Sandra Clayton | About The Book | Dolphins Under My Bed

A Summary

Dolphins Under My Bed follows two people with limited sailing experience who set off from England for the Mediterranean in a 40-foot sailing catamaran.  Their main objectives are to live as cheaply as possible, enjoy a warm, dry winter and improve their health.  Like all travel of any duration, however, it becomes a personal journey as well as a geographical one.  Stereotypes fall away.  And all those characteristics with the pre-fix ‘self’ in front of them, such as self-responsibility and self-reliance, come into play.  It is also a simpler life.  Quieter.  Although not without the odd moments of extreme stress and one particular occasion when death seems inevitable.

How it began

As an avid letter-writer, Sandra embarked on a regular correspondence with family and friends.  The problem with letters and postcards is that you soon forget what you have sent to whom.  And some people are receiving repeated information while others think you must have sunk because it’s so long since they heard from you.  It also takes up a lot of time, especially when you have to walk several miles to the nearest post office.  So Sandra began doing one of the things she had done professionally and produced a quarterly newsletter from her daily Log.  Over time, people began to ask when the book was coming out.
 
How the book got its name