Christian Beamish, a former editor at ''The Surfer's Journal, ''envisioned a low-tech, self-reliant exploration for surf along the coast of North America, using primarily clothes and instruments available to his ancestors, and the 18-foot boat he would build by hand in his garage. How the vision met reality - and how the two came to shape each other - places ''Voyage of the Cormorant ''in the great American tradition of tales of life at sea, and what it has to teach us.