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From time immemorial, few narrative genres have had the power to so stir the emotions or captivate the imagination as the true account of a lone adventurer's triumph over the titanic forces of nature. Among the handful of such tales to emerge in the twentieth century, one of the most enduring surely must be Sir Francis Chichester's account of his solitary, nine-month journey around the world in his 53-foot ketch Gipsy Moth IV. The story of how the sixty-five-year-old navigator singlehandedly circumnavigated the globe, the whole way battling hostile seas as well as his boat's numerous design flaws, is a tale of superhuman tenacity and endurance to be read and reread by sailors and armchair ad...
The autobiography of aviator and sailor Sir Francis Chichester, who was the second person to fly solo from England to Australia. It is a tale of ardour and adventure, of intrepid endeavours on land, on the sea and in the air, and of the physical and mental challenges he faced.
Sir Francis Chichester, adventurer, entrepreneur, aviation expert and record breaking sailor, is probably best known as the first man to sail solo around the world, in 1966-67. In this captivating memoir, first published in 1930, he tells of another solo journey taken around the world nearly four decades earlier, by air in a De Haviland Gypsy Moth. He recounts the story of how he set out from Brooklands Surrey in November 1929 with the aim of breaking Bert Hinkler's fifteen and a half day solo flight record to Australia. Filled with details of the countries he visits, the characters he meets and his hours in the plane, along with detours, scrapes and near misses along the way. Told with wonderful warmth and humour Sir Chichester brings to life his exciting account of aviation history.
There was in Sir Francis Chichester a restless spirit never satisfied with his achievements. Throughout his adventurous life this quiet Englishman has sought to challenge odds that other, younger, stronger men declared insuperable. As a pilot, as a yachtsman, as a navigator, even as a man who broke the grip of cancer, Sir Francis was always a pioneer. Where he led, others followed: but when he triumphed, he at once sought a new and greater challenge. This is a book about such a challenge. With the feasibility of long-distance voyages proven beyond doubt - not least by his own remarkable circumnavigation in 1966 - Sir Francis turned at once to the next great barrier facing the single-hander, the 'speed barrier', setting himself the staggering target of sailing 4,000 miles between two fixed points on the earth's surface in 20 days - an average of 200 miles a day whatever the wind, whatever the weather. The Romantic Challenge tells of the planning, the calculations and the sheer hard work that in January 1971 led him and Gipsy Moth V to their 'starting line' for a race which is the single-hander's '4-Minute Mile' and Marathon, combined in one gruelling, non-stop, murderous ocean race.
In June 1962 Francis Chichester set out from Plymouth once again to cross the Atlantic single-handed in his 13-ton yacht, Gipsy Moth III, in an attempt to beat the 40-day record he set up himself in 1960. He succeeded, and knocked nearly a week off his previous time. Chichester also made history on his voyage by keeping in daily contact with Britain by means of a small battery-operated radio-telephone which enabled The Guardian, the sponsors of the voyage, to publish daily extracts from his log. Edited by The Guardian’s Yachting Editor, J. R. L. Anderson, this book, Chichester’s own day-by-day narrative of that adventurous journey, threatened by gales, icebergs and fog, is the drama of one man fighting his way alone across the North Atlantic. It is one of the great stories of the sea. ‘a magnificent achievement’ Guardian ‘hard to put down’ Times Literary Supplement ‘good-natured, informal and totally unpretentious book’ Observer
'A masterpiece.' New Yorker 'Wholly riveting, brilliantly researched.' Evening Standard 'A meticulous investigation into the seeds of disaster... fascinating, uncomfortable reading.' Sunday Times In 1968, Donald Crowhurst was trying to market a nautical navigation device he had developed, and saw the Sunday Times Golden Globe round the world sailing race as the perfect opportunity to showcase his product. Few people knew that he wasn't an experienced deep-water sailor. His progress was so slow that he decided to short-cut the journey, while falsifying his location through radio messages from his supposed course. Everyone following the race thought that he was winning, and a hero's welcome aw...
The dramatic story of Gipsy Moth IV from her epic first circumnavigation to her restoration, wreck and triumphant return. In this beautifully illustrated book, Yachting Monthly’s Paul Gelder tells the remarkable story of Gipsy Moth’s rise, fall and triumphant rise again. It is the definitive history of this sailing icon, illustrated throughout with never before published photographs of the boat, the restoration project and dramatic images from both of her epic voyages. The author has had unprecedented access to both the Chichester family archives and to the skippers’ and crews’ logs for the second circumnavigation, he even sailed aboard her on the first leg from Plymouth to Gibraltar. Having championed the restoration of this iconic yacht from the start, Paul Gelder has finally written a worthy successor the Chichester’s original bestseller Gipsy Moth Circles The World.