Ben Neely

Ben E. Neely, P.E., is a salty dog with a story. His father, Harry L. Neely, was a wild child who stuffed the family into a thirty-two-foot sailboat and began an epic journey across the Pacific, sailing from San Francisco to Hawaii, then to Australia, building the Skinnie Linnie there to make the trek home. Those years on the waves carved Ben into a guy who craved adventure. By nineteen, in 1973, he was working trollers like the Alley Cat off Oregon’s coast, facing down rogue waves and swapping jokes with a rough-and-tumble crew. The sea taught him grit, guts, and how to laugh when the deck’s falling out from under you.

After his fishing days, Ben built a solid career as an engineer and raised a family, but the ocean’s pull never faded. In his seventies, he wrote A Well Misspent Youth, a memoir that brings those wild days back to life. Dyslexia made writing tough, but Ben didn’t quit. He used software to hear him reading, adjusting the words here and there, until they rang true to his youth. This book is dedicated to his father, and a way for him to honor the sea, the men who worked it, and the kid he was—fearless, determined, and enamored with the chaos of it all.

As you’re taken along his journey, Ben’s tale reels you back to your own, daring you once again to chase adventures of your own and to grasp tight to the moments that define you. Ben’s life should be filled with the thrill of fearless days, against all odds.