Kaumoana tells the story of one woman’s struggle with loss, loneliness, and the uncertainty of the sea. To circumnavigate by sail is to be made by the ‘Big Blue.’
Across history, they were called mariners. In 1996, she was called Laura Taylor Barrett.
When her husband dies suddenly, Laura inherits mounting debt, an uncertain future, and the question of who she is without Martin. The life they built on the Cape Fear River is coming undone. An unrealized dream remains. In the Barrett barn, an unrestored hulk may hold the key. With no sailing experience, she commits to finishing Sea Hawk and attempting a solo voyage around the world – a decision her daughter Claire struggles to understand.
What begins as an act of devotion quickly becomes a test of survival. A violent encounter in the Bahamas is just the beginning – exposing the depths of human cruelty, yet the sea will demand more.
Across the Caribbean, hard-earned seamanship carries her through waters troubled by piracy, while solitude brings encounters she cannot explain. Maritime legends intrude upon the present. Her dead husband’s lingering presence offers neither certainty nor release. As she approaches the Panama Canal, Laura must navigate dangers that skill alone cannot master – and question whether the dream carrying her forward is truly her own.
Kaumoana, the first volume of Sea Hawk, blends maritime adventure, psychological realism, and the uncanny in a story about the cost of claiming a life. The sea can teach, or it can take. Laura must choose to meet it on its own terms.
Book 1 - Chap. 1
Book 1 - Chap. 2
Beyond the Panama Canal, the Pacific opens before Laura. She has earned her place at the helm of Sea Hawk. The dream that carried her away from the Cape Fear River has become a life she is unwilling to surrender.
Ahead lies the Pacific, and the famed ‘Milk Run’ – thousands of nautical miles
of wind, water, and stifling isolation. When her freshwater system fails, every remaining mile becomes a calculation of endurance. She improvises, recalculates, and stays the course. But as dehydration takes hold, the boundary between the ocean around her and the world within begins to dissolve.
Her dead husband returns. Sailors from another age seem to know her. Whether these encounters offer guidance or conceal a darker claim upon her remains uncertain.
Reaching Tahiti brings rescue, but no simple release. Other people have plans for Laura’s recovery, her body, and her future. Even the promise of belonging asks her to reckon with what she is willing to give up. Having fought to survive, Laura must now defend her right to decide how she will live.
Waka Ngaro, the second volume of Sea Hawk, carries Laura into the uncertain waters of solitude, human desire, and self-determination. The farther she sails,
the more freedom demands of her. And beyond every human claim, the ocean watches, and the uncanny awaits.
Book 2 - Chap. 1
Book 2 - Chap. 2
COMING SOON...
A decade after Laura Taylor Barrett’s unexplained disappearance, a mysterious package arrives for her daughter Claire. What it carries draws Claire into the unanswered questions of her mother’s voyage — and a family history whose silences have shaped her own life.
Tuku Iho, the concluding volume of Sea Hawk, turns from the woman who left to the daughter who remained. Across three generations, the meaning of inheritance reaches beyond what is given to what is concealed.
COMING IN 2027..!