Synopsis

    The years of 1969 - 1974 were the years from Woodstock to Watergate.  These years marked a changing time in the United States when a small but determined brotherhood of young entrepreneurs embarked on a different kind of mission.  They sought to deliver quality herb to the hungry market of 30 million US consumers.  These were the years before organized crime realized that there was a lot of money to be made by pot prohibition.  This was a period when marijuana seemed truly innocent and many believed it was only a matter of time before it would become legal.

    The life of Peter "Rabbit" seems to play out like a soundtrack to the seventies.  Like many in those years, Rabbit gets his start in the trade doing favors for friends, keeping them supplied with good weed.  He pays his way through college working as a diligent herb dealer and briefly lives a life of luxury with beautiful ladies in different cities on the East coast.  Suddenly, a series of events takes him from "being the man" to becoming a fugitive on the run from the law.

    In rapid succession Rabbit is violently ripped off by those close to him, gets busted by the cops, jumps bond, and is pursued by a relentless bondsman who "always gets his man."  He knows the only chance he has to get his freedom back is to make enough money to buy it.  He hatches a plan to buy his freedom by engaging in a smuggling operation to Jamaica to bring back 3,000 pounds of premium herb.  His first smuggling venture begins aboard the winning yacht in the infamous Miami to Montego Bay sailing race in 1973.  That was when Ted Turner's Tenacious was defeated in the Southern Ocean Racing Conference.

    In 1974, Rabbit invests in Ibis II, a beautiful 46 ft NY 32 wooden racing sloop built in 1937.  Ibis had an impeccable pedigree which the New York Yacht Club will vouch for today.  Rabbit, Ibis, and their two-man crew embark on a voyage of endurance and survival almost too incredible to believe.  On their journey they encounter Cuban gunboats, storms that threaten to drown them at sea, lack of food and fuel, and close encounters with the Coast Guard while at the helm of a boat full of Jamaican bud.  In August, 1974 the ganja is stashed up island in an affluent summer cottage in Martha's Vineyard.  Rabbit is staying at the Kelly House in Edgartown along with the cast of Jaws while Steven Spielberg was filming his own seafaring suspense adventure.  The difference between the Jaws thriller and the thrills in Flight of Ibis is that Ibis is true.

    Throughout the book Rabbit deals with all the major forms of conflict in life:  Man v. man, man v. society, man v. nature, man v. himself.  On the surface this is a gripping tale of true adventure and survival.  More importantly, it is a chronicle of the times, the mood, and the music of those magical years from a truly unique perspective.  Flight of Ibis is the intimate portrait of a life meant for more than your average desk job.  It must be read by anyone who truly ascribes to the beliefs that life is meant to be lived and only the good die young.