Yardarm and Cockpit

Book excerpt: David D. Allyn has led a life that others can only dream about. Adventurer, traveler, sailor, aviator, explorer, and big-hearted bon vivant, Dave came of age while sailing around the world on the last voyage of the tall Brigantine Yankee with all the accompanying tales of drudgery and heat punctuated by terrifying gales, tension amongst the crew members, and a too-close encounter with a one-thousand-pound bull shark. Then there was the time he survived emergency surgery on the ship’s kitchen table. An adrenaline junky, Dave also flew planes back in the days when you needed a helmet and goggles to do it. Aviators and historians will delight in his vivid accounts of flying vintage aircraft—139 different types in all, as well as his stories of collecting a large fleet of famous old aircraft and establishing a fixed base operation—it’s still there: Dolphin Aviation in Sarasota, Florida—and a museum. These stories aren’t just about boats and aircraft, however, they’re also about people and pristine landscapes. You’ll visit Tahiti, Bimini, and the Galapagos before tourists got there. You’ll meet cowboys, mechanics, skydivers, artists, deep-sea divers with a death wish, crazy drunks, and a host of other characters who knew how to live life large. A life-affirming, swaggering book, Yardarm and Cockpit is one wild ride without a seat belt.