A Voyage for Madmen

by Peter Nichols

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description

In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. 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.

In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a 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 in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Read!, 2008-06-28
I found this book captures the spirit of the adventurers, provides insightful background and provides the reader with whit filled, memorable insights into the adventurer's hearts. I thoroughly enjoyed this read! Highly recommend.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

The last of the explorers - Read even if you don't sail, 2007-08-06
I thought this book was great. These men, sailed at the end of the era just before the space age of satellites and gps and carbon fiber and kevlar changed everything in sailing. A man alone in a wooden boat sailing around the world, non-stop. This is the stuff of legends and heros. This book is worthy of your time, even if you aren't a sailor. It reads like a novel not like non-fiction. If you like O'Brien and Master and Commander, and you can imagine the seas, breaking over the bow, in a gale sailing through the roaring forties (around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.) You will love this book, as I did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

You'll smell the salt water, 2007-04-19
Perhaps the best way to point to this book's readability is to say that I stayed up until dawn to finish it. Nichols combines an authoritative, powerful adventure story with a thoughtful excursion into the minds of those who are most at home when at sea. His treatment of the nine sailors who attempted this trip is sober and clear-eyed, while sympathetic toward their undeniable idiosyncrasies. His explanation of the tragic Donald Crowhurst is the most persuasive I've seen.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

One of my favorite sailing adventure stories, 2007-03-22
Loved this book. Stayed up all night reading it. I've given several out as gifts.

Chris

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Truly a race for madmen, 2006-07-17
A reviewer described this book as a study in abnormal psychology. Having now completed this story I can only agree with him.

In many ways the story told reminds me of "into thin air" by John Krakauer, in that it asks what drives seemingly ordinary human beings to willing pit themselves against the elements in circumstances which can easily lead to their death. In this case the author asks what would possess nine sailors to undertake to sail around the world non-stop in an age before GPS navigation, Ultralight and tough building materials and satellite phones. An era when boats were constructed of steel and teak, where radio communications were unreliable and navigation a matter of charts and sextants.

The nine challengers proved to be a diverse group, from professional sailors, to electrical engineers to soldier adventures with no previous experience at sea, and the final results reflected this starting point with withdrawals, failure and in extreme cases insanity and death. In the end the final winner was the man who was most at home at sea, a simple man whose only weakness appeared to be that he lacked the imagination necessary to fully grasp the horrors that he faced on the journey.

Overall a classic true life adventure tale.

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