Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone

In this towering story about a man pitting himself against the sea, against society, against himself, Robert Stone again demonstrates that he is the foremost American novelist of our day. Outerbridge Reach commands comparison with the great sea novels of Conrad, Melville, and Hemingway, but it is also the portrait of two men and a powerful, unforgettable woman whom they both love -- and for whom they are ready, in their very different ways, to stake everything.