Product Description

This is a book about the sea, how we are drawn to it and how it repels us; about weather and how storms are born; about the architecture of boats and how to sail them; and about why men and women risk everything to embark on such a perilous journey.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #523643 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Vendeé Globe yacht race is the ultimate test in sailing. Competitors take to the sea in 60-foot yachts sailing from France, across the Atlantic Ocean, around three capes, and through the perilous Southern Ocean, before heading back to port in France. This is a grueling task for any sailor, but to attempt this single-handedly and non-stop means that this race is only for the worlds most experienced and daring sailors. The 1996/97 race gained national interested in Britain when the English competitor, Tony Bullimore, capsized his boat in the most remote part of the Southern Ocean, and waited patiently in his upturned boat in 50 foot waves and gale to hurricane force winds for four days while the Australian Navy made their rescue attempt. Tony Bullimore was not the only sailor to get into trouble in the ferocious Southern Ocean during this race. The French sailor, Dinelli, waited for 2 days on his half sunken yacht, strapping himself to his broken mast and surviving the harsh elements while he waited for a fellow sailor to tack 400 miles back to his wreck.

Lundy has written a compelling book giving vivid description of life on a yacht in one of the most hostile environments on this planet. He assimilates competing in this race to the other grueling adventures such as climbing Mount Everest or walking to the North Pole. His own extensive sailing experience allows him to capture the inner thoughts and feelings that tear through the sailors mind as they battle for days with power of the open sea. --Steven Payne

Customer Reviews

Good out of season read for sailors
Derek Lundy has managed to create what most sailing books don't. To make you understand what is going throught the mind of the sailor and what is going on in the boat. Not an easy task.
Great book for the out of season sailor bored of dry land.
The descriptions of conditions are powerful and thrilling. Do not read during a gale.

Stunning - encapsulates the spirit of The Vendee Globe
Derek Lundy has written a masterpiece here. Like Sebastian Jung "The Perfect Storm" he completely captures the essence of the sea, especially the bleak terror and beauty of the Southern Ocean and the courage of those that dare to sail them. As an amateur sailor myself, he brillaintly conveyed to me the conditions and hardships, whilst juxtaposing the professionalism and dedication that each competitor displayed, even when in "survival" mode. It is an incredible story of incredible human beings, out there, alone on the greatest leveller of all.

Derek Lundy never leaves you any doubt of the skill, intense dedication and pain it takes to complete this race. He vividly draws a definitive picture of what it is like to sail 27,000 miles single handedly round the world and through the treacherous Southern Ocean. More than that he captures the true spirit of the Vendee Globe Around The World and why it is such a closely followed and admired sport in France. Never more than in this 1997 race, is that ideal spirit of courage, and the search for achievement embodied by all those who finished and those who didn't, notably the Canadain sailor Gerry Roufs who disappeared halfway through the race. The wreckage of his boat was found months later and his body never recovered. My attention was drawn to this book by Pete Goss's miraculous rescue of Ralph Dinelli which I had read in his own version, "Close to the Wind" (another recommended book). It is one of the most poignant, inspiring and heart stopping stories, as is that of Tony Bullimore saved from his submerged yacht after 4 days in the Southern Ocean.

It's weird. If you do not sail, please go to sea. Just once, to see the sky at night in all it's purity, a sunset in the clearest of lights, to survive some hairy weather and think wow! - it is endlessly fascinating and enduring. This book, although frightening in the enormity of the trials faced, never fails to also emphasise each sailor's unique love and view of the sea. If you do sail, Derek Lundy's narrative clearly brings home all those moments of fear you might have felt when in a storm, and completes the picture of what it takes to be in this race and finish it. 4 months at sea, every nerve straining, every second something can go wrong, and in the middle of a storm, put on the auto pilot and grab some sleep because you have to. The sheer physical and mental abilities of these sailors is truly at the top of the pinnacle of endurance, no other sport really demands so much for so long. On top of that, they have the heart of a lion, willing to risk everything to save a fellow at sea. That rule of the sea that transcends so much selfishness and encapsulates the dignity and simplicity that it is maybe hard to find anywhere in our complicated and materialistic lifestyles now.

Read, read, read this book. You will never regret going on this journey. I wish I had the courage or was made of the kind of mettle that would allow me to do this race - bar of course having the sailing knowledge, which I just will never have, to attempt a feat like the Vendee Globe. It doesn't stop you sitting back on your heels in admiration though and silently asking whoever, that if you get another chance at this life, let it be to complete such a race and to be as true to yourself as possible in doing so, with the grace, beauty and eloquence of every competitor who has ever taken part, and some died, in the attempt. I never imagined the Southern Ocean could be so fierce in all it's facets and that to traverse it is such an Everest, more so in fact. Every book I read about this race makes me long to go there and I wish had the attributes to do so.

In a way though, Derek Lundy takes you there and through and I salute him for bringing to life the impossible attempt of recreating the experience. He does an amazing job and if you aren't exhausted or enthused by the end then read it again.

Excellent follow up to Pete Goss' account of Vendee
If you liked Goss, you should really enjoy this one! One gets to follow the other competitors although Pete is still star of the show;, well not quite, The South is the star of of this account of nature's inhumanity to man. Of particular interest is the author's exploration of the psyche of those who put themselves through this ordeal - as good an analysis as I have seem. By the end of the tale you will only have that much more admiration for those who go it alone around the world; you will also be convinced, if you are not already, that it is something you would never want to do!