The Isle of Wight marks the threshold between the family’s preparations in England and their passage out to sea aboard the Peggy Sue. As the boat sails past the island on September 10, 1987, the round-the-world voyage becomes real: a departure the family recognizes as having no turning back.

A Landmark on the Departure

The family sets sail with the boat loaded with stores and provisions, after months of preparation for the journey. Their departure is recorded in the ship’s log, which supplies the date: September 10, 1987. The Isle of Wight appears in the account as the Peggy Sue sails out from The Solent, placing the island at the edge of the familiar waters they are leaving behind.

Stella Artois barks farewells at the people gathered to see them off and at the boats they pass. But as the Peggy Sue goes by the Isle of Wight, she falls quiet. The change in her behavior accompanies the family’s own recognition that this is no longer a dream or a plan: they are underway around the world, with no turning back.

The Voyage Seen Through the Log

The Isle of Wight belongs to a journey later narrated through selected extracts from Michael’s log. He describes keeping this personal record while on night watch, first as homework encouraged by his parents and eventually as a natural way to put his experiences into words. The surviving pages are crinkled and yellowed, and the older Michael presents them as the record of an eleven-year-old sailing aboard the Peggy Sue.

The log’s route moves beyond the departure waters toward distant coasts. On October 11, Michael records seeing Africa and traces the planned passage down its western coast before crossing the Atlantic toward South America. He notes the danger of drifting into the Doldrums, where the lack of wind could leave the boat becalmed for weeks. The island’s place in the narrative is therefore brief but structural: it anchors the moment when the family leaves home waters and begins the larger ocean passage.

Departure and Return

The voyage’s later milestones give that departure an added resonance. Off Perth, Australia, the family celebrates having sailed halfway around the world, while Michael’s mother’s recurring stomach cramps threaten the crew’s ability to continue. On the night before Michael’s twelfth birthday, storms in the Coral Sea have damaged the rudder cable, disabled the self-steering, and left Michael and his exhausted father sharing the wheel while his mother is ill.

Much later, the Peggy Sue comes into view again at the island where Michael has been stranded. He watches from the forest as his parents arrive aboard, then runs out to meet them. The Isle of Wight is not identified as the place of that reunion; rather, the book’s return to the Peggy Sue closes the arc opened by the departure past the island. It frames the voyage as a passage from home, through danger and separation, toward reunion.