Relative to Wind

On Sailing, Craft, and Community

By: Phoebe Wang

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Paperback | 1 March 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.5 x 13.9 x 1.91

Paperback

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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 Winddocuments 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 inspirationfrom 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.

Industry Reviews

"A riveting book about our parallel lives, the side passions that steer our hearts and right our balance. I am not a good sailor, have honestly rarely sailed, but I can say without hesitation that you will not find a book that better captures the sport-or the vagaries of wind, collaboration and creative practice. Phoebe Wang's expansive prose is wise and guiding, and I was very happy to have travelled with her."-Kyo Maclear, author of Unearthing

"For readers like me who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of sailboat culture and its boat speak, poet Phoebe Wang offers a headlong introduction into the world of winches and jib sheets. Relative to Wind is an obsession turned lyrical meets technical that sails into the gust with no looking back."-Amy Fung, author of Before I Was a Critic I Was a Human Being

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