Ian Nicolson at his best: stories and ideas that spring from his mind and are an excellent read for a winter evening or a summer day. In "The Log of the Maken" Nicolson joins a Canadian and a Norwegian to navigate the Maken from England to Canada through the Panama Canal. This crew ends their trip to Las Palmas. Nicolson still tells of when he decided to go home to England from Vancouver - hitchhiking from the west coast of Canada to the east he discovers a 30-foot yacht, built and equipped like the Saint Elizabeth and then describes in an admirable style, his vicissitudes to go home, without a dollar. Finally, Nicolson focuses on building his yacht: the St. Mary. But he points out: “Building a boat is like digging a hole in the road. Everyone believes that personally he could do it better, do it faster, make it tidier and do it with less noise and less stories. "