Around the World in a Homemade Boat
Increased our knowledge,
Intensified our love for Earth,
And inspired us to help shape the future.
A city boy meets a country girl who always says ‘yes’ to an adventure, and together they journey to Australia, where they homebuilt a sailing yacht while starting a family. After three years of challenging hard work, Banyandah was launched, and their young sons were swimming and running.
Embark on a remarkable true adventure in:
Around the World in a Homemade Boat with Kids by Jack and Jude Binder
This non-fiction travel memoir is part of the Tujays Trilogy, and perfect for young adults and adults who dream of distant horizons, wild oceans, and unconventional lives.
For thirteen years, the Four J’s — Jack, Jude, Jason, and Jerome — sailed a homemade boat beyond civilisation and comfort into the wide, untamed world. While history’s great explorers journeyed without their families, the Binder family explored the globe together.
They called their thirteen-year odyssey “Voyages of Education,” home-schooling their sons through the most formative years of childhood while navigating before GPS, using a sextant to measure the heavens to find their place on Earth as they crossed vast oceans with no safety net.
Seamanship was not romance, but discipline with long watches, when heavy weather required hard decisions, and then the relief of landfall appearing exactly where it should.
Anchoring off countless remote islands and isolated shores, they witnessed not only the planet’s breathtaking beauty, but also the steady invasion of humankind’s footprint into even the most distant places.
More than a sailing story, this is an epic true account of exploration, resilience, and family living in direct relationship with a changing world, raising their children not apart from the planet — but as part of it.
Together, they didn’t just visit nature. They lived within it.
To Africa for a safari in the last wild kingdom.
Then the Galapagos to wander through the intricacies of nature.
Onwards to Rapa Nui to witness the results of over-population.
Sailing everywhere in between
Contemplating life, eternity, and the marvellous creation.
Accompanied by sea fairies whispering their ageless secrets.
Adding historical notes, and keeping the scary bits true to life, created a most amazing coming of age saga. Inspirational for young minds – and all of us who love life and Earth.
Excerpts & Teasers:
Sea Monster ~ Rapa Nui ~ Tuamotus ~ Machinegun Alley ~ Out the Other End ~ Big Monopoly Game
2 BOOK PACK
Around Australia and Around the World
AUD$80
Free delivery worldwide
(postal zones 1 – 4)
Comments and Reviews of our Books ~
Trevor Norton
Two’s a Crew ~ It’s a great read, very informative.
Every cruising boat should have a copy.
West Coast Yacht Charters
Strahan, Tasmania
Niki and Lauren at ZULU Waterways
TWO’S A CREW
The book is fantastic. So well written and a perfect balance between sailing details and historic notes and written with a raw honesty which is so essential for a Cruising book.
Niki and Lauren at ZULU Waterways
Bill and Juanita
We both have now read Where Wild Winds Blow.
The history of aboriginals saddens us but good to learn.
You have encouraged us to Put Nature First.
A good approach to life. Thanks
Liam Harris
I love my book and video that I purchased from you and I’m watching and reading them the second time around 🙂
Best of luck and very much looking forward to reading about your adventures.
He raves about your books to anyone who will listen
Jeffery from South Australia wrote, Absolutely loved your books, felt like I sailed along with you and experienced every adventure with the same views about the environment.
I’ve sent both your books to my elderly father (85) who spent the majority of his life on the River Murray and was always around boats. He’s now in an aged care home. Regardless he is a tough critic but raves about your books endlessly to anyone who will listen.
Susan Schieder
You guys are amazing!
My partner and I are building a boat and found your voyage under Australia to be so inspiring. Quite clearly you told us about the importance of having routines in place, who does what, what to watch for. We purchased all three of your books and reading them has given our confidence a big boost. Thank you.
Lisa from WA
Where Wild Winds Blow has changed my life. I read your dedication from a copy in the library and immediately bought your book even though I have never sailed and may never step on a boat. The thought scares me. But through you two, I have vicariously experienced true love and known the courage Earth’s great explorers must have had. God Bless.
Gil Kaltenbach
Where Wild Winds Blow.It’s a great read!
I was surprised that I couldn’t put it down for I had already followed you on your blog.
The historical notes are always very interesting and I loved how you included stories from your past sailing adventures too.
You both have a wonderful and infectious sense of adventure. Thank you!
Dr. James Fitzpatrick
Oh my god, you two are brilliant. It is strange having read this ‘chapter’ of your life and knowing that much about such a brave and loved up couple. Thank you for sharing the stories.
Chief Investigator
Marulu – The Lililwan Project
Mark Sheen
Well done Jack and Judith….
I really find you guys inspiring.
I live to see the wild places of Earth.
Mark Sheen
Judy Cooperman in USA
“Your writing style has the perfect pace.
It creates strong images yet skips along without wasting words. Sort of London, sort of Hemingway, but all Capt. Jack.
Your love for each other peppers it perfectly. Good show, and thanks!”
Rosemary Bartle
“Pearls of wisdom for motivation!
Absolutely loved your book,
A favourite on my bookshelf.”
Graham Swannell
“Great reading!
Felt I was experiencing some of the world beautiful places.
Also learnt something about sailing and decisions one has to make to be safe.”
Graham Swannell
Head of Design Aeronautical Engineers Australia
Margaret Muir, author
“I love your evocative descriptive passages.
Judith’s presence is felt throughout, sharing the same strength, courage and love of the wild as her man.”
Margaret Muir, author of Floating Gold, Sea Dust, & Condor’s Feather
Diane
Your books are all so well written and are such a joy to read and imagine what it all must be like. My husband has just purchased a boat (inspired by the BANYANDAH!)
I just want to say that the world needs more people like you and thank you for sharing your stories. We hope to be “guided” through our adventures by you both. All the best to you and yours, Diane
Nick Sabardin in France
I’m halfway through the book about your circumnavigation of Australia and I’m loving it.
I actually just ordered the DVD to enjoy the footage.
I like your thoughts on life, Earth and mankind, and your writing style too!
Caitlin and Michael ~ “Bass Voyager”
We took your advice and crossed the Strait to King Island, Three Hummock Island and, since yesterday, pretty Stanley!
We owe you a great debt of thanks as we have had such a wonderful time exploring the Western islands of Tassie – and now we are on the Tas mainland – a dream for both of us since we were kids!
Phil Ross, Editor Cruising Helmsman
If you do not follow their blog, I suggest you subscribe.
Alongside Alan and Pat Lucas, if ever there was a couple like Lin and Larry residing in Australia then Jack and Jude would have to be it.
Phil Ross Editor
HOVER to Pause
I love that it is raw, real and the reflections are from all four of you.
I love all the history of all the places that you have visited......some I have never heard of. I have learnt so much history from this book.
I love all the descriptions of the geography; they make you feel like you are there in person.
I love the passion for 'mother earth' that you all have and the protective fear that we are losing this treasure with overpopulation and pollution.
And I just love that you call Jude, my lady. That makes my heart melt.
The way you combine personal anecdote with history and local politics creates vivid word portraits that stay in the mind. It adds depth to the experiences you describe and your interactions with the local populace.
You painted a vivid portrait of that mysterious, powerful, lost culture and its statues, then, in a masterful stroke, aligned that well-known story of a lost civilization to the perils we face today. It brought the current situation into stark focus.
Hi Jack and Jude,
I am enjoying getting to know you through your book. You mention you do a lot of re-writing but the end result is impressive. There is a musical cadence to your writing style. Quiet passages as you cruise along, with delightful flourishes in moments of enchanting beauty, rising to a crescendo in moments of great drama, like your attempted night entry into Diego Suarez.
As Captain Haddock so eloquently put it, “Failure. You can never let it defeat you.”
Jack’s birthday wish to climb into this small volcano near Sierra Negra on Islabela Island
The three-year voyage explored locations known only to the wild creatures as we sailed to the world’s greatest attractions. Meeting along the way, a swirling mix of everyday people everywhere we landed. Statistically, we slept one in four nights at sea aboard a tiny dot of a sailboat about the size of a Winnebago. All of this before GPS satellite navigation. Being sextant sailors, we taught our sons how to navigate by the heavens, and then they navigated the rest of the way around the world. On that massive voyage of education, to take our children into the digital age, we took with us one of the first portable computers that came with a library of manuals. Our clever captain studied these and then taught the children several programming languages, producing the first digital game of Monopoly. He also wrote a navigation program with a built-in almanac to check the boys’ celestial sights.
Future Outlook ~
While in the Galápagos, just as Charles Darwin experienced a revelation, the Four J’s encountered something similar. Having witnessed man’s impact on Earth, and Nature’s limited ability to repair, our epiphany saw humanity in an alliance with Nature benefitting each other instead of chasing the narcissistic view of world domination.
Jacques Cousteau observed, “People Protect What They Love.”
non-fiction paperback, 500 pages, 150 images and charts
The pictures on your website flash past too quickly do you need to slow them down
Nigel, Appreciate your comment, you’re right, should have viewer controls which I have now added. HOVER to pause – and rt/lt arrows. A fabulous addition thanks to you. Cheers, J&J