Episode 55 of The Sailing Podcast has more information at www.thesailingpodcast.com/55. Bill Butler shares his stories of a lifetime of sailing and cruising. In 1989 Bill spent 66 Days Adrift in a life raft with his wife after their yacht was attacked by pilot whales while sailing from Panama to Hawaii.
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Bill has many ‘tall but true tales’ including being caught in a typhoon off Manila bay with his wife and children, which we also hear about during the interview. Bill Butler, at 86 years old, is an amazing story teller and has some advice for sailors, after watching over 40 boats pass them while adrift in the life raft.

In this episode we hear about:

- Changes in the relationship between Cuba and the USA
- Why you might want more than 3 flares with you on a life raft
- How a desalinator saved their lives while 66 days adrift

Bill Butler’s Tall but True Tales

I heard from Bill after sending out an email to the listeners of the podcast. If you are not on our email list please subscribe using this link - www.thesailingpodcast.com/contact-us

Bill has lived right through the collapse of relationships between Cuba and the USA, having been born in Cuba and spent his childhood living in Cuba. Bill shares some of his insights into the current changes and brings up an interesting point - how the improvement in the relationship may be detrimental to some of the other tourist destinations, such as Puerto Rico, where Bill lives.

The book with the story of Bill’s time aboard the liferaft is called ’66 Days Adrift’ and you can find it on Amazon using this link. There is an earlier version, which appears to be mainly the log of the time aboard the liferaft called ‘Our Last Chance’. You might find a secondhand copy of the book using this link - Secondhand copy of ‘Our Last Chance’.

More recently Bill has written a memoir of his lifetime of sailing in another book called ‘Bill Butler’s Tall but True Tales’. You can find it on Amazon by clicking on this link - Tall but True Tales by Bill Butler.

Bill also takes during the interview about the experience of being caught in a typhoon off Manila Bay with his wife and children. I was surprised to hear that the family continued to enjoy sailing after such a terrifying experience. Bill mentioned there are a couple of letters written at the time by his wife and his daughter. The links to these letters are as follows:

- link to wifes christmas letter
- link to daughter’s letter

These letters are found on Bill Butler’s website at www.wbutler.com and there is some more information on Bill’s Facebook page - search for Bill Butler's wild adventures.

I actually have an interesting collection of sailing survival stories and here are some of the stories I have collected about being shipwrecked or survival in a liferaft:

- Survive the Savage Sea: by Dougal Robertson
- Adrift, 76 days adrift: by Steven Callahan
- Shipwreck on Middleton Reef: by Bill Belcher
- The Spirit of Rose-Noelle, 119 days adrift, a survival story: by John Glennie and Jane Phare
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Thanks for reading and more information at www.thesailingpodcast.com/55