James Howard answered a wish made on a holed pebble by casting off the lines of his old life. A sailor and writer, his debut, The Pebble and The Storm, chronicles the profound disconnect between the dream of escape and the raw, unflinching reality of a solo passage aboard his 27-foot yacht, Alcyone, where the ocean served as both antagonist and therapist. He explores the philosophy that emerges from broken gear and lonely night watches in his Substack, The Unready Ship, a testament to the truth that the most seaworthy vessels are never truly finished. He funds this endless voyage by running his digital agency from the confounding quiet of a rolling hull.
