A Voyage for Madmen
In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. 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. 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.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
4mentions
4people
2016–2026years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- A different but equally interesting book about extreme sailing (solo race around the world in the 1960's):
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6055.A_Voyage_for_Madmen
- This entire race is incredibly interesting. Besides Crowhurst you had two people who had no sailing experience besides a quick lesson before setting out in boats completely unsuitable for the task, one guy who just seemed in it for a lark and ended up winning despite having an old and slow boat which should have had no chance, and the man who had little real competition and should have won but decided to just keep sailing instead of finishing the race.
A Voyage for Madmen is a great read about the race, as are Bernard Moitessier's and Robin Knox-Johnston's books about their experiences in the race (The Long Way and A World of my Own). There are some interesting books about Crowhurst but they are mostly conjecture and speculation since we don't have much to go on there and I ultimately felt A Voyage for Madmen essentially covered his story in a fraction of the space.
- "A Voyage for Madmen" by Peter Nichols is a great book about the race and what happened, including the Donald Crowhurst story.
- If you want more detail on this story, I found Peter Nichol's book A Voyage for Madmen on the race as a whole quite engaging.
