more

Goodreads review by Dreadnought on October 01, 2022

Unlike some sailing books this was really well written and easy to read. The style of the story as he recalled his experiences to his girlfriend also allowed the book to flow. The stories themselves were fascinating and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in sailing. I tried to find out what......more