About this item
Amy and Jimmie were not sailors. Their experience included reading a few books, watching a couple of instructional videos, and sailing once a week for a year. They were land-lubberly, middle-class twentysomethings, audacious and in love. All they wanted was to be together and do something extraordinary. They quit their jobs, bought a boat that was categorically considered "too small" for ocean sailing, and left Portland, Oregon for the Sea of Cortez. The Box Wine Sailors tells the true story of a couple's ramshackle trip down the coast, with all the exulting highs and terrifying lows of sailing a small boat on the Pacific. From nearly being rammed by a pair of whales on Thanksgiving morning and the terrifying experience of rounding Punta Gorda - hanging on to the mast for dear life and looking about at what seemed like the apocalypse - to having their tiller snap off while accidentally surfing coastal breakers and finding ultimate joy in a $5 Little Caesar's pizza.
About the Author
Amy McCullough is the former music editor of Willamette Week, Portland, Oregon's Pulitzer Prize-winning alt-weekly newspaper. She has also written for SAIL magazine, Eugene Weekly, Loyola magazine, Edible Austin, and Finder (a magazine-style guide to Portland) .
In addition to writing, she makes independent music, music videos, and movies with her partner and former shipmate, Jimmie. The duo's first feature-length production, Operation: RAVEN - which stars McCullough as tough-as-nails detective Sheila Raven - premiered in association with the Austin Film Festival in February of 2014. Their follow-up, Beast Lover, premiered the following November at Zed Fest in Burbank, California. Amy and Jimmie are also semi-famous for their ongoing series of ridiculous Christmas cards.
Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Arts in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a writer and editor for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The Box Wine Sailors is her first book.
