Wright Gres

southeast Georgia

I grew up in Tampa, Florida. Graduated from H.B. Plant High School, then the University of Florida. Back in Tampa I worked a number of jobs including retail advertising for a small appliance store chain, various aspects of the ad agency business including my own shop for several years, promotional work for the Tampa convention facility and the acts performing there. I moved to the Orlando area. Three years later, in 1983, I left my coat and tie job responsible for the advertising for five United Telecom (now Sprint) telephone companies in Florida with no idea what I would do next.
I ran into Captain J.B. Smith who had been skipper of the brig "Unicorn" when I had been aboard as a volunteer, regular member of the crew. He asked me if I'd be interested in making a transatlantic as a deckhand aboard "Marie Pierre," a French registered, German-built, 30-year-old, 108' stays'l schooner. Of course I was interested, my only real hurdle being a heart to heart conversation with my wife. I had about 4 days notice to join the boat down in St Maarten, where I was told I would be met by some of the crew at the "Rusty Pelican," a bar in Phillipsburg.
It was raining, a dark and dreary night when I arrived... well, you get the picture. I arrived on a Saturday night, and after a sendoff brunch at Chesterfield's we got underway early Sunday afternoon on a six-month adventure that included the de rigueur stop at Horta in the Azores, a couple days at Gibraltar and a stop at Alicante, Spain followed by a month or so of work in a Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, ship yard. Then we picked up the owner and her party in Greece, and spent the next four months or so visiting countless large and small ports and secluded anchorages in Greece and the southwest Turkish coast before making it up to Istanbul.
The voyage, my daily journal and photos, my Walter Mitty fantasy life, and the follow up research afterwards to learn more about the places, the politics, and history of where I'd been gradually evolved into "Macedonia Passage: Dangerous Cargo."

Writing the novel of adventure and intrigue, "MACEDONIA PASSAGE: DANGEROUS CARGO"
A (still active) founding board member of the Altamaha Riverkeeper.
Worked with Habitat for Humanity for several years.
Marine Coordinator for the John Grisham-written, Robert Altman-directed film, "THE GINGERBREADMAN."
"MACEDONIA PASSAGE" was written up in May, 2009 issue of SAIL magazine.
And last, but not least, having a good son and an adorable, 4-year-old granddaughter.

Robb White, John Katzenbach, Lee Childs, Stuart Woods, Lisette Brodey, Herman Wouk, Nicholas Monsarrat, Jan de Hartog, Frank T. Bullen, Alexander Laing, Rafael Sabatini, Jules Verne, Howard I Chapelle, Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

"Macedonia Passage: Dangerous Cargo" of course.
"The Lion's Paw"
"The Cruel Sea"
"The Call of the Sea"
"The Caine Mutiny" and "Winds of War"
"Frank Brown, Sea Apprentice"
"The Sea Witch"
"Captain Blood"
"The Mysterious Island"
"Two Years Before the Mast"
"Crooked Moon"

Sailing and sailboat racing; boating of almost any kind; canoeing blackwater; Saving the world (I try to be sensible about it, but I try one critter at a time, one tree at a time); Doing my little part to ensure that the world is at least as good for my granddaughter (and her granddaughter) as it has been for me -- a daunting task; sitting on my porch and watching the Altamaha River go by; and I love talking to people about my book, "MACEDONIA PASSAGE."

Soundings magazine, BoatUS magazine, SAIL Magazine, The Week

http://www.theriverhousebooks.com
http://www.wrightgres.com
http://www.macedoniapassage.com
http://www.MySpace.com/wrightgres