A lingering, long-haul collection of writing about sailing for readers of Julietta Singh and Kyo Maclear.
Humans
have sailed for centuries, but as poet Phoebe Wang discovers, when you
step on a boat for the first time, the learning curve is steep. Relative to Wind documents
Wang’s decade-long journey of learning to sail, becoming an avid racer
and volunteer race organizer, and interrogating what it means to be a
relative newcomer to an old tradition.
Drawing literary inspiration from books like Jessica Lee’s Turning, Kyo Maclear’s Birds Art Life, and Leanne Shapton’s Swimming Studies, Wang
delivers thoughtful renderings of her experiences—from colonial echoes
in sailing language to a beautiful look at what it means like to work
alongside crewmates in tempestuous conditions, to battling the
desire to quit or gender equity in the sporting world.
Following
the motif of a race course and structured to help readers apply sailing
lessons and techniques to their relationships, to their art, their
careers, to community, and to place, these essays recognize the
parallels between sailing and a creative life, and between sailing and a
sense of belonging and relationship with the land, inspiring both
sailors and would-be sailors to embrace restoration and wonder.
A lingering, long-haul collection of writing about sailing for readers of Julietta Singh and Kyo Maclear.
In Relative to Wind, Phoebe Wang delivers a poetic rendering of her decade-long journey of learning to sail and a deep dive into what it means to be a newcomer to an old tradition. From working alongside crewmates in tempestuous conditions to becoming an avid racer and organizer to drafting a wistful love letter to a Wayfarer dinghy—while examining the loose tether between sailing and a creative life—Wang delivers a book for sailors and would-be sailors that is thoughtful and surprising at every tack.
"A thoughtful, illuminating look at life away from land."—Kirkus
