Books and Resources

Rosemary and Robert Forrester

Tara, the terrier who sailed around the world is the exciting and touching story of a Jack Russell who had at least nine lives and many more adventures with her owners, Rosemary and Robert Forrester, as they sailed around the world on a yacht.

The story begins when Robert flies from Columbia to Florida to buy some essential boat parts, and returns with a six-week-old puppy. Rosemary is both delighted and anxious: how will a dog as lively as a Jack Russell adapt to living at sea? This tiny dog has to learn how to keep her balance on a boat which is tilting sideways one minute, then crashing down on a wave the next; how to find a way to play ball without being washed into the ocean; how to learn to eat fish instead of meat; how to swim in the sea and get back on the boat; how to see-off all potential intruders, including marauding seagulls and customs officials. 

Above all, Tara has to learn how to survive when she is washed overboard not once, but twice. Rosemary recounts their incredible adventures as they sail from the Panama Canal to Australia, and on to Malaysia and Thailand, where they survive the Boxing Day Tsunami. Finally, their journey takes them through the Indian Ocean to Mozambique, where Tara ends her days. 

For animal lovers everywhere especially those who like travel and sailing boats this is an emotional and uniquely entertaining tale.
Life on the high seas with a Jack Russell!

• The unusual adventures of a dog at sea
• For Jack Russell terrier fans everywhere
• Not just for animal lovers, but for anyone interested in travel
• Sailing and its challenges
• Crammed full of laugh-out-loud stories on board and ashore
• What to do when miles from medical help
• Strategies for coping with corrupt officials and modern-day pirates
• Colourful tales about fellow sailors encountered in every port
• How to survive by eating only what is caught
• The miracle of finding a dog washed overboard at sea not once, but twice

5 star reviews

Dogs. We adore them, and unworthy as we are of such devotion, they adore us in return. All they want is to be with us and if that means living on a small boat and being tossed around on (and sometimes in) the ocean for 12 years, as Tara Forrester did, then so be it.
Rosemary and Robert Forrester had already crossed the Atlantic from Gibraltar to Barbados, and then cruised the Caribbean and the east coast of North America in their yacht Deusa, when they decided to explore the Pacific. They were berthed at Cartagena in Colombia when Robert had to fly back to Miami to buy spares for the boat. On a whim, he returned with a basket containing six week old Tara, a Jack Russell terrier (or was that terror)?
From that moment, writes Rosemary, everything changed. Into their tightly disciplined existence, so necessary for survival and harmony on a small boat, arrived a boisterous, inquisitive, endlessly energetic, independent and utterly fearless individual who involved herself in every part of their lives. They fished she hunted sharks and even killed one (size is irrelevant). Shady characters, including customs officials out to make trouble, were frightened away by the unexpected appearance on deck of a snapping, snarling dog, who meant what she said. Much longed for walks on dry land, were enlivened by a small but dedicated chaser of chickens, a tussle with a monkey determined to drown her, and an embarrassing incident with a terrified Red Setter who tried to escape by swimming out to sea, with Tara hanging onto its tail.
Thanks to quick thinking and cool heads, the Forresters managed to ride out the Tsunami in Malaysia, then spent hours in their dinghy rescuing other unmanned yachts that had been ripped from their moorings by the raging sea. In Cape York, the northern most point of Australia, they ran Deusa onto the rocks in murky water, and nearly sank her; and they often faced horrendous conditions for days at sea, all alone. But their worst nightmare came to pass when Tara fell overboard, not once, but three times. On the third occasion, she had been swimming for at least seven or eight hours before she was finally picked up by a Chinese fishing vessel, delighted to have had the good luck to have found a dog at sea. But the story didnt end there her finder was determined to keep her...

If Tara could have written a book about positive thinking, persistence and absolute fearlessness, it would have been a bestseller. Come to think of it, perhaps one day science might invent a dog-friendly computer, so that other little Taras can give us frail humans the advice we so sorely need. 
Tara died peacefully on dry land in Mozambique, having given her family 14 years of total devotion, love and fun. What a dog. What an adventure. What a story.

For animal lovers everywhere especially those who like travel and sailing boats this is an emotional and uniquely entertaining tale.

Life on the high seas with a Jack Russell!

Paperback 15.2x22.5cm 224 pages 44 colour pictures + 7 maps ISBN: 978-1-845848-80-4 UPC: 6-36847-044880-8

Brand URL : www.tarabook.co.za