It wasn't the kind of book you couldn't put down but the ending is a bit of a surprise. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. Only one of the nine would cross the finish line -- to fame, wealth, and glory. Nichols also delivers a compelling portrait of English Donald Crowhurst, an electronics engineer whose "supercharged personality" wreaked havoc on the entire race. Though the Golden Globe race was the progenitor of (and inspiration for) the Vendee Globe and the Race of the Millennium, its participants had more in common with Captain Cook and Ferdinand Magellan than with today's high-tech sailor. There are no comments for this title yet. Their most sophisticated technology -- when it worked -- was a radio. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death.In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. There was no satellite navigational system, no onboard computer, no cell phone or fax line connecting them to the world beyond -- or to possible rescuers. All MARINet libraries remain closed to the public. A Voyage for Madmen (Downloadable Audiobook) : Nichols, Peter : In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. To succeed they must endure the harshest of weather; stave off unimaginable loneliness in the forbidding Southern Ocean; navigate unassisted through the world's most treacherous waters off the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn; and, time and again, face -- alone -- those fateful moments when a single decision could mean the difference between life and death. For the others, the rewards would be despair, madness, and death. A Voyage for Madmen is a remarkable story of individuals against the sea, of men driven by their dreams and demons to live for months on end in a cabin roughly the size of a Volkswagen. This was one of my favorite books. Read more. A Voyage for Madmen (Book) : Nichols, Peter : On April 22, 1969 -- three months before Neil Armstrong's walk on the Moon -- the world watched as a small sailboat came ashore at Falmouth, England, completing a voyage of astonishing courage and endurance that would forever alter our ongoing adventure with the sea. At the same time, each participant is afforded an opportunity to confront the immense challenge of the task in their own way. Nichols is at his liveliest when describing the only two participants who "were really happy aboard their boats": the French-Asian Bernard Moitessier, the most skilled sailor, whose mystical seamanship brings surprises, and the British Robin Knox-Johnson, who was energized during his journey by the memory of "the Elizabethan sea heroes of his youth." A 2001 New York Times review of Peter Nichols’ book about the race, “A Voyage for Madmen,” calls him “the saddest character ever to put to sea. They survived on their wits and ingenuity, navigating by sextant, sun, and stars. There was no satellite navigational system, no onboard computer, no cell phone or fax line connecting them to the world beyond -- or to possible rescuers. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. di0nysus thinks this title is suitable for All Ages. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death. Peter Nichols is the author of the bestselling novel The Rocks, and the international bestsellers A Voyage for Madmen (finalist for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year), Evolution's Captain, and three other books of fiction, memoir, and non-fiction. It is also worth reminding ourselves that when they made their voyages, they did so without benefit of GPS and when the knowledge of much of the southern Pacific ocean was relatively limited. In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. With a novelist's eye for detail and a seaman's knowledge of the joys and perils of blue water, Peter Nichols has crafted a classic tale of endurance and adventure -- a fitting chronicle of how these obsessed sailors, "in their puny and inadequate boats, undertook the last great maritime feat...and how, one by one, the sea cut them down.". (Jim, 2020). Here is a great story about a competition among 9 men seeking to be the first to circumnavigate the globe solo without stopping or taking on assistance of any kind. The men were inspired by Sir Francis Chichester, who had become a national hero in Britain for stopping only once (in Australia) while sailing alone around the world. 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