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The Sailor's Classics library introduces a new generation of readers to the best books ever written about small boats under sail
When 65-year-old Francis Chichester set sail on his solitary eastward journey around the world in 1966, many believed he wouldn't return alive. But when the old man returned nine months later, he had made history's fastest circumnavigation.
"Sir Francis Chichester has become a genuine hero--perhaps the greatest of the adventurers of his time."--Time
From time immemorial, few narrative genres have had the power to so stir the emotions or captivate the imagination as the true account of a lone adventurer's triumph over the titanic forces of nature. Among the handful of such tales to emerge in the twentieth century, one of the most enduring surely must be Sir Francis Chichester's account of his solitary, nine-month journey around the world in his 53-foot ketch Gipsy Moth IV. The story of how the sixty-five-year-old navigator singlehandedly circumnavigated the globe, the whole way battling hostile seas as well as his boat's numerous design flaws, is a tale of superhuman tenacity and endurance to be read and reread by sailors and armchair adventurers alike.
This volume in The Sailor's Classics restores in its entirety for a new generation of readers Francis Chichester's extraordinarily candid personal account of his adventure. First published in 1967, just months after the completion of Chichester's historic journey, Gipsy Moth Circles the World was an instant international best-seller. It inspired the first solo around-the-world race and remains a timeless testament to the spirit of adventure, and is included on National Geographic Adventure magazine's list of Greatest Adventure Books of All Time.
Francis Chichester's 1967 singlehanded circumnavigation set a blazing record for speed. He completed the voyage with just one stop and 226 days at sea. It was an amazing performance; that he was sixty-five years old made it the more so. Chichester then sat down to write one of the great narratives of modern voyaging.
"A remarkable feat, a moving story of conquest by the unquenchable human spirit, a determined old man's gesture of defiance at the modern world. Such was the voyage; his book is a fine account of it with nothing left out."--Alan Villiers, Saturday Review
"Chichester's voyage was a classic of its kind. His book is a classic document of self-punishing endurance. Chichester was in his own way an explorer in the tradition of Scott and Shackleton. Unlike Scott and Shackleton, in these pages he bares himself and his mood-swings to the reader's gaze, and one is privileged to be his intimate on this loneliest and most harrowing of voyages."--from the introduction by Jonathan Raban
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Actually, a book about "British understatement" ...,
By
This review is from: Gipsy Moth Circles the World (Paperback)
I recall the thrill and deep emotion that came over me in 1967 when I saw TV coverage of England welcoming home Francis Chichester (soon to be "Sir Francis") from his "singlehander" circumnavigation of the planet. (I still tear up thinking about it.) I am not especially Anglophilic, but the man and the moment epitomized for this American all that is great and good about England and her people, even if the British Empire ain't what it used to be (which is very likely a good thing).
Alas, almost four decades later, I didn't find Chichester's memoir of the voyage an especially engaging read. "British understatement" is an understatement. One can admire the man's restraint in not overdramatizing the more perilous episodes of the voyage -- capsizing off Australia, rounding the Horn, etc. -- but the drama that certainly did accompany this maritime feat is hardly there at all. Nor is there a strong sense of the emotional and physical toll on a 65-year-old man (however fit) of operating a 53-foot sailing vessel 'round the clock, alone, for 226 days, snatching sleep a few hours at a time. Much of the routine is ... well, routine, and it begins to run together after a few chapters. Chichester's mostly matter-of-fact recounting of the voyage is full of details about sails, masts, booms, navigation and other nautical equipment and tasks, details that are likely going to leave most 'lubbers (such as myself) a bit glassy-eyed. Find yourself a sailor's glossary, because there's none in this account. Although the book contains boat diagrams and a sail plan, keeping track of the genoas, staysails, and jibs becomes stultifying. There is also several pages' discourse on supplies and foodstuffs one would want for a long ocean voyage. (Take plenty of fresh eggs, but paint them with beeswax before stowage!) In an epilogue, J.R.L. Anderson, himself no slouch of a sailor, and a more polished writer, succeeds in putting Chichester's achievement in perspective. "He has succeeded in making dreams come true, his own private dreams, and the dreams that most men have from time to time ... He has lived not alone his dreams, but ours too." Only occasionally does Sir Francis himself grant us such a personal insight, before returning to his litany of sail-setting, navigating, and trying to eat and sleep on the rolling sea in a boat heeled over 20 or 30 degrees. All in all, a great man, a great feat, a disappointing book. If you are a yachtsman, or want to be, or if you are planning your own nautical sojourn, you may find this book more informative and entertaining than I did. Perhaps "British understatement" is what this volume is really about, after all.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sailing with a 'Smoking',
By Michael Littler (Highland, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gipsy Moth Circles the World (The Sailor's Classics #1) (Hardcover)
Chichester's story-- of his nine-month single-handed circumnavigation of the world with just one port of call-- is laconically told. His bravery, focus and endurance was applauded by a crowd of thousands who celebrated his return to London. His worst moments were the realization that he had almost depleted his stock of his favorite drink, gin; whenever his solitary journey was interrupted by news-hungry reporters in boats or airplanes; whenever he had to prepare for and deliver a radio message to his newspaper sponsors. His best moments were consuming simple meals; playing music taped for him by his son; toasting his wife with champagne on their wedding anniversary while wearing his 'smoking'. Chichester is a man with a huge amount of will power and modesty. When he speaks of discomfort, danger, illness, injury, fear (and he experienced much of each during his journey), he brushes it aside as a necessary part of the challenge he accepted. He is a solitary man, sustained by his belief that he can achieve his extraordinary goal, and by his love for, and support from, his wife and son.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Sailor, Iffy Author,
By
This review is from: Gipsy Moth Circles the World (Paperback)
If you want to while away a summer afternoon listening to a guy complain about his boat for 2/3 of a trip around the world, go for it. Supposedly a classic of nautical libraries everywhere, but I was rarely engaged by the author for more than a sentence or two. While his feat was amazing and had never been accomplished before, the crowd that followed in the golden globe were far more insightful and sentimental writers in my opinion.
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