First sentence:"If the Southern Ocean represents the consummate challenge for any long-distance sailor, then the Vendée Globe is the pinnacle--one man, one boat against the elements."
Description:
"On November 3, 1996, former Royal Marine Pete Goss embarked on the most grueling competition in his sailing career: the Vendée Globe, a nonstop, single-handed round-the-world yacht race. For the next seven weeks he met every challenge in his stormy path, from combating waves the height of six-story buildings to grappling with his spinnaker in high winds. Then everything began going wrong: His sails were destroyed, his navigation equipment proved useless. And on Christmas Day his radio picked up a Mayday that a French competitor was sinking 160 miles away. Turning into the hurricane-force winds, Goss set out to rescue a near-dead man on a life raft somewhere in the vast wilderness of the merciless southern ocean. How he did it makes this extraordinary tale as amazing as it is thrilling."
My thoughts:
This was a very well-written book as Pete Goss takes the reader into his life and onto the Aqua Quorum as it battles the wind and water while various parts break down. I had read about Goss's rescue of French sailor Dinelli in Derek Lundy's book Godforsaken Sea but it was good to hear about it from Goss's point of view.
Date read: 1/30/2008
Book #: 7
Challenges: Seafaring Challenge; Winter Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Memoir/Adventure
ISBN-10: 0786707410
ISBN-13: 9780786707416
Publisher: Carroll & Graf
Year: 2000
# of Pages: 261
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page
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