Voyage for Madmen

[Josephine Houy]

Just wanted to recommend "A Voyage for Madmen," by Peter Nichols, HarperCollins 2001 (he also wrote "Sea Change: Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat"). "A Voyage for Madmen" is a nonfiction account of the 1968 Golden Globe race for first solo non-stop navigation of the globe in a sailboat. Even if you know who the winner was (a wooden boat, of course!), it's edge-of-your-seat suspenseful. Lots of storms and Cape Horn horrors, etc. It's coming out in paperback this fall, so it's the perfect book for winter reading.

[JimD]

Took me a while to get to the bookstore :D but a fabulous read it is. Part sailing adventure but also a very insightful look into the characters of the men who took up the challenge. Of the nine who started it seemed to me the only one of them who was fully prepared for the race was the one who felt turning the historic accomplishment into race would only debase its significance.