A gripping, fantastical true story that had me shaking my head in wonderment and disbelief at the same time. "Nine men set out to race each other around the world" on solo sailing rigs. "Only one made it back." An unusual edge-of-the-seat thriller for me as I probed my mind for what would provoke one to take such a risk-laden trip, and what would sustain them through the entire endurance race all alone? Wow! What a ride!

I'm not sure what compels a man to single handedly sail around the world. As it turns out, the men who attempted it also weren't entirely sure. Throughout their journeys, they each asked themselves this question repeatedly. It is the fundamentally impossible question of "Why am I doing this?"

9 men set out to race each other around the world, and only one made it back. This is technically true, because only Robin Knox Johnston completed the race, but the Frenchman, Bernard Moitessier would have won.

With a commanding lead, and on the precipice of completing one of the most incredible feats in sailing history - he abandoned the race. Not because he couldn't go on, but because he wanted to continue round the world once more.

This will be on my mind indefinitely.

"Most people are horrified by the specter of great waves and storms at sea. "Aren't you afraid?" They ask sailors again and again. The truth is that such physical dangers are readily coped with; as conditions worsen, there is much to do aboard a boat in peril at sea. Even if disaster is the final result, the steps taken to avert it are clear at the time, and keep a sailor busy. One may be afraid, but action is a blessing that usually allays the deepest fears and doubts, and once a few storms are weathered, one acquires a comforting faith in one's efforts."

"IT IS THE MERCY"

Held my attention throughout the book...a great incite into solo sailing around the globe...these individuals must be incredibly driven but also selfish in undertaking such a dangerous voyage many of whom have a wife and children depending upon them. Setting that aside it is inspirational reading about the extremes that some people can endure, there are many lessons to be taken from the book both positives and knowing your own limitations. Interestingly I read the winner of the Golden Globe, Robin Knox-J. book about 20 years ago... it has been great seeing it this time both from his perspective but also his racing competitors standpoint...a superb read....

A Voyage for Madmen was a real treat, a riveting read that I devoured over the course of one day and that was all I’d then talk about to my friends for another. In recent years I’ve discovered that I have a bit of a thing for tales of people enduring extreme challenges – be they explorers, climbers, sailors or their like – and finding out what they’re really made of (this despite, or maybe because of my personally being a very cautious person). A Voyage for Madmen is a cracking entry in that genre, and has sparked a thirst for more which has led me to fill my wish-list with all sorts of sailor’s books I’d have never thought were my cup of tea before reading this.

A Voyage for Madmen tells the tale of the 1968 Golden Globe race, a challenge to single-handedly non-stop circumnavigate the world – sponsored by the Sunday Times when they heard news of a couple of men about to separately attempt the feat. Those men were soon joined by others until they were nine in total, each feeling that they had a chance of being the first and who varied from experienced sailors to complete novices.

A Voyage for Madmen tells of each of their awe inspiring journeys and how their different characters influenced their outcomes. It’s soon very clear who of our sailors are truly in their element at sea and it was deeply interesting to see how each of the men dealt with their situations – Bernard Moitessier and Robin Knox-Johnstone soon became my favourites, while I also harboured a soft spot for Nigel Tetley who reminded me of Jack Aubrey, with his quaffing of oysters and roast pheasant while drinking wine and listening to classical music. But even more interesting is the man who decided to fake his race instead…

The book really captures the sheer exhilaration of such a journey, as well as the solitude and the terrifying power of the sea. The descriptions alone of sailing in the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties are terrifying – I can’t imagine ever having the stones to actually do it with an experienced crew, let alone on my own – and this only got more interesting as the faker got deeper and deeper into his carefully plotted deception.

I finished this book as excited as I was reading it, and harbouring a deep certainty that I am terribly unsuited to going to sea myself.

**Also posted at Cannonball Read 11**

Don’t follow your dreams kids, unless you are the coolest Frenchman ever.

The true story of the first single-handed circumnavigation of the world by yacht. That means, a full circuit of the world, alone. On a boat powered only by sail. In a time not so long ago, but before GPS.

In 1968 there were a handful of men vying to be the first alone around the world, and a prize was posted, making it a race. Of nine contenders, only one finished the race, and this is the story of all the noble, rugged, hapless and crazy entrants, and the extremes they underwent and went to.

It's a very tense, suspenseful read, and the author manages the very difficult feat of telling nine concurrent stories quite masterfully. People who set out to conquer these firsts of adventure have a streak of crazy already, and then there's the setting - the vast, strange oceans that are as alien to landlovers as outer space. This is the story of both, told with drama and humour and pathos.

Back in 1968, the British Sunday Times sponsored the Golden Globe sailing competition. The goal was to honor the first non-stop, single-handed around-the-world journey by sailing vessel. The race drew nine entrants, all taking off from different places at different times of their choice (between June 1 and October 31). Prestige, glamor, and a trophy would accrue to first finisher and a cash prize for fastest finisher. I had not been aware of this race previously, and was interested to read about it, especially considering the many hazards of completing such an onerous race without the availability of today’s technology.

The author has studied and assembled accounts of each participant, relying primarily on their ship’s logs and journals. He includes a description of their ship, equipment, route, methods, and the challenges they encountered. The author is skilled at portraying each participant’s reasons behind getting involved in such a dangerous journey. One of the biggest components was dealing with isolation and loneliness, which affected their mental states. They were required to round three capes (Good Hope, Horn, and Leeuwin). Nichols provides background information on the individual’s worldview and motivations. At that time, there were few, if any, requirements for safety. Rules were slim so it was pretty much a free-for-all. I will not spoil it for those who have not heard of this “amazing race.” It is a book for fans of maritime adventures, perilous journeys, and survival stories.

I love a good sailing story as they contain plenty of adventurous people who are just a little bit mad. But in this book, wow, most of them are off the scale.

This is the true story of the first round-the-world yacht race. It was sponsored by the Sunday Times and was called the Golden Globe race and was seen as the last frontier: to sail singlehandedly around the world non-stop and without any assistance.

Nine men left England in 1968 and only one made it across the line (1969).

The men involved are what is amazing about this book. Each is researched and are well drawn, making us part of each man's personal journey and in the quest to win. Some had a background in the navy, some as weekend sailors, one had never sailed before...the world was a different place then!

Nothing like this race could happen now, as back then there was no GPS technology, not health and safety hounds, not much required other than the will to go on a huge voyage and try to survive in a small boat.

Much has been written about this race and the outcomes so there's not much point repeating information here but it is worth saying that if you want a good book to read, full of the challenges one must face in solitude, agains all odds, this is a great book to read. The last of the great sea adventures.

A Voyage for Madmen is a thrilling look at the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo sailing circumnavigation race and its nine participants. I read this book after reading "The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst", which fixates completely on Crowhurst's attempted deception in the race and eventual madness and suicide. After finishing that, I wanted to learn more about the race itself and the other competitors. Nichols' descriptions of the sailors trials through heavy seas, leaking boats, and unpredictable winds are genuinely terrifying in parts but I can't help but admiring those that persevered through it in times before GPS or modern electronics removed some of that unpredictability. I found Robin Knox-Johnston and Bernard Moitessier to be the most admirable for different reasons: Knox-Johnston for his obstinate determination to finish first, and Moitessier for the exact opposite: he sailed the fastest and would have won, but chose to continue sailing around the world again in a spiritual rejection of the commercialization he felt was happening of the sport. Perhaps the most tragic character (beyond the obvious Crowhurst) is Nigel Tetley, who perhaps would have finished but had to be rescued after his boat sank. Had he been more careful he could have gone on, but he was pushing the boat to the limits due to the perception that Crowhurst was hot on his heels, when in fact Crowhurst had never left the Atlantic and faked the majority of his positions.

Next up for me is Moitessier's take on the race, "The Long Way", which I'm sure is full of spiritual ruminations of the sea.

Historia każdego z żeglarzy przeciekawa, dlatego trudno się od tej opowieści oderwać. Ale na bogów, ten narrator stary gawędziarz czasem prowokował u mnie mimowolne przewracanie oczami. Za jego stosunek do kobiet i przebijający się między wierszami seksizm dostaje ode mnie spory minus.

In hardship, maybe we find our most basic reasons for being but, maybe also, for those who find that truth unsatisfying, the knowing destroys them.

The premise of this book is a race, sponsored by the English paper Sunday Times to solo circumnavigate the globe on boat for a cash prize. The racers came from all stripes motivated by a thrill for adventure, for the potential glory, for national pride, for money, or even simply for the ascetic life one could have at sea. The race ends with only one sailor successful.

I found myself terrified at times as I read about the storms faced by the racers, especially in the South Indian Ocean at the lattitude of the "roaring forties". Mostly I appreciated the formative nature of the adventure they had set themselves upon. As in the case of two tragic stories, the seas either destroyed the mens sense of self at sea or upon returning home and realising they were irrevocably changed by the experience.

I'm not sure I'll ever be a sailor, despite being very tempted during the reading of this book. I did read this book with a sympathy for that clarion call that rings in many of our hearts to abandon our comfortable lives, put everything at risk, and be at the mercy of a journey with motivations that ellude our capacity for words.

Wow, this is a great read! Thrilling story, well-written and a real eye-opener regarding the personalities of individuals who take it upon themselves to embark on long journeys as lone yachtsmen. Happy to lose an eye if it means that you win a boat race? One of these competitors is. Madmen indeed!

Oh, and it's a true story.

For some of the competitors, the story is of how they met their deaths and for that reason, each of the dramas carries an extra poignancy. The author is a yachtsman himself and this allows him to convey technical information in an accurate way, but more importantly, he is able to empathise with the sailors and convey their mental states in a believable manner.

I live by a marina and this book has changed my perception of the yachts and their owners. I used to view them as the playthings of indolent wealthy parasites. Now, I look at a yacht and think, are you fit to sail in a stormy ocean? What kind of lunatic sails in you? And what will become of them?