Modern Boat

Rick's recent appearance on Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild chronicled his budget lifestyle and adventures aboard Calypso, and introduced the idea of budget sailing to a whole new audience - an audience who may have never considered the possibility that such a dream could be made a reality, on such a small amount of money. This book is for them and for any experienced sailors who want to cast off the yoke of consumerist yachting and get back to what really matters at sea.

Raging Tiger A Long Short Story In early 1998 Alex the Pirate and Diego are running contraband into Vietnam in fleets of tongkang boats, using the gunboat Tiger for defense against other pirates. When they least suspect it, they are attacked by their arch-enemy, the Frenchman. How dare he attack Alex’s shipments? The Frenchman raids their village at Kampung Bharu, destroying boats and killing many. What can Alex do? He vows to have revenge and leads the coastal smugglers in a convoy for retribution. The Modern Pirate Series features Alex the Pirate, Diego his business partner, and a savvy...

Restless Tiger A Long short Story Alex and Diego are busy smuggling contraband north across the sea to Vietnam and Cambodia and bringing refugees south across the Gulf of Thailand in early 1998. They find that running a fleet of twelve boats is hard enough, but piracy is rampant on the water. They are also hijacking ships at sea to liberate them of their cargo and turn a profit. And then there is their old scourge, the Frenchman, back on the attack. They have to teach him a lesson and exact revenge for murdered crewmen in the last nasty sea encounter. But how? The third of a collection of ...

Two long short stories The Good Deed Faced with stealing a valuable yacht or helping a woman recover her stolen sea-going catamaran is a tough choice for Alex and the crew of the Tiger II. Diego agrees that today at least larceny can take a back seat to doing the right thing. Besides they get to chase the notorious pirate Ortega across the South China Sea to get the stolen craft back. They can even try out the new three-inch gun! Chen In 2002 Alex meets an intriguing thief named Mia at Chin Li’s Water Bar on the inner harbor of Hong Kong, near the exclusive Belmont Yacht Club. She steals ...

The Caribbean Queen Alex and company steal an expensive yacht, The Caribbean Queen, from its mooring while the crew is ashore on the island of Grenada. They sail it away as a dangerous storm sweeps the sea. The Exchange Alex receives a call from an old friend to help him recover his two kidnapped children in Hong Kong. Alex decides to deliver the unusual payment for his friend even though he must get safe passage from the Triad. He confronts the nefarious Mohammed the goat to make the payoff. The exchange goes all wrong and a gun battle ensues. Venezuela Nights Alex embarks on a secret ...

On April 15, 1912 an "unsinkable" ship called the Titanic unexpectedly hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Right? Wrong! Nobody was really talking about the Titanic being unsinkable until after it sank.

It so happened that a big ship went down in a terrible storm. By chance and good fortune, Rat, Mouse, and Gerbil scrambled safely into an empty lifeboat. A cautionary fable about greed featuring a rat, a mouse, and a gerbil. A tale about overuse of resources by the powerful at the expense of the small and vulnerable.