West of Wisdom: A Tale of Lust and Love in the South Pacific

Ghosts of greed and passions past threaten when a sailor saves a young woman from pirates and they flee through the South Pacific searching for the treasure promised in the riddle West of Wisdom.

Edwin Paul Cutler grew up with a dream to sail out of sight of land and steer by the stars. After a career as a mathematician, he went sailing with his wife, Wendy, on Romarin, a wooden boat built in 1938. They spent 10 years sailing in the Caribbean Islands and several years in Bermuda teaching college math and computers.

They made ocean passages navigating with a sextant. When their wooden mast broke, they scarfed in a splice and sailed away. They rode out hurricanes in the Caribbean Islands and repaired broken thru-hull fittings at sea.

They traveled to French Polynesia to study the islands in the story. On the Aranui, similar to the Wanderlust, they traveled to all of the Marquesas, several of the Tuamotus, and on to Tahiti. They flew over Huahine and Raiatea, spent a week on Bora Bora, and took the ferry from Tahiti to Moorea to stay in a grass hut.

The islands of the South Pacific were studied in Seven Seas Cruising Association newsletters, Alan Villiers, "Captain John Cook", 1967, Sven Wahlroos, "Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas", and Commander Victor Clark, "On the Wind of a Dream", 1960 and in various chart books.

Edwin has published numerous poems and several short stories in nautical publications, including sailing adventures and experiences in Cruising World. Some are available on "epic99.tripod.com". For NASA he published scientific papers on pulsars and artificial intelligence.

Another adventure-mystery-romance novel, Caribbean Kiss, is ready for publication.