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The American novelist hailing from Georgia, Stuart Woods, had a long and lustrous career in competition sailing. The interest, maybe obsession, with sailing began after he had spent time in London, then Ireland to write a novel about an old family story which he had heard as a child. He began putting together a crew for sailing competition shortly after he moved to Ireland.

It was in conjunction with a certain race, the MORCRA Azores Race and the OSTAR, Woods met with publishers to trade writing a book about his sailing experiences in return for sponsorship of the races. Golden Harp was launched in 1975, followed by Golden, Golden Apple, Golden Shamrock, Golden Delicious, and Harp.

Wood's novel, Blue Water. Green Skipper was published in 1977. His next book took a different turn and was based on his extensive travels around England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It was entitled, A Romantic's Guide to the Country Inns of Britain and Ireland. He then followed those two non-fiction books with several series of novels featuring recurring casts of characters and also with characters and their love interests, and frequent use of the New York restaurant Elaine's as a meeting place. Woods has published a memoir, a travel book, and forty-four novels in a thirty-seven year career.