The Boy Who Fell to Shore: The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Thomas Thor Tangvald

Born at sea aboard his father's hand-built sailboat and raised barefoot on her wood decks, Thomas Thor Tangvald's oceanic childhood was full of beauty and wonder-but was also scarred by horrific tragedies that left him an orphan. Cast ashore into regular contact with human society for the first time at age 15, this intellectually gifted and uniquely educated young man at first reveled in his new environment but ultimately was led by his trauma into spirals of addiction and broken relationships. Thomas hasn't been seen since he sailed away from French Guiana in 2014, and some believe he must still be alive.

THE BOY WHO FELL TO SHORE is an insider's account of the Tangvald legend. Charles J. Doane--an accomplished bluewater sailor and longtime sailing journalist--tracks Thomas and his father Peter (a renowned but controversial sailor and author) across thousands of ocean miles through intimate interviews, personal correspondence, documentary research, and first-hand experience of the tropical anchorages and passage routes they frequented. This biography is by turns inspiring, terrifying, beautiful, and infuriating as Doane deftly explores the great cost of living freely at the whim of wind and water.

Praise for The Boy Who Fell to Shore:

"His seafaring birth, life, and death was so unorthodox, Thomas Tangvald might as well have been a different species. Talented and tormented, he struggled to find love and fulfillment in a world with which he was wholly out of step. Doane has written an engrossing account of this remarkable and ultimately doomed young man, and in the process has given us a sprawling portrait of a remarkable community of bluewater sailors, a tribe of humans who prefer ocean to land." --Mark Bowden, bestselling author of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War and other titles

"A very thought-provoking read. Thomas was so at home on the sea that shipwrecked his youth, literally and figuratively, that his life on shore became a train wreck, in spite of all his good qualities. His old-school sailing parentage and pedigree was cool, but not cool enough to make Thomas whole, or his story any less heart-breaking." --Tania Aebi, author of the bestselling memoir Maiden Voyage

"In The Boy Who Fell to Shore Charles Doane dissects the freedom one finds at sea and in any life close to nature, a powerful siren call even to those who will never venture there. In an era when the term “Freedom” is bandied about by many who’ve never known it and have no idea of its real meaning and implications, this book asks serious questions. What are freedom’s costs and compromises? How does personal freedom without equal responsibility bear upon and limit the lives of others? Does it ultimately devolve into anarchy and disaster? Just how do each of us, sailor or dirt-dweller, strike a balance between a life with too many rules and none at all--between the benefits of civilization and a life devoid of them?" --Steve Callahan, bestselling author of Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea

"A fascinating chronicle of the life and voyages of a damaged yet brilliant iconoclast, and a gripping exploration of the dark tensions between minimalism and seamanship, between individualism and egocentricity, and between a storied, demanding father and an ambitious, orphaned son." --Tim Zimmerman, contributing editor at Outside Magazine, associate producer and co-writer of the documentary film Blackfish, author of The Race

"The tragic life of Thomas Tangvald is like none other. Doane has teased out the tale with skill and tact. He recounts it for us in the raw in this well-researched book." --Tom Cunliffe, BBC broadcaster, yachting journalist and author of In the Wake of Heroes