A voyage for madmen
By Peter Nichols.
I really enjoyed the Tale. It did not focus on technique or personality or Ability or any mundane facts involving the race.
I was surprised by the voice the author managed to create in my head. I enjoyed how Peter wove a web of intrigue of how, why and when, what a battle he must have had sorting through all the facts, you could tell he was smitten by the story himself, or he could never have pulled off such a task . He created a fabulous book that told an inte More...

Peter Nichols has put together a great little book on the 1969 Golden Globe race to be the first man to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe without stopping in any ports along the way. "A Voyage for Madmen" gives a great overview of the race and varying personalities involved -- from professional maritime men to vagabond sailors to one contestant who didn't even learn to sail until he was on his way. Only one person completed the race.

I've read other accounts of the race (including the exce More...

I read this book years ago, when I was living on my sailboat for a time, and it has stuck with me ever since.

Peter Nichols writes candidly about his broken heart, revealed through his love for his boat. He writes about how love can sometimes painfully affect the soul of a man -- something few men have the courage to talk openly about -- and how it can drive a man to flee over vast oceans and high mountains in search of inner peace.

SEA CHANGE is more than one man's account of a journey across t More...

An amazing book - the story of an around the world sailing race inspired by Sir Francis Chichester's solo circumnavigation in 1966-1967. Nine men began the journey and Nichols tells a great story based mainly on their logs of their individual struggles, perils and thoughts. It's the thoughts that are so fascinating - from euphoria to despair and all points in between.

The reasons for entering the race are almost as interesting as the tales of the sailing. One man didn't even know how to sail befo More...

I read this book because
A) a teacher told me it was his favorite, and I always read teachers' favorites
and B) because I was sorely lacking something to read at the moment.

I knew NOTHING about sailing. I still know nothing about sailing, nor do I plan to change this state of events anytime soon. So, when I first checked it out from the library, I fully expected to be hopelessly bored within the first twenty pages, if not bogged down by the sheer nautical terminology, of which I was so ignorant. More...

Recently, chatting to a friend in the pub, I heard the story of sailor Donald Crowhurst for the first time. Said friend loaned me the DVD Deep Water which tells his story using vintage footage and contemporary interviews. It a tragic but fascinating story. When I mentioned it to author Mark Chisnell, who revealed another brilliant true story with its roots in sailing in The Fulcrum Files, he recommended this book to me.

The 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe race was open to all-comers. Two titles we More...

I saw a documentary a few months ago called "Deep Water". This book provides much more fascinating details about the same story -- the first attempt at non-stop circumnavigating the world by a lone sailor. Nine men made the attempt. It was the late 60's and most Americans were too wrapped up in Vietnam era worries to really notice this event. But in England (where it started and ended), it was huge! In spite of the fact that the entrants weren't really in it for the competition, the British pres More...

Nichols gives a well detailed account of a fascinating adventure that I didn't want to end. My only quibble was the amount of sea and boating knowledge required to fully understand some of the challenges the racers faced. Perhaps the author didn't want to expand the script too much with tedious details but I would have found a more thorough explanation of basic boating terms for landlubbers helpful. Overall however this in no way detracts from the book. In fact, I was disappointed when it ended More...

I had watched a documentary about this race, and particularly about Donald Crowhurst, so I had some idea of what to expect from this book. It was a well written account of the race and its competitors - from what they experienced, physically and mentally during the race. As I was reading it, I could appreciate the complexity of the story, from the author's point of view - trying to account for all the competitors and their experiences, placed in some sort of chronological order must have been no More...

I enjoyed the first few chapters of this book. In fact, I have wanted to travel to India for years, and the first few chapters inspired me to finally book my trip. I knew my only chance of going to India in the next couple years would be to go by myself. I was slightly fearful of being alone in a foreign land, but this book turned me around. I realized that if 20-somethings could travel around the world via the seas and completely by themselves, with the possibility of confronting any number of More...

Absolutely one of the best books I've read since "Born to Run." Even though I am not a sailor, nor do I have any desire to become one, this book was extremely well written and encompasses universal human drama making it hard to stop reading. Perhaps assumes the reader knows some technical terms, but did not detract from the story. Highly recommend this book.
Jeffrey Penn May, author of Where the River Splits, and more. More...

This is the true story of the incident packed Sunday Times Golden Globe race to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and singlehanded.

Nichols has a gift of a subject with strong characters facing life or death situations. He uses his sailing knowledge enough to explain what happened but does not go so much into sailing jargon that non sailors would be put off.

Generally he concentrates on each of the sailors in turn as they plot their courses round the world and face up to the More...

What makes an exceptionable book? I think it is one that can grasp you even if you're not interested entirely in that particular subject and can make you feel part of what's going on. That's what this author does, to fear that you will drown in the comfort of your own bed is good writing. It's historical by all means but flows and you don't get bogged down in the details. Sailing books have a way of getting so caught up in nautical terminology that they lose the most keenest arm chair sailor but More...

I really liked this book. I was basically familiar with the story because I had seen the movie/documentary DEEP WATER that covered the same story. Mr. Nichols' writing was excellent - he gave you just enough detail to understand the story but didn't bore you with too many details. I especially liked how he conveyed the physical, mental and emotional burden associated with single-handed sailing…especially the demands with single-handedly circumnavigating the globe. The sailors endured extremely h More...

I had seen the documentary of the first Golden Globe race in 1968 (Deep Water), a couple of years before reading Nichols' book. The documentary centred on the story of Donald Crowhurst. At the time, I didn't understand how compelling the stories of the other participants were.

I recommend Nichols' book to anyone who is unaware of the race. Be warned, at times there is some heavy technical commentary on yachting strategies. I would've also enjoyed the book to go for a little longer. For what it's More...

A book that puts you into the minds of a small group of solo-sailors who want to be first one to circumnavigate the globe. The race was organized by a London newspaper and held in the late 60's before big corporate sponsorship, GPS, reliable radios, etc. The author was kind enough to list the contestants and their boats at the beginning of the book which greatly helped the reader keep track of who was who. If you enjoy reading books like Kon-Tiki or movies like The Perfect Storm then this book i More...

This book was freaking awesome. I know nothing about yachting or sailing and still was absolutely enthralled by the story. It's the best character development I've ever seen in a non-fiction, non-memoir read, and Nichols manages to bring to life not one fascinating character but nine of them.

The writing is in turns technical and poetic; Nichols never strays too far from the reality of the seas and what all men had to physically and mentally achieve to endure their preparations and sails, but as More...

Having only sailed once in my life and knowing very little about yachting, I first found the seamen terminology confusing. However, after only a few chapters, I found this tale of nine men (in 1968-69) setting out to be the first sailor to circumnavigate the globe (solo, without stopping) so riveting the terminology soon fell away and I became entrenched in the detailed account of the mens' long months away at sea.

Nichols is a fantastic story teller and uses such vivid imagery that you literally More...

From a continent's beaches the ocean stretches beyond the edge of sight, but only to one horizon. Waves pound the shore but the ocean's terrors lurk quietly distant. For millenia men have plied the seas in all manner of craft for all sorts of reasons, risking life, limb, and reason on journeys far from shore. This book recounts nine such journeys staged as a race sponsored by a news organization for the entertainment of the shore-bound popular imagination. Throughout these parallel accounts of s More...

I picked this paperback up in a Minneapolis airport book shop, desperate for something to read at night during an upcoming hiking trip. Little did I know how riveting the tale would be, nor could I have guessed that I'd laugh aloud in a few spots.

Imagine going out on the ocean in a little boat, maybe one you built and definitely one you outfitted yourself. Maybe a little scary but you'd have GPS and satellite 'phones and top notch equipment - right? Now imagine that it's 1968. You're using a co More...

This is a gripping history of the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe circumnavigational sailing race, in which nine men attempted to be the first on record to sail around the world single-handedly and without stopping or receiving any assistance en route. Only one of the men actually completed the race.

Being alone at sea for so many grueling months while facing life-threatening situations seems like such a huge endeavor that only a maniac would attempt it, and there often was some madness involved. More...

You've probably never heard of Peter Nichols, nor or Donald Krowhurst, the infamous sailor who simply walked off the stern of his vessell in the midst of his solo sail around the globe, leaving behind only his journal. The author/narrator, Mr. Nichols, knows his name and decides to pick up where Krowhurst left off. After a difficult divorce from his French wife, Nichols decides to sail his 28-foot schooner, Toad, across the Atlantic from England to his family's home in New England. Alone. Think More...

A fine retelling of a single handed yacht race around the world. Sometimes a bit slow, the author weaves the stories of the nine competitors into alternate chapters. The motives of each vary as does their preparation and experience. Starting at different times the sailors were never in sight of each other, keeping track of their progress by shortwave radio, messages from their sponsors and the Sunday Times of London. The winner would be a national hero which added to the drama. In a race like th More...

Quite lovely book that follows a boat race round the world in the 1960s. The race is to circumnavigate the world alone and non-stop. Of the 9 contestants, only 1 completes the race (and it's not really apparent who this is till near the end). I can't believe I was so riveted reading about sailing (which is something I've never done, so the book certainly appeals to non-sailors). Some of the sections about sailing were way over my head but the story itself was a great read.

Though the story is intriguing - 9 idiots race around the world alone in sailboats - the resultant book is kind of dull. I'm not sure how you can make this story tiresome but Nichols seems to manage. Perhaps it's because he's English and while he notes the absurd nationalism driving the Brits to finish first - he leans on the elements of the story to propel the book instead of getting down to it with compelling language.

This book is not terrible - but I do not recommend it.

A terrific yarn about the sea, human ambition, and how character determines destiny.
This is the story of the first solo nonstop sailing race around the world. It happened at about the time Apollo 8 was orbiting the moon. Yet it is as harrowing and compelling a story as if these nine men were on the frontier of space.
Thorough reporting, just technical enough to make the sailing comprehensible and danger palpable, and vivid from first page to last.
Highly recommended.

The gripping story (heroic, sad, frightening and uplifting in parts) of nine men who entered the Sunday Times round the world yacht race (no entry requirements, so anyone could enter, whether they could sail or not) in 1968, and who endured great privations, often at great cost to themselves and their families - only one man made it back, not entirely unscathed - and there is a wonderful story involving porpoise who save one entrant's life around page 200.

What makes some people have such a powerful drive that they'll sail around the world nonstop, on their own, for an adventure in which they pour all their money and that has every chance to kill them? You could reword it as: Why are some men so driven to success, expensive toys, and potentially self-destructive behavior?--if interested to understand what drives a man, read on. This book is enlightening and I loved it.

Brings out the inner sailor in me, with the detail, precision, and craziness it takes to be involved in the single sailor small boat race around the world without stopping. This had the feel of the last frontier for the do it yourself with your own hands kind of man.
Buried within this story is the slow unraveling of one of these men in a parable of madness other books and movies have focused on as well.

Actually an engaging read, though the subtitle gives every indication that it would be. Must have been difficult for the author to strike a balance of maritime language and terminology that would be true to those in the know but not off putting to those (like myself) who know nothing of boats but deck and sails. Like other books of this nature, the core of man is revealed and it varies to significant degrees before ultimately being universal.