Join sailor/adventurer Brian Hancock for a fun-filled trip traveling around the world. You will sail across the Atlantic, hike through Africa, climb mountains in South America, round Cape Horn under sail in a full gale, and spend some quiet time with the locals. Don't bring anything - it has all been taken care of. You will eat out in Brazil, enjoy a glass of South African wine, sip tea in Tierra del Fuego, and try a surprise drink south of the southernmost town in the world. If you like adventure you will like this book. If you don't you will still like this book. It's about life and living it to its fullest. It's about human frailty and its ability for recovery. It's about people and friends and family and how we all make this a great place to be from - planet earth that is.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Brian's stories include rounding the Horn aboard Alaska Eagle in the 1981/ 82 Whitbread; struggling to meld a team across cultural and language barriers aboard the Russian entry, Fazisi, in the 1989/90 Whitbread; and sailing his own Around Alone entrant, Great Circle, to the Azores and back to Bermuda in 1998 on his aborted qualifying run for the single-handed race. He writes about sailing with passion and great vividness, instilling in the writing some of the sense of fervor and activity that must overflow from the decks of an over-canvassed Whitbread boat surfing down the front of Southern Ocean rollers.
Even experienced sailors will get lost at times in the flurry of running backstays, clutches and guys, hut the momentum in most of these passages will carry readers to the end, after which they may well go back and read it all again, more slowly. But Spindrift does not limit itself to ocean sailing. It roams the globe with shoreside tales of Brians early years in South Africa and his experiences in various parts of South America. These stories, which make up about half the book, will be of less interest to those whose passion is sailing. But they also define part of the last cowboy experience, and Brian deals honestly and humorously with his own stupidity in such apparently innocuous situations as taking the dinghy back out to the boat in a South American anchorage and trading for currency on the black market in Zimbabwe. Brian might have offered a bit more insight into the political and social reality of the places he describes boarding school and the army in apartheid South Africa or wandering the teeming streets of Bahia, Brazil, but such sophistication would not be in keeping with a wandering cowboy without pay or prospects. Spindrift is not an integrated biography, but a collection of short stories. Those interested in travel tales and the history of ocean racing will find much to satisfy them, though such pictures come only in glimpses and snapshots. -- Blue Water Sailing
Question: What do the Whitbread Round-the-World Race, a black rhinoceros, the South African army and SAILING Magazine have in common?
Answer: Brian Hancock, a sailing writer, who goes beyond the thrills and chills of the worst storm I ever saw to talk about a true sailing life, the experiences that have molded a man who has sailed more miles and seen more of the watery part of the world than most people ever thought existed. Hancock, who has contributed to SAILING Magazine for more than half a decade, recently published a compilation of those experiences in a single volume entitled Spindrift: True Tales from Scattered Parts of the Planet, a fine book that, like the best of sailing literature, gives the reader an insight into not just storm tactics, but the basic human experience shared by us all.
Not that the book doesnt have plenty of sailing. You dont do two complete Whitbreads and dozens of other ocean voyages without stocking up on plenty of yarns for a night at the bar. (How about broaching in a gale about half a mile off Cape Horn for you extreme sailing fans?) But Hancock also writes about growing up in South Africa, boot camp, exploring in the African bush and a grounding off Bermuda in the high-tech sloop Great Circle that sunk his dreams of taking part in the recent Around Alone single-handed race.
Whatever the quality of these schemes, theres no doubt that they make for some fine armchair adventuring. But be warned, Hancocks way of thinking can be contagious. Reading Spindrift might just result in your doing a few dumb things yourself. -- Sailing Magazine
About the Author
One of the most accomplished offshore sailors in North America, Brian Hancock started his professional sailing career two decades ago and has logged over 200,000 miles offshore, including three Whitbread Round the World Campaigns.
In 1979 he raced aboard the winning yacht in the 13,000 mile Parmelia Race, sailing from England to Australia, and then in 1981 sailed as watch captain aboard Alaska Eagle, the first United States Whitbread entry. In 1985 he raced a second Whitbread, that time as watch captain aboard Drum, and in 1989 sailed the first part of the Whitbread that year as Sailing Master aboard Fazisi, the Soviet Unions first, and by happenstance, last Whitbread entry.
Brian is the owner of Great Circle a light displacement Open 50 racing yacht built for shorthanded ocean racing. He has sailed across the Atlantic alone, and is an expert in single-handed offshore racing. He carved a niche for himself in the marine industry through not only his sailing and sailmaking ability, but through his ability to write about and articulate his adventures to audiences worldwide. He has spoken around the world to diverse groups ranging from yacht clubs and Maritime Museums, to inner-city schools and business groups. He writes regularly for a number of well-known magazines and can be found on the lecture circuit each winter sharing his experiences with audiences worldwide. Spindrift is his first book. Brian is currently writing a novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An inspiring book well worth reading,
By Sigrun Jonsdottir (Rejkavik, Iceland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Spindrift - true tales from scattered parts of the planet (Paperback)
So many sailing books are too much about sailing. Not that I am complaining, but Brian's book Spindrift is about so much more than sailing. It really is about adventure and living a fun and interesting life. Brian write about growing up in South Africa and the circumstances that led him to become one of the world's best know offshore sailors, and he write it with such eloquence it can't help but inspire. I really enjoyed his book and can recommend it highly enough.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
five stars!,
By "mattcass4" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Spindrift - true tales from scattered parts of the planet (Paperback)
A highly recommended way to sail around Cape Horn in a gale -- lying on the couch, the beverage of your choice in hand, reading Brian Hancock's Spindrift. -- Matthew
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
hard to put this down....,
By A Customer
This review is from: Spindrift - true tales from scattered parts of the planet (Paperback)
.... even when we were ourselves sailing back to UK from the Azores! Difficult (but obligatory) to break away from the page-turning text to scan the horizon regularly. A cracking read from a guy who has really 'gone for it' in his life: a book full of significant moments and experiences, interesting corners of the world and memorable people, altogether explaining why people who go 'out there' tend to keep on doing so.
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