Customer Reviews

Knockdown : The Harrowing True Story of a Yacht Race Turned Deadly

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've read this book, I've read all the others on this race, and I've sailed a number of Sydney-Hobarts.

We call the races "Hobarts", not "SydHobs" as Dugard suggests.

The '98 race was not easy - we had over 70 knots of wind across our deck and seas of over 20 meters, so no-one would ever suggest it was easy - but nor should it become a vehicle for an opportunist to score a few quick bucks by capitalising on the drama which others experienced, unless it is done professionally. This book just doesn't meet the grade.

It is unfortunate that Dugard obviously wrote his book with very little knowledge of sailing (let alone Ocean Racing in storm conditions), or of the race. I'm not sure he has even visited Australia, and suspect the research may have been limited to copies of Press reports and a few phone calls to friends in Sydney. You don't get that knowledge through reading books, nor as a passenger. You only get it by being there, and having the responsibility of delivering your boat and crew against the challenges thrown up by the weather.

Certainly given that ocean racing is about judgement calls in a context of nature at its harshest level, only those who are on the water in command of a craft carrying 15 or so other people, who are having to face the elements first hand and in real time, can evert know what it is like. Because sailing in these conditions is not something you can learn out of a text book, it is not something that is mechanical or formula driven - it is about real calls and real delivery in a real situation.

Dugard hasn't done it. If he hasn't done it he is not qualified in my view, but is quite probably what we call in Australia an armchair expert.

From a point of view of credibility, there are simply too many factual errors in the book, starting from virtually the first page.

Some of the errors are appalling, and not simply in the text - even one shot showing the stern of Helsal II is captioned suggesting we are looking at the bow. If the author can't tell the difference between bow and stern, how can he be relied upon to make comment or judgement about how the boats and crews performed or should perform under arduous conditions.

Its like the old Vietnam Veterans joke - you weren't there, so you wouldn't know....

An alternative book on the same race is that by Rob Mundle (A Fatal Storm). A better book, more detailed, more objective, and more accurate, compiled from interviews with a wide range of skippers and crews (and he published the interviews themselves), brilliant photos by Richard Bennett, and written by a man who has sailed a few Hobarts himself, so who knows what the journey down the racetrack is really like.

Maybe if I hadn't just read 10 other much stronger adventure books, I would have been more impressed by this one, but in comparison to these, this one is much weaker. The Sydney Hobart Race is certainly interesting and the weather conditions among the worst on earth, but the writer never got beyond the illusion that he was trying too hard to recreate something he didn't know much about. After reading the review below from a sailor who was actually in the race, I started to understand his point of view. There are certainly some fun parts here: the Australian SAR vignettes are riveting and serve to remind us how strong Austrailia is in this regard. The focus of this book is definitely more in the rescues than the sailing. This book was much less well written (not to mention poorly edited with many typos and inaccuracies) and less vivid than the others. For those looking for the creme de la creme, I recommend Lundy's The Godforsaken Sea.

In 1998, a storm hit the 54th Sydney to Hobart race. In 1999, two books came out to tell the story of it. "Fatal Storm" by Rob Mundle, and "Knockdown". Mundle raced in three Hobarts and covered about thirty as a journalist. His book is based on interviews with people who were there, and often directly quotes the interviews. What about "Knockdown"?

One thing obvious to any sailor is that the author is not. He doesn't sail and he can't understand, remember and tell the things that make a sailing story. He compensates for that just like they do in junk food industry. There they use fillings - substances that provide volume but neighter taste nor nutrition. Much of the book are words that provide content but carry no real information. There are scarce facts generously padded with generic descriptions of waves, wind, struggle, desperation, and dissociated rablings about something like how humane it is to provide shelter for the helmsman, even if it is called a doghouse. Whole pages could be used in a book about a different race--say, Fastnet'79--with no changes required whatsoever. The author hasn't even done the homework to know that the race was never called SydHob, as he very confidently calls it throughout the book.

This padding of information with imagination occasionally goes too far. How can a "true story" describe last minutes of a person washed overboard and his last thoughts, when his crewmembers lost sight of him shortly after the accident? And as if that wasn't enough, there is a hint of a blame on his crewmates for not coming to rescue him. Obviously, dismasting and being upwind in a 60 kt blow mean nothing to the author, but how can he try to pass this for another--real--dead--person's thoughts?

If I had to pick one word to associate with the book, the word would be "indecency". What else to call it when the author writes a supposedly true story, having a very vague idea about its subject, having done little research, and substituting imagination for the lack of knowledge? Disaster stories sell, but telling stories about real tragedies involving real people takes extra tact, care and expertise. Otherwise it's just cashing in on a hot topic.

I recently finished Knockdown, and being a bit of a stickler for details, I did not appreciate his broad use of terms and vague writing style. For example, the use of "hurricane-force winds" to represent the conditions is ok; to call a weather system a hurricane is different (even when it is not technically a hurricane.) I love adventure books; this one was an entertaining read. I will be looking for one of the other books however, since I want to get a more factual (and accurate) account of the race.

This was one of the most vivid, compelling reads I have had in some time. Dugard is a master of description. Knowing virtually nothing of blue ocean yacht racing, I was transported into a world of driven men and the tragedy they willingly face. A must read.

This book has an interesting tale behind it. Although I do not know as much as the previous reviewers who obviously are pretty experienced reviewers for action books like this ,I thought this was a good book. I was on a trip to Florida. Having finished all the books I had packed on the way their, I was bored, because reading is one of my only occupations. My Dad was reading this book at the time, and that day I grabbed it. Thinking I should only read the inside flap cover, I found myself pretty far at the end of the hour. Soon I found myself at the end of the book about this book. If a fourth grader can understand this, and enjoy it, I would hope an adult could to. Happy Reading :-)

This is a book for sailors, non-sailors, adventurers, and everyone who enjoys a ripping yarn. Well-written, thoroughly researched, technical where necessary but otherwise written so that non-sailors can understand the action vividly, and -- above all -- fast moving, I would rate this the definitive book about the 1998 Sydney to Hobart debacle.

Wow. What a great book, and yes I am a sailer. True, we describe events differently than a non sailer but Dugard tells this story so non sailers could understand. As all sailers know...sailing "tales" bore non sailers to tears, so Dugard tells the Sydney Hobart story in such a manner that I can give this book to my non sailing frinds and they can read and appreciate what happened out there on the Bass Strait. A great book that impresses upon us all what dangers may await when we cast off the last line that binds us to terra firma.

I found Martin Dugard's account of the Sydney to Hobart race compelling and accurate. Not only did he thoroughly research the facts, but he gives us a heartfelt account that makes one FEEL like you were there. I was riveted and compelled to continue reading, much more than other accounts I have read. Dugard truly seems to have a grasp on the subject matter from both a factual and emotional standpoint. I would like to read other books he has written!!!

This is a good read if you like adventure or survival stories. His research is good, with accounts from actual survivors of this race.