The Incredible Voyage: A Personal Odyssey [Paperback]

Tristan Jones (Author), John Hemming (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1996

Tristan Jones sailed a small craft on the lowest body of water in the world, the Dead Sea in Israel-and the highest, Lake Titicaca in the Andes. During this intrepid six-year voyage, he traveled a distance equal to twice the circumference of the world and found himself "a thousand times beyond the limits of endurance." This gripping sea yarn is at once a riveting adventure story and a testament to human tenacity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...well-told, embellished not only with hyperbole and idiosyncratic opinion, but with history, philosophy, even poetry....Romance is another word I would use: love of the sea, adventure, excitement, and he our errant knight, a direct descendant of Captain Ahab and Joshua Slocum. This gripping sea yarn is at once a riveting adventure story and a testament to human tenacity. In a salty, slashing style, he unfolds his extraordinary saga, revealing both a rich sense of history and an insuppressible Welsh wit. --Caribbean Compass

This gripping sea yarn is at once a riveting adventure story and a testament to human tenacity. In a salty, slashing style, he unfolds his extraordinary saga, revealing both a rich sense of history and an insuppressible Welsh wit. --SAILING magazine

About the Author

Tristan Jones, a legendary sailor, is the author of 16 books, including Saga of a Wayward Sailor, The Improbable Voyage and Yarns. He left school at the age of 14 to work on sailing barges and spent the rest of his life at sea--in the Royal Navy, as a delivery skipper, and as a daring seagoing adventurer travelling the world in search of new and ever greater challenges.

Product Details

• Paperback: 410 pages
• Publisher: Sheridan House; 1st Paperback edition (January 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0924486902
• ISBN-13: 978-0924486906
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Sailing > Narratives

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Inspirational, August 18, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Incredible Voyage: A Personal Odyssey (Paperback)

Inspiration is a personal matter in that what may inspire one, may not inspire another. For me, this book has left an indelible mark that has propelled me for the last 12 years - it's been that long since I've read it. Since that time however, I've been an advid reader and I have yet to find a book that can rival it.

Tristan, who died several years ago, was an unabashed old salt that lived by his own rules. He was unapologetic in his ways, which made him an entertaining man to take you on this incredible voyage. The book is less about seafaring (as a disappointed reader indicates below) and much more about incredible experiences in amazing places.

Suffice it to say that this book inspired me to pick up and travel around the world, learn to sail and cruise the Caribbean, and even name my son after him. How's that for being inspired? Most of all, it inspired me to go out and create my own adventures in life. After all, life is the voyage that Tristan was writing about.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Old Salt, August 15, 2002

By 

Oriana Lister "skubs" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Incredible Voyage: A Personal Odyssey (Paperback)

Tristan Jones was truly a man of the sea. This is an amazing tale of truimph over the elements and physical exhaustion.
Mr. Jones wanted to be the first person to sail a ship on the lowest body of water and the highest, and sail the route between. For most of the voyage he is accompanied by another crewmate (one on the first leg of the journey and one at the end), but he also spent some time sailing alone.
One of the most memorable moments, and one that illustrates the hardships endured, was the description of the nightly preparations for aanchoring the ship on the Amazon River as they attempted to steer against the flow of that great body of water to reach Lake Titicaca. First, the men had to tie the ship to a tree and make certain it was anchored far enough from the canopy of branches to make sure no carpenter ants could fall into the vessel and start chewing on the wood. Next, they had to grease the rope tied to the tree to prevent snakes from slithering on board, and finally, the windows had to be boarded up so that no bats could enter. And that is just one small part of this adventure!!
Along the way, Mr. Jones not only describes life aboard ship, but also gives a look into the lives of those he comes in contact with, and sometimes a bit of history of the area he is currently visiting.
One thing is for sure - you won't be bored.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible, May 8, 2006

By 

John Jackson (los angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Incredible Voyage: A Personal Odyssey (Paperback)

If you're looking for a great adventurous story, this is a great one to start with. Jones was not only a very interesting guy, and formidable sailor, but a heck of a storyteller as well. Alot will be said about how exagerated his tales are, or whether he made alot of them up. To me, this is beside the point. His books are great getaways for the mind of the reader. Jones had a unigue literary voice, and a salty character, and his books are great adventures. This book is the best of all the ones I have read by him, followed closely by "Ice." Whatever you say of the man, he was truly an original.