- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: TAB Books Inc; New edition edition (1 Oct 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0071364498
- ISBN-13: 978-0071364492
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.5 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
662,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #37 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Water Sports > Boating > Sailing > Narratives
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This work tells the story of Frances Chichester, who aged 65, set out alone from Plymouth in his 53-foot ketch "Gypsy Moth VI" in August 1966 and sailed eastward around the world through the wild Southern Ocean, stopping only once - the first to accomplish this - in Sydney. Only nine yachts had previously circumnavigated by way of Cape Horn, and of them six had been capsized or somersaulted at least once. This 28,000-mile voyage, completed in May 1967, established new records for speed and endurance, captured the imagination of the world, and earned a knighthood for Chichester upon his return.
From the Back Cover
The delight in stories well told is as intrinsic to who we are as a species as toolmaking or song. And 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 single-handedly 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 handsome first volume in The Sailor's Classics series 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. The Sailor's Classics edition features a new introduction by series editor Jonathan Raban.
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THIS IS A fairy story for me. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THIS IS A fairy story for me. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a moving account of Chichester's round the world sail. It does go into technical details about what sails he used at a particular time but it's also very humorous in places - the section about the eggs had us in stitches. If you're interested in sailing literature it's a "must-read".
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book a little trying as the author went on endlessly on the tecnical aspects of the boat and sailing and little of the awesome beauty of the sea or his inner feelings. It ends up being a rather flat book by a very brave man. What a great story got lost in there somewhere.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Actually, a book about "British understatement" ...
27 Jan 2006
Format: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.
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.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Sailing with a 'Smoking'
3 July 2001
Format: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.
Amazing Sailor, Iffy Author
22 Mar 2011
Format:Paperback
If you want to listen to Sir Chichester complain about his boat for 2/3 of a trip around the world (about 200 pages?), buy this title. I partly sympathize with his writing style and understand where he was coming from; getting financially screwed by your designer and builder and still having to deal with leaking joins would make me pretty bitter too. Either way, while damningly accurate; not an extremely positive, informative, or uplifting read. I was also shocked to read the author of several celestial navigation books admit he was nearly lost navigating without his low latitude tables. 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 (even if overly sentimental) writers in my opinion. My bias has always leaned toward the human drama and descriptions of the setting rather than the minutia of technical hurdles that are hard to conceive if you have never handled a ship of this scale solo. Perhaps he appeals more to professional skippers rather than micro cruiser scale amateurs like myself.
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