Roger McDonald is an acclaimed Australian novelist, non-fiction writer, poet, and screenwriter. Among his ten novels are The Ballad of Desmond Kale, winner of the Miles Franklin Award, multiple-award-winning Mr Darwin's Shooter and his most recent, A Sea-Chase. Linked to the Spirit of Adventure Trust by family, Roger divides his time between Waiheke Island and rural Victoria, and is a keen sailor.

Foreword - Stephen B. Fisher QSO 7 Introduction 5 1 A Lot of Stamping Feet 10 2 A Wish for Better Days Ahead 16 3 The Word Spirit Battling in a Storm 19 4 Rounding the Next Corner 23 5 Bright and Shining Clear 28 6 Something Bedded In 36 7 Time Travellers Looking Back 40 8 If You Sailed a Lot (or Didn't) 44 9 Te Waka Herenga Tangata o Aotearoa 47 10 A Path to Getting Known 53 11 A Way to Stop Time 55 12 A Young Girl Went Sailing 60 13 Things That Aren't Written Down 68 14 Boarding It Up 73 15 A Ripple of Tall Ship Life 77 16 Skulls and Crossbones 80 17 How About That? 83 18 Bite 86 19 Where is the Edge? 91 20 Where Would You Like to Go? 95 21 Something in Common 99 22 Hundreds Applied 103 23 The Key to Any Game 108 24 Loud Yelling Was Blown Away 113 25 A Spirit of Adventure 116 26 Wind and Weather 121 27 A Ship's Bell 126 28 We Showed You, Didn't We? 130 29 On a Foggy Night 136 30 Absolutely Not Quite 140 31 Keepers of Fire 143 32 Matauranga Maori 149 33 Whetu Marama - Bright Star 156 34 A Carefree Feeling 160 35 Sailing into a Role 00 36 Look in For Shelter 164 37 Security Measures 167 38 The Next Generation 172 39 They Just Trust Us 178 40 Adapted to a Purpose 181 41 Red Sails 186 42 In All Conditions 189 43 Exceeding a Predicted Lifetime 194 44 She'd Figure It Out (They Guessed) 198 45 Don't Choke Off the Fun 201 46 Art Works 208 47 To Be Seen 212 48 On Board with Girls 220 49 New to This Work 225 50 What Else is Good? 229 51 A Place to Sail 234 52 Eruptions of Spirit 238 53 Where to Stand or Look 242 54 Last Time Anyone Checked 246 55 The Same Plus 249 56 Command Roles Reversed 252 57 Special Edition, Now Banned 256 58 The Fifth Room 260 59 Their Father's Favourite Axe 266 60 Everyone's Biggest Challenge 273 61 Across and Up 277 62 Learning Knots 280 63 The Right Kind of Weird 286 64 Energy Levels 290 65 The Extra Mile 296 66 Responsibility Carried Lightly 302 67 Pirate Themed 308 68 A Letter to Your Future Self 312 Acknowledgements 324 Chronology 326 Spirit of Adventure Trustees 330 Notes 336