One of my sailing instructors recommended this title to me (it's so funny when you tell people outside of the library that you're a librarian, most of the time they say "Oh! Have you read this book?". I get a lot of fun recommendations that way). It was really good. Back in 1968, the London Sunday Times published a reward for the first solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. Nine men jumped in to compete. A few dropped out right away, discouraged by the rough weather in the Southern Hemisphere. Others toughed it out for as long as they could. To spoil it, one sailor so enjoyed being on the ocean he declined to "return" and win the race, instead choosing to keep sailing. Another had such trouble with his boat he ended up faking his logistical reports back to land and stayed in the Atlantic Ocean the whole time. Daunted by the prospect of returning and having his logbooks scrutinized, he ended up jumping overboard and drowning. Another sailor was almost home when his boat was damaged beyond repair and he had to be rescued, which had to be heartbreaking. It was amazing to contemplate the idea of spending months at sea, without seeing land, never being completely warm or dry...surely not for everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment