Setting Sail tells the 10,000-year story of mankind's quest to cross the world's oceans. It is a remarkable saga that moves from island to island, between nations, and eventually across continents as various peoples share skills and technologies that advance their sailing skills. The book accompanies a four-part television program which is currently airing on the Discovery Channel's High Definition network. A DVD of the program is included with the purchase of this book. Author Luc Cuyvers looks first into the prehistory and the Polynesian diaspora that began before the Christian era. At a time when most sailors refused to venture beyond the sight of land, Polynesians were the first 'bluewater' adventurers, exploring the western Pacific Ocean across an area greater than twice the size of the American continent. Setting Sail considers the advances and techniques that allowed Arab Traders to pursue the first ocean going trade routes. By 750AD, Arab traders regularly sailed to India, Ceylon, and onward as far as China and Korea. Seven centuries later, new centres of exploration were stirring. The Chinese began to travel on voyages of discovery and Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored the first of many voyages that would change Europe's understanding of the maritime world. The story Setting Sail tells is fascinating and visually exciting. The text is supplemented with more than 100 colour photographs of places, people, and ships that illustrate the story of ocean exploration.