A Voyage For Madmen

A Voyage For Madmen PDF Author: Peter Nichols
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006186840X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
“An extraordinary story of bravery and insanity on the high seas. . . . One of the most gripping sea stories I have ever read.” — Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm In the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, comes a breathtaking oceanic adventure about an obsessive desire to test the limits of human endurance. In 1968 nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held and never before completed: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. Gorgeously written and meticulously researched by author Peter Nichols, this extraordinary book chronicles the contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms, and of those riveting moments when a decision means the difference between life and death.

A Voyage For Madmen

A Voyage For Madmen PDF Author: Peter Nichols
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006186840X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
“An extraordinary story of bravery and insanity on the high seas. . . . One of the most gripping sea stories I have ever read.” — Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm In the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, comes a breathtaking oceanic adventure about an obsessive desire to test the limits of human endurance. In 1968 nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held and never before completed: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. Gorgeously written and meticulously researched by author Peter Nichols, this extraordinary book chronicles the contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms, and of those riveting moments when a decision means the difference between life and death.

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst PDF Author: Nicholas Tomalin
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 1681441810
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
In early 1968, desperate entrepreneur Donald Crowhurst was trying to sell a nautical navigation device he had developed when he saw that the Sunday Times would be sponsoring the Golden Globe Race, the first ever solo, round-the-world sailing competition. An avid amateur sailor, Crowhurst sensed a marketing opportunity and shocked the world by entering the competition using an untested trimaran of his own design. Shock soon turned to amazement when he quickly took the lead, checking in by radio message from locations far ahead of his seasoned competitors. But on July 10, 1969, roughly eight months after he had sailed from England--and less than two weeks from his expected triumphant return--his wife was informed that his boat, the Teignmouth Electron, had been discovered drifting quietly, abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Crowhurst was missing, assumed drowned. How did he come to such an end when his race had begun with such incredible promise? In this masterpiece of investigative journalism, Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall reconstruct one of the greatest modern stories of one man's descent into self-delusion, public deception, and madness. Based on in-depth interviews with Crowhurst's family and friends, combined with gripping excerpts from his logbooks that revealed (among other things) he had been falsifying his locations all along, Tomalin and Hall paint an unforgettable, haunting portrait of a complex, deeply troubled man and his final fateful journey.

A World of My Own

A World of My Own PDF Author: Robin Knox-Johnston
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472901185
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
On Friday 14 June 1968 Suhaili, a tiny ketch, slipped almost unnoticed out of Falmouth harbour steered by the solitary figure at her helm, Robin Knox-Johnston. Ten and a half months later Suhaili, paintwork peeling and rust streaked, her once white sails weathered and brown, her self-steering gone, her tiller arm jury rigged to the rudder head, came romping joyously back to Falmouth to a fantastic reception for Robin, who had become the first man to sail round the world non-stop single-handed. By every standard it was an incredible adventure, perhaps the last great uncomputerised journey left to man. Every hazard, every temptation to abandon the astounding voyage came Robin's way, from polluted water tanks, smashed cabin top and collapsed boom to lost self-steering gear and sheered off tiller, and all before the tiny ketch had fought her way to Cape Horn, the point of no return, the fearsome test of any seaman's nerve and determination. A World of My Own is Robin's gripping, uninhibited, moving account of one of the greatest sea adventures of our time. An instant bestseller, it is now reissued for a new generation of readers to be enthralled and inspired.

Sea Change

Sea Change PDF Author: Peter Nichols
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781861974419
Category : Sailing, Single-handed
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
To mark the publication of two other titles by Peter Nichols, A Voyage for Madmen and Lodestar Profile Books is delighted to announce the reissue of this, Peter Nichols_ first book, a biographical account of his own dramatic adventure. When his marriage ended, Peter Nichols had to sell the only thing he and his wife owned - their boat. With only his sextant, his instincts as a seasoned sailor and his memories of a floundering marriage, he sets out from England to sail to America to sell his beloved boat, Toad. Halfway across the Atlantic, Toad springs a leak. As the sea floods in faster, Nichols tries everything to stay afloat, desperately pumping the water out by hand. He loses the battle after 3 days and is forced to sink Toad. This is more than a sea-tale. It is the painful story of his marriage, his boat and himself.

Trimaran Solo

Trimaran Solo PDF Author: Nigel Tetley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780245599507
Category : Voyages around the world
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description


A Voyage Through Turbulence

A Voyage Through Turbulence PDF Author: Peter A. Davidson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139502042
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
Turbulence is widely recognized as one of the outstanding problems of the physical sciences, but it still remains only partially understood despite having attracted the sustained efforts of many leading scientists for well over a century. In A Voyage Through Turbulence we are transported through a crucial period of the history of the subject via biographies of twelve of its great personalities, starting with Osborne Reynolds and his pioneering work of the 1880s. This book will provide absorbing reading for every scientist, mathematician and engineer interested in the history and culture of turbulence, as background to the intense challenges that this universal phenomenon still presents.

Left for Dead

Left for Dead PDF Author: Howard Jencks
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1469190958
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
While investigating the murder of a suspected serial killer in the Lake Tahoe basin, Detective Michael Garrett is lead back to the small desert border town he once called home, where he uncovers a violent drug cartel that has begun expansion into the United States, and discovers the frightening reality that he has now placed not only himself, but his family and others in harms way. Driven by tourism, the last thing the city of Stateline, Nevada wanted to do was announce the presence of a serial killer. Driven by the laws of nature, the last thing Rosa Jimenez wanted was to become his next victim. Called to assist with a gruesome fi nding, Detective Garrett fi nds himself entrenched in an investigation he cant walk away from. Recognizing Rosa from his past, he was resolute that justice be served. As the investigation leads Garrett south, he seeks the assistance of an old friend and current Vice-Detective with the LAPD, David Ross. When Ross is unable to open doors in the Los Angeles area, Garrett realizes his next stop is his hometown on the Mexican border where he stumbles on a link to Los Zetas, a Drug Cartel that has formed an alliance with the Mexican Mafi a. Used to operating with impunity in Mexico, the cartel targets Garrett and his family as his investigation begins to threaten their business. In a daring attempt to make things right, the detectives cross the border to confront the man directing the cartel henchmen.

Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage PDF Author: Tania Aebi
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476711607
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
What begins as the sheer desire for adventure turns into a spiritual quest as a young woman comes to terms with her family, her dreams, and her first love. Tania Aebi was an unambitious eighteen-year-old, a bicycle messenger in New York City by day, a Lower East Side barfly at night. In short, she was going nowhere—until her father offered her a challenge: Tania could choose either a college education or a twenty-six-foot sloop. The only catch was that if she chose the sailboat, she’d have to sail around the world—alone. She chose the boat, and for the next two and a half years and 27,000 miles, it was her home. With only her cat as companion, she discovered the wondrous beauties of the Great Barrier Reef and the death-dealing horrors of the Red Sea. She suffered through a terrifying collision with a tanker in the Mediterranean and a lightning storm off the coast of Gibraltar. And, ultimately, what began with the sheer desire for adventure turned into a spiritual quest as Tania came to terms with her troubled family life, fell in love for the first time, and—most of all—confronted her own needs, desires, dreams, and goals…

Final Voyage

Final Voyage PDF Author: Peter Nichols
Publisher: Putnam Adult
ISBN: 9780399156021
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In 1871, an entire fleet of whaling ships was caught in an Arctic ice storm and destroyed. Though few lives were lost, the damage would forever shape one of America's most distinctive commodities: oil.

A Race Too Far

A Race Too Far PDF Author: Chris Eakin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1407027131
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
The true story of the tragic round-the-world yacht race - now the subject of The Mercy, starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz In 1968, the Sunday Times organised the Golden Globe race–an incredible test of endurance never before attempted–a round the world yacht race that must be completed single-handed and non-stop. This remarkable challenge inspired those daring to enter–with or without sailing experience. A Race Too Far is the story of how the race unfolded, and how it became a tragedy for many involved. Of the nine sailors who started the race, four realised the madness of the undertaking and pulled out within weeks. The remaining five each have their own remarkable story. Chay Blyth, fresh from rowing the Atlantic with John Ridgway, had no sailing experience but managed to sail round the Cape of Good Hope before retiring. Nigel Tetley sank while in the lead with 1,100 nautical miles to go, surviving but dying in tragic circumstances two years later. Donald Crowhurst began showing signs of mental illness and tried to fake a round the world voyage. His boat was discovered adrift in an apparent suicide, but his body was never found. Bernard Moitessier abandoned the race and carried on to Tahiti, where he settled and fathered a child despite having a wife and family in Paris. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only one to complete the race. Chris Eakin recreates the drama of the epic race, talking to all those touched by the Golden Globe: the survivors, the widows and the children of those who died. It is a book that both evokes the primary wonder of the adventure itself and reflects on what it has come to mean to both those involved and the rest of us in the forty years since.