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Will Sofrin: All Hands on Deck

Summer Sailstice 2023
Prize Value
$30

Win this historical fiction sea-faring tale written by Will Sofrin!

It's a maritime adventure memoir that follows a crew of misfits hired to sail an eighteenth-century warship six thousand miles to Hollywood.

In the late 1990s, Patrick O’Brian’s beloved, massively bestselling historical novel series was destined for film, with Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World. With director Peter Weir and stars Russel Crowe and Paul Bettany signed on, there was only one problem: The Rose, the replica eighteenth-century warship that filmmakers bought for the production, was in Newport, Rhode Island, two oceans and thousands of miles away from Hollywood.

Enter a ragtag crew of thirty oddballs and tall-ship fanatics, including author Will Sofrin, at the time a twenty-one-year-old wooden-boat builder and yacht racer looking for some direction in his life. Together, the crew embarked on an epic adventure, racing a ticking clock and fighting against Mother Nature, and occasionally each other, to deliver the Rose, hopefully in one piece.