Outward Leg [Paperback]

Tristan Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 1998

After seven years ashore and after having his left leg amputated, Tristan Jones decided to return to the sea. He began to piece together Operation Star and found the perfect vessel in a 36-foot trimaran. In October 1983, Jones and his only crew member, Wally Rediske, set out in Outward Leg from San Diego, intending to circumnavigate the world from west to east by sail. The book is the exciting story of Tristan's preparation for this major seagoing event and the chronicle of half of it. Tristan sailed down the western coast of Central America through the Panama Canal to a small Colombian town. There he had to fight for survival among hostile natives, drug dealers, and uncooperative port officers. He went on to Venezuela, Aruba, and the Dominican Republic during its 1984 revolution. Finally he reached New York and crossed the Atlantic to return to St. Katharine's Dock in London where he began his seagoing life thirty years before.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Less than a year after his left leg was amputated, Jones set sail aboard a 36-foot trimaran, Outward Leg , in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Jones wanted to prove to himself and to other handicapped people that disability need not mean the end of adventures. Jones successfully sailed 14,800 miles and encountered a variety of ne'er-do-wells and drug smugglers in the process. This account of his experiences is fast-paced and exciting, much in the tradition of his The Incredible Voyage and Adrift. Jones begins with a brief account of how he lost his leg and the experiences that drove him to make the voyage. Financial difficulties and need for a crew delayed him, but Outward Leg finally set sail from San Diego. At ports all over the world the fraternity of sailors cheered him on. Jones made his point, and his account is well worth reading. Susan Ebershoff-Coles, Indianapolis-Marion Cty. P.L.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Few yachtsmen are unfamiliar with the name Tristan Jones. Having published 16 books on his world voyages, Outward Leg follows the late (sailor) on a voyage from San Diego to London. Jones was an old-style adventurer: a maritime free-thinker with a stainless steel backbone. His quirky sense of humor, honest (and oddly timeless) prose style is spliced with the kind of mad-yet-accurate insight which comes when a man spends too much time alone. Try this one on for size: There are no people on the face of the earth so adept at transforming a dream into a reality as Americans... No people anywhere are so capable of absorbing a dream so thoroughly that it becomes a part of them, and they champion it, devote an amazing amount of energy to it and transform it and, if you are not every careful, destroy it. --Yachts and Yachting

After having his leg amputated and spending seven years ashore, Tristan Jones decided to return to sea.

In October 1983, Jones and his only crew member, Wally Rediske, set out from San Diego in OUTWARD LEG, a 36-foot trimaran, intending to circumnavigate the world from west to east by sail. --Sailing Inland and Offshore

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Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Sheridan House; 1st pbk. ed edition (October 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574090615
• ISBN-13: 978-1574090611
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,824,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classics Tristan Jones, August 17, 2000

By 

Chris Anderson "Chris Anderson" (Pacifica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outward Leg (Paperback)

I read Outward Leg several years ago and it inspired me to read just about all of his other books. His no nonsense, slighly irreverent style appeals to me as well as the fact that he has a great sense of humanity. A good book and a good read.

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, April 12, 2011

By 

Isabel Brown (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outward Leg (Paperback)

According to Jones, sailing is very uncomfortable and challenging, at least in open sea, ..noisy etc. He had a trimaran and said a monohull would be worse.
I absolutely hate how sailors write with no thought for the lay reader, I want to learn and his vocabulary is foreign at times, when talking about boat details. That is so stupid to me! Why can't each writer define within the text each term, instead of forcing novices to skim over it. There are not only sailors in the world! Why limit your readership so much! At least have a glossory for all those terms! He just lost me and that defeats learning.

1.0 out of 5 stars Seller has defaulted, November 7, 2009

By 

J. Hall (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Outward Leg (Paperback)

This seller should be dropped from Amazon.com. He has not shipped the ordered item and has not responded to my inquiry to him....but he did take my money. Give him a second chance?, no way, look at the negative reviews.