Chip Chip

The Mostly True Story of one of America's finest moments-the Cuban Boatlift What happens when the first mate of a fishing boat in the Florida Keys is drawn into an epic rescue mission? A little danger, a little romance, a little humor and a big difference in a lot of lives. Chip Chip is a novel set amid the historic events of the Cuban boatlift of 1980-and event that author Rusty Jaquays experienced first-hand. Although the details of the story have been fictionalized-mostly to protect the guilty-Jaquays brings the authenticity that only a participant in this humanitarian effort could have captured. As the U.S. normalizes relations with Cuba, Chip Chip is a story every American will want to read.

Rusty Jaquays’ first career was on a lobster boat in the Florida Keys, where he participated in the historic 1980 boatlift to rescue Cuban refugees. Originally from Pennsylvania, he hitchhiked to the Keys, hungry for excitement, never imagining just how exciting it would get. A life-long writer of stories and songs, Chip Chip is Rusty’s first novel. Today, Rusty lives in the North Carolina mountains with his wife, Sherri and his children.