Scan barcode
isaacanator's review
4.0
This book was really good.
Sometimes a story speaks for itself, and the author just needs to not mess it up with bad writing. This is an example of that. There is something so compelling about these people and this time in history. I loved every second of it.
Sometimes a story speaks for itself, and the author just needs to not mess it up with bad writing. This is an example of that. There is something so compelling about these people and this time in history. I loved every second of it.
meaghanokeefe's review
4.0
Overall I really enjoyed this book. The way it was written, narrating each person’s experience was hard to follow coming into the book without any knowledge of the event though, so I think knowing that going in is helpful. My biggest complaint about the book is that I think Donald Crowhurst’s story could have been told with more dignity and empathy. Otherwise a solid retelling of the events of the race and the stories of the people involved.
guarinous's review
5.0
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.
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.
alanyoung's review
5.0
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 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!
sunshinemagik's review
5.0
Really good read. Well written. If you are not terribly familiar with sailing and boats you will probably need to look up some things as you go.