Product Description

When Ellen finished the Vendee Globe, yachting's toughest race aged just 24 the nation took her to it's heart. The depth of the affection for Ellen is extraordinary - she makes people feel like they can do anything! This is her story, written intrue Ellen style, in her own words, without the help of a ghost writer. Passionate, dramatic and and deeply affecting, her story will move and inspire all who read it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6168 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Ellen MacArthur became the youngest person ever to complete yachting's most gruelling race, the Vendée Globe, she also assured herself of a place in sporting history as the fastest woman ever to circumnavigate the globe. As the world watched the images of her disasters and triumphs aboard her boat, MacArthur swiftly entered that pantheon of sportsmen and women whose emotional life we came to share over and above their achievements in their chosen field. We strove against the elements with her, we suffered with her when disaster loomed--and, finally, we could all take vicarious pleasure in her ultimate triumph.

This autobiography proves to have been more than worth the wait. The insights we are granted here into just what MacArthur went through genuinely tug at the heart--and never in any sentimental or manipulative way. Her very air of "ordinariness" (no film-star looks, no breast-beating egomania as in all too many sports personalities) was refreshing, but it's that monumental endurance and skill she demonstrated on her epic voyage that commands our admiration. The earlier sections of the book, detailing her childhood in Derbyshire (quite some distance from the sea) may have us impatient for her great ocean adventure, but they're skilfully and affectingly written. And when she begins her preparations for the Vendée Globe, we take a deep breath, knowing that we'll experience all the arduous adventure and danger that is facing her.

Some may argue that autobiographies are being written by younger and younger authors, with their lives still ahead of them. But surely (in this case) the timing is perfect. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
Ellen was described in the Observer as 'The first true heroine of the 21st Century'. She's been named Sailor of the Year twice, was crowned World Champion, was named Sunday Times Person of the year 2001 and was runner up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Ellen is from Whatstandwell in Derbyshire and lives in Cowes.

Customer Reviews

Course made good
... Previous Vendee competitors -Pete Goss, Raphael Dinelli and Tony Bullimore for example - have written about their races, but this breaks the mould of such books.

Partly because Ellen's aim truly is her life story, as she wants to tell it, rather than a record of the Vendee ghostwritten with a professional auther and sandwiched with a bit of bio. Partly because there's little sense of cash-in here - it's 10 months since Ellen was significantly in the public eye, as opposed to just that of the sailing world, and the book seems a more considered and worthwhile exercise for that distance. But mostly because she tries much harder than others have to convey the emotions of ocean racing, rather than just the impressions. There's no attempt to either hide or gloss over here - for example the verbatim emails to shore manager Mark Turner, full of typing mistakes and intense passions, are a brave yet successful approach.

By giving so much of herself - her childhood, her doubts, fears and dreams, and her relationships with family and friends - within the book, Ellen establishes a vein of honesty and intimacy that means we're then in a better position than with any other author I can think of (even the genre's classics, such as Bernard Moitessier) to understand the love of the sea and sailing that drives such individuals.

And of course, at the end of the day this is still a cracking good adventure. Even if you've never sailed on anything other than a cross channel ferry, it's impossible not to get swept up in the tale of the 2000-1 Vendee, and to share the sense of drama, excitement and achievement. I remember those three months so well, stuck in an office but subscribing to Ellen's daily emails, and my delight at the almost unreal way in which sailing finally got some national attention. Six months later I'd finally moved from a weekend sailing habit to a transatlantic passage and more, inspired in part by Ellen.

If just a percentage of the people who read this book are similarly inspired to sail, great. But if even more can see that this book's message isn't limited to sailing, that it's universal and is about how dedication can get you anywhere, all the better.

A donf!

Go for it
In the compressed days after competing in one of the toughest race-adventures devised, one option was to employ a ghost-writer to pen this biography. When you read the book you will understand why Ellen wouldn't do it.

For almost as long as she's sailed (she's still only 26), Ellen says she's had this book in her. The Vendée Globe was a later ambition and it's the book, not the race, that closes the first chapter in her life.

So what's the difference? Rich person goes on elitist adventure and finds themselves. South Pole, North pole, round the world, across the world, balloon, boat, on foot, in eight days, in eighty days. Been there, read the biography.

Wrong, Ellen was an outsider. Entranced by the sea from afar in childhood, her book is no ego-trip. She's not cashing in here. She wrote it because she has something to say: Go for it.

She did, and along the way took herself, her family, her friends, the men in her life and a legion of supporters to the brink of despair and edge of elation. For one so determined her compassion is remarkable and unpretentious.

I guess you could learn a lot about sailing by reading this book: how remarkable it is that some sailors get to the start, the danger, the skills, the sleep deprivation, the excruciating discomfort, the camaraderie, the helplessness and the weather. But it ain't what makes the book special.

Not even ten pages of acknowledgements make it special. But the fact I read them all does.

As the finish line to the race that threatened to crush her spirit approached Ellen wished she could turn around and head out to sea again. Reluctant to leave Kingfisher, she tried to steal more time aboard from hordes of press and supporters. As page 394 drew nearer I experienced a similar feeling.

If "Taking on the World" isn't the greatest book I read this year I'll eat my spinnaker.

Great Girl...........Brilliant Book
As a sailor myself, I can understand the emotional rollercoaster Ellen experienced during her time at sea. The book not only gives an insight into what inspired her to sail but also how tough going the days at sea were. I could not put the book down from the minute i started to read it to the end.

This book is truely sensationl and inspiring. It is a must read and i guarantee anyone who reads this book will feel the same.