A Voyage for Madmen

4.5 Stars!

“I finally awoke at 1100 having had three hours uninterrupted sleep…We were rolling very heavily and it was difficult to stand inside the cabin, but I managed to heat up some soup…I felt very depressed on getting up…I used up a lot of nervous energy last night by leaving the jib up, for what-maybe an extra 20 miles if we’re lucky-and what difference does 20 miles make when I have about 20,000 to go? The future does not look particularly bright…sitting here being thrown about for the next 150 days.”

So reads an excerpt from the journal of one of the competitors, during his gruelling, solo attempt at circumnavigating the globe non-stop. I previously read Bernard Moitessier’s account of his journey in this competition in, “The Long Way” and I was a little disappointed, but this overview is an absolute treat. Even with all the maritime terminology, Nichols still makes this book very accessible to the layman (like me).

We see that bravery, luck, madness and superstition all play their part in this riveting yet absolutely terrifying voyage. Even for the ones who didn’t finish, it still makes for a truly phenomenal achievement. The sheer scale of endurance, stamina and determination of these people is something else. This is a harrowing journey that involves passing the Three Capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn) as well as tackling other worrying and unpredictable obstacles along the way, such as the Doldrums, the Roaring Forties and the Agulhas Current, which all bring their own version of hell.

Nichols understands that sailing is clearly not for everyone, he even equates it to “Like standing under a cold shower and tearing up money.” which maybe gives us an idea on who it is most likely to attract. Injury and harm are never too far away, and not just conventional injuries, there are also cases of a moustache accidently getting tied to a spinnaker and someone getting battery acid in an eye.

This story is as much about the human condition as it is about a race. All strengths, weaknesses, flaws and fears are on show within these pages. The different vessels, approaches, personalities and their fates are nothing short of fascinating. Each of the competitors had their own ways of dealing with the long, gruelling hours battling the boredom and the elements, whether it was doing naked yoga for long spells (Moitessier) or listening to hours of classical music (Tetley) they had to dig deep to stay sane, and as we learn not everyone would remain that way.

This is an incredible journey and is beautifully told by Nichols, who manages to capture the mood and feel aboard each boat without getting lost in the technological aspects, ensuring that we get the most out of it. This is a thrilling, unpredictable and fascinating journey that will haunt you long after you’ve finished the last page.

A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols is excellent. This well-crafted sea adventure story is suspenseful and the details of the human drama are haunting. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

In 1968, a London newspaper devised a race—who can sail around the world, single-handed, with no stops? Nine men eventually decided to race—but only one man finished. Although this book is full of descriptions of the terrible conditions the men faced when the sea was at its worst, the insight into the men’s personalities and inner demons is the most compelling aspect.

These men sailed for reasons more complex than even they knew. Each decided to make his voyage independent of the others; the race between them was born only of the coincidence of their timing. They were not sportsmen or racing yachtsmen: one didn’t even know how to sail when he set off. Their preparations and their boats were as varied as their personalities, and the contrasts were startling. Once at sea, they were exposed to conditions frightening beyond imagination and a loneliness almost unknown in human experience.

Sealed inside their tiny craft, beyond the world’s gaze, stripped of any possibility of pretense, the sailors met their truest selves. Who they were—not the sea or the weather—determined the nature of their voyages (xii).

This is such a good book. It had me researching giant waves and watching surfer videos and reading articles in sailing magazines. This book also introduced me to the world of sailing and boats and the complexities of sailing on the open sea. Nichols gives a brief history of circumnavigation sailing and then launches into the Golden Globe race (as it was called). He introduces each sailor and gives readers some personal background, then alternates whole chapters (or sections of chapters) to tell the story of how each man acquired the boat he used in the race, how he raised the money, how he built the boat, etc. It’s a whole lot more interesting than it sounds. Once the men begin their voyages (they started at different times and different locations), Nichols follows each man in their journeys across the Atlantic and down into what’s known as the Southern Ocean by sailors: “the windswept southerly wastes of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans between latitudes 40 and 60 degrees south, between the habitable world and the Antarctic, where storm-force westerly winds develop and drive huge seas around the globe, unimpeded by land except at one fearsome place, Cape Horn, the southernmost rock of the Andes, the scorpion-tail tip of South America” (3).

The book includes maps of the routes taken by the men and pictures. Spoiler alert: a few of the pictures kind of give away the fate of at least one man (once you learn who sailed what boat). So you may want to avoid them until near the end (unless you already have an inkling of what happens—Nichols, when discussing each man, certainly gives you enough insight into their various personalities to at least guess at their success—or lack of—in completing the voyage). He also includes a list of sources (although without specific citations).

I have only three complaints about this book: 1) Nichols overuses the word “ignominious” and its variations; 2) “Tahiti Bill” Howell is introduced as a contestant in the race, but he never actually sails. Nichols never explains why Howell didn’t enter the competition; Howell basically disappears and is never mentioned again; 3) if you have no knowledge of sailing, the boats, or the terminology, the technical (for me) descriptions will be daunting. I wish the author had included a brief overview of the basics of a sailboat and sailing terminology. I mean, I know the difference between starboard and port and some of the sails, but my lack of knowledge probably prevented me from appreciating the book as much as I could have. Other than these three very specific concerns, I loved this book. It’s a seafaring adventure, but it’s also an exploration of the human psyche and it’s amazing. The book is a quick read (under 300 pages) with short, zippy chapters. The prose is concise, but manages to pack in a lot of story without all the melodrama and excessive descriptions. I highly recommend this book. It’s a great antidote to counteract all the political bullshit we (in the USA) are now surround by.

There's a documentary called Deep Water that's excellent. It uses some of the video footage and photographs taken by the sailors. Family members are interviewed and you also hear some of the audio recorded by the men. I think the documentary focuses too much on one person, which is understandable, but I would have liked a more general overview of all the men. At any rate, it's a fascinating 94 minutes and the tragic consequences of the race are very clear. I wouldn't say it's better than the book (there's no connection between the book and the documentary); the book is about all of the race contestants while the documentary focuses on really just two of the men. Definitely worth viewing if you liked the book.

Went in with low expectation, came away pleasantly surprised. Fun look into a group of people way too into the same stupid hobby.

A very well written account of an incredibly dangerous but true story of nine adventurers in a race to be the first to solo sail around the world. This is yet another example of truth being stranger than fiction.

This has been such a powerful and gripping read. It tells the story of the Golden Globe Yacht Race 1968-1969.
I am in awe of anyone who braves the sea. I have only glimpsed these realities and the deprivations from the comfort of an armchair.
Nichols writes, as he starts, of the Ulysses factor - the mindset that is found in those who take on wild, lonely and sometimes irrational challenges. The nine men here were so varied yet all similarly driven.
Between them they demonstrate so much that is admirable yet also so much that is flawed.
There is competence and foolishness.
There is pride to be admired but also to be lamented.
There is courage and resourcefulness.
There are multiple inner demons to confront during the race and, tragically for one, after the race.
There is one glorious example of British understatement (p260). Robin Knox-Johnston, having set off from Falmouth had sailed non-stop around the world to victory and fame, arrives back in the home port.
"Shortly afterwards, when Knox-Johnston had smoothed his water in the lee of the land, Her Majesty's Custom and Excise launch ranged alongside the Suhaili. Officers leapt aboard the battered ketch to perform their mandatory duty.
'Where from?' asked the senior officer, struggling with his composure.
'Falmouth,' said Robin Knox-Johnston."
This is a book I will highly recommend!

I picked this book up off my shelf expecting a quick, distracted read and found it incredibly exciting. The tension of the race, the life and death stakes of the sea, and the detail the author takes to explain the fascinating details of sailing a yacht around the world made this is a great read. Highly recommended.

I read this book because
A) a teacher told me it was his favorite, and I always read teachers' favorites
and B) because I was sorely lacking something to read at the moment.

I knew NOTHING about sailing. I still know nothing about sailing, nor do I plan to change this state of events anytime soon. So, when I first checked it out from the library, I fully expected to be hopelessly bored within the first twenty pages, if not bogged down by the sheer nautical terminology, of which I was so ignorant. Well, twenty pages went by...and I was still reading. "Well," I thought, "the next twenty will probably be unbearable". Then the next twenty went by....then the next twenty...then the next...and before I knew, I was finished. And, what is still more miraculous, I had ENJOYED the thing. In short, this was a pithy, well-written book which kept even poor, ignorant me afloat in its quickly-moving, often poignant tale.
So, thanks, Mr. G. It wasn't half bad.

I have conflicted feelings after reading “A Voyage For Madmen,” and I’m having trouble figuring out whether my issues are with the book or the underlying true story. In 1968 “nine men set out to race each other around the world. Only one made it back.” That is a direct quote from the book’s cover, so it’s not a spoiler. You know the outcome of the story before you even open the book. So the underlying mystery and tension lies in the question, why did only one make it, and what happened to the others? (You may already know the answer to why one of the men didn’t make it back thanks to a revival of interest in this story caused by the recent film, “The Mercy,” starring Rachel Weisz and Colin Firth.)

I am a lifelong sailor and low-level adventurer: I’ve sailed through gales in he Atlantic, skied death-defying chutes in Argentina, climbed mountains in Alaska, yet all my adventures were relatively tame and the risks were calculated and low compared to people who climb in the Himalayas or sail around the world alone. While I appreciate men and women pushing themselves to the limits of human endurance to find out what is possible, I’ve always felt this sort of thing had a huge amount of ego-gratification to it, ignoring the needs of children, spouses and even society. I have children I love; I have no intention of leaving them fatherless.

This story is no different. While this race was years before satellite phones and GPS, it was also centuries after the great explorers set out to discover new lands...and waters. There was no scientific benefit, no cultural benefit, no sociological benefit. There were no psychiatrists studying the effects of being alone for months at a time, no physiologists studying the effects on he human body, no naturalists, no oceanographers, no geographers. It was strictly nine men trying to be the first to sail around the world alone. (And since we’re talking about ego, it’s only appropriate to ask why the vast majority of the people in these stories are always men.)

In the middle part of the book I found myself buoyed by the participant’s mental and emotional strength against great odds and the power of nature. It was an inspirational read that gave me hope for my own struggles against difficult health and personal issues. If these men could not only endure, but even triumph, there is great hope for the rest of us regular Joes!

And yet in the end only one man “won.” I will not spoil the book by revealing what happened to the other eight, but suffice to say each succumbed to a different ending, some relatively benign, some tragic.

And perhaps that is my problem with this book. I came away feeling vaguely cheated, feeling some degree of disquietude. Only one and a half made it “home.” (You’ll have to read the book to find out about the famous sailor who didn’t make it back to the start but still sailed around the world, the “half.”) As heroically as the author tried to get into the mind and psyche of each man, in the end I never really felt like I knew what drove them, what failed them...why some were Ulysses and others were Achilles. But perhaps that is impossible. Perhaps the title of the book says it all. Can we really ever understand the minds of madmen, be they mass murderers, world-class con artists or solo adventurers? (In this era of satphones and GPS here are really no more solo adventurers, so even those people skiing across Antartica or climbing in the remote Himalaya now are taking more calculated, mitigated risks that adventurers of just 40 years ago).

In the end maybe this book is better than I am giving it credit for, since it moved me emotionally. The writing is fine, the pacing good, the story well-told. It is not the author’s fault the story is a tragedy that let me unhappy. That is the nature of tragedy, isn’t it?