When Jack Randall disembarked from a U.S. Army troopship at the Port of Whittier, Alaska, in April of 1949, little did he know that fifty-six years later he would write a book about the Red-necked Grebes that, in winter, also sail the waters of Prince William Sound. In the ensuing years, Jack has: served through the Korean War; settled in Cooper Landing, Alaska, where his four children attended a one-room school; in 1959, with his twenty-six foot sloop ?Sea Otter, ? pioneered modern-day sailing in Alaska; been a registered guide and licensed charter boat skipper; from 1963-1965, as initial Assembly President, helped start a government from scratch; served his church for fifteen years as a non-stipendiary priest; promulgated the first comprehensive investment policy for the University of Alaska Foundation; and lectured at the University of Alaska Anchorage, which in 1996 honored him with a Meritorious Service Award. Following the passing of his first wife Jo, he and his present wife Mary retired to Wasilla Lake, Alaska, where they have lived ?in the company of Grebes? since 1991.