A storybook ending? Rescued writer gets girl, sails off into sunset

PORTLAND, Maine - A novelist who was twice rescued at sea has sailed 11,000 trouble-free kilometers and envisions a storybook ending to his journey.

Michael Hurley is completing a voyage from France to the Caribbean to North America with a first mate who is engaged to be his wife. Then he's embarking on a new adventure by putting his boat into storage, getting married and moving to England.

The 60-year-old Hurley, who sold his North Carolina law firm so he could sail and write, has traveled far since he was plucked from his storm-battered sailboat by the student crew of the Maine Maritime Academy training vessel in 2015. It was the second time he had been rescued and lost his boat.