Customer Reviews

Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the fascinating story of a resourceful sailor who drifted in a life raft across the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike other adventurers who have chronicled solo transoceanic journeys (Joshua Slocum, Thor Heyerdahl, Alain Bombard, William Willis, etc.), his journey was unplanned. After the sudden sinking of his sailboat, he had to hurriedly abandon ship into an inflatable life raft with whatever supplies he could snatch. His seventy-six day ordeal takes place in this constantly leaking raft too small to accommodate his full body length. He knows from the outset that his food and water supplies are inadequate. His story of survival thus becomes not one of simple endurance, but a confrontation of many external and internal challenges ranging from securing food and water to dealing with isolation and despair. He meets these with remarkable ingenuity and determination. Forced into introspection that borders on the mystical at times, his reflections on how his mindset and personal characteristics responded to these challenges make for as fascinating an inner journey as the one his body endured. This is what separates this from most adventure stories, and why I think it will endure as a classic of the genre.

Steven Callahan is a blessed man. This true story is one of the most harrowing accounts of survival in a truly hopeless situation. He capsizes in minutes in the middle of the night with a raft and not much more. Nobody knows he's missing. No one is looking for him.

Told with desperation and some much needed occasional humor, Callahan paints a story so real and frought with fear that you can read it in one sitting. It is difficult to imagine what one would do in a similiar situation and the very thought of it is spine tingling.

This is a tale for every person who ever took to the water and every adventurer who feels safe in thier environment. You will never take the ocean for granted again after reading this book.

This book is an excellent ocean survival story that kept me throughly entertained from start to finish. Honestly I couldn't put the book down. This book will change the way you look at your life. After you finish reading it, you won't take the simple things in life for granted anymore. If you enjoy true life adventure and survival books, then I suggest you read this one, it's excellent.

I was on the search for another adventure book (having read The Lone Survivor, Into Thin Air, Into the Wild, The Worst Journey in the World) and found this on many lists as a top read. My concern going into it was that it could get boring. I mean, how many different things can happen on a raft?

I bought the book anyways and gave it a shot. I enjoyed the first part of the book. He explains how he got started in the race that led him to his adventure. There are horrible days of rain, storms, sharks, fish getting teasingly close, nearby ships, thirst, hunger, etc. His ingenuity is incredible (solar stills, fish jerkey, etc.). But then, my concers with the book became reality. The story starts to repeat. Same stories of the same fish, same stories of rain, no water, etc. It is no doubt horrible and I can't imagine being with such small rations of water, however, as a read, it became repetitive.

I started skimming pages, then jumped to the final few chapters which again was exciting...his glimpse of land, rescue, and recovery.

In the end, it was an incredible tale of survival, ingenuity, and the will to live. As a read, in my opinion it became a bit repetitive. I didn't recommend it to my wife to read. What you think happens, is what happens.

Steven Callahan's "Adrift" is an exciting and intellectually deep tale of one man's survival. When bad weather arises, a storm turns Steven's sailboat upside down. Watching his dreams go under, Steven readies himself and few supplies onto an inflatable life-raft, and prepares for a journey that will change his life forever. Fighting off dehydration, starvation, and even sharks, Callahan struggles to stay alive, and finds new meaning to what being "alive" really means. Seventy-six days pass, as well as many ships that miss him, before the author finds his place in nature, and ultimately, the key to survival. "Amazing" is an understatement to Callahan's writing. Whether you're a sailor, fisherman, or any other outdoorsman, this is the book for you!

Nothing like the experience of others to teach you what you don't know. Steve Callahan graciously allowed readers into his most private thoughts during his worst moments. I learned things I didn't know about sea survival, and I teach sea survival. Like so many other stories about people that survive against ridiculous odds and in the face of extreme discomfort and lonliness, Callahan's story reveals that most of us have never gone through anything. My worst day ever was better than steves best in his raft.

If nothing else, Steve's story will put another nagging voice in your head whenever you feel the need to complain. Compared with his experience; I've never been hungry, or tired or thirsty, or lonely, or the least but uncomfortable in my life.

Adrift was a great book. The way that the author describes what he goes through and the way that he interprets how he survives being stranded at sea for 76 days. This is an epic novel that catches the reader's attention within the first few pages. He starts off telling a story about a race that he's entered himself into with his sailboat. Then he tells you about how they are going to start the race even though a huge storm is approaching. With this in your head you can stop reading the book. He puts into detail exactly what you want to hear in an adventure novel. He makes you feel like you were out on the raft with him while he was stranded at sea. He makes it so that when he fights the shark for the first time that your there. You want to try to help him but you cant because you're only reading a book but you wish that none of this had happened to him because it's just so horrible. So if you wanted to read an adventure book with an edge of excitement throughout the book then I would recommend this book to anybody willing to read it.

Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan is a survival story that illuminates the importance of persistence, determination, courage, and a mind-set that does not let fear, failure or uncertainty determine the outcome regardless of the circumstances. In fact, Adrift is listed as National Geographic Adventure 100 Best Adventure Books.

In Adrift, Callahan's boat sinks in the Atlantic Ocean leaving him to survive in a standard Avon six-man model life raft that he names the Rubber Ducky III. The raft is composed of two multi-segmented inner tubes with a top tube that is a semi-circular arch that supports a tent like canopy. You would have to sit directly in the center of the raft to have any headroom. While it is advertised as a "six-man" model it does not even provide enough room for Callahan to lay down flat. As you can see this would not be a luxurious 76 days of survival. Yet, Callahan survived storms, inclement weather, sharks, holes in the raft, cramped space, sores, pain, hunger, thirst and the uncertainty of the unknown. Not an easy task under the best of circumstances.

Having read many books on survival I found Adrift at times to be repetitive, slow and boring. Mainly this is due to the fact that Callahan is confined (or imprisoned) by his location on the raft. He has no place to go and the whole story is about what happens on the raft. This in no way diminishes the tremendous accomplishment of Callahan's harrowing survival story but it does lend to a story that is repetitive. With 76 days at sea you can imagine that his daily activities become routine. On the other hand, Callahan does do into exquisite detail about techniques used and how he handled the never ending setbacks and equipment failures.

Callahan does provide good insight as to what he has gleaned from his experience. After 27 days on the raft he states, "For the first time, I clearly see a vast difference between human needs and human wants. Before this voyage, I always had what I needed - food, shelter, clothing, and companionship - yet I was often dissatisfied when I didn't get everything I wanted, when people didn't meet my expectations, when a goal was thwarted, or when I couldn't acquire some material goody. My plight has given me a strange kind of wealth, the most important kind. I value each moment that is not spent in pain, desperation, hunger, thirst, or loneliness. Even here, there is richness all around me." Now, if we could all appreciate such wisdom without having to go through such a horrific survival experience.

In the end Callahan survived his 76 day ordeal by eating 12 dorado fish, 12 triggerfish, 4 flyers, 3 birds and a few pounds of barnacles, crabs, and assorted oceanic items. Nine ships failed to see his raft and a dozen sharks tested him. I have respect for the stamina and determination that he maintained throughout his time on the ocean.

Overall, I recommend reading this book with the caveat that it can get repetitive.

Adrift is the story of Steven Callahan who built and sailed "Napoleon Solo" across the Atlantic one and one half times. Attempting to sail in the `Mini Transat' race, Callahan's boat is sunk and he get out with little other than a safety raft and a small collection of supplies. Callahan survives for seventy six days alone to land in Guadeloupe with few injuries and in relative good health.

There are few weaknesses to this book and you are left hoping selfishly that his journey had been over one hundred days so that you could read more. I was left amazed by Callahan's patience, intelligence, fortitude, and ability to adapt to his surroundings. This is a book where you hope you would do like the author did - but doubting your ability. Certainly the best book I have read in the genre.

I thought the author did a great job. I liked his writing style and had a hard time putting the book down; I read it in two sittings. As a fellow ocean-voyaging sailor, I appreciated his detailed thoughts on equipement and procedures. While I was happy with the outcome (he lives), I thought the ending a little vague and found it somewhat unsatisfying. Still, I really enjoyed this book.