From Elaine S. Silver

The curious and courageous Couvreuxs and their trusty sail boat Cowabunga. Janis Couvreux, husband, Michel, and their two young sons invite the reader to squeeze into that sailboat as they ride the waves to places most of us will never venture: the complicated ports of Africa, strange islands smack in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, tiny inlets along the eastern coast of South America, to name a few. Janis’s exquisite storytelling style puts the reader in the thick of the adventure, from being rescued by the U.S. Navy to being the rescuers during a devastating flood in Brazil along with how to cook family dinner every night strapped into the galley, so the waves don’t knock you over while you are stirring the soup. The life the Couvreuxs chose to live and the lives of others they got to share it with, even for a little while, paint a portrait of what it means to be human in its many varied forms around the planet. And because Janis has gifted us this book, Sail Cowabunga! A Family's Ten Years at Sea, the rest of us get to live it too. Cowabunga!

- Elaine S. Silver, editor and writer