Description
Book SynopsisThe Long Way is Bernard Moitessier''s own incredible story of his participation in the first Golden Globe Race, a solo, non-stop circumnavigation rounding the three great Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn. For seven months, the veteran seafarer battled storms, doldrums, gear-failures, knock-downs, as well as overwhelming fatigue and loneliness. Then, nearing the finish, Moitessier pulled out of the race and sailed on for another three months before ending his 37,455-mile journey in Tahiti. Not once had he touched land.
Trade ReviewMoitessier is better known as one of the greatest ocean voyagers and was a legend in his time. Last month we reviewed the last book he wrote Tamata and the Alliance. This book is about his Round the World Race for singlehanded yachts. For Moitessier, the race finished in mid-Pacific after he had passed the three Capes and crossed his outward track, leading, and with the hardest sections behind him, he decided to forfeit the race and continue into the Pacific again, to anchor finally among friends in Tahiti. His actions were never explained by the news media; they could not have been, for the voyage had always been seen by Moitessier as something other than a sponsored, publicized, competitive event. It was on the ocean, alone with his boat, that Moitessier began to regard this as a voyage that could not end for him with the reward of those whose values were not his. * Sailing Inland & Offshore *
One of the world's most famous ocean sailors, Moitessier had sailed for more than a year from Plymouth, England to the Indian Ocean when he inexplicably abandoned the lead in the 1968-1969 Round-the-World single-handed race. He sailed to Tahiti, dropped anchor and dropped out. Until the publication of this book, only Moitessier and a few friends knew why. Most of the book is a diary of that voyage with philosophical side trips into modern civilization. There is also a 60-page appendix that can stand alone as a small reference volume of details such as route planning, sail repair, the problems of sail and line chafe, rigging and hull construction, self-steering, freak waves and weather, plus much more. Altogether a strange, fascinating, and informative book. * Boat U.S. *
Table of ContentsPart One Chapter 1: Full Sail Chapter 2: Clear Light Chapter 3: Sunday at Trinidad Chapter 4: Muchos Pocos Hacen Un Muncho Chapter 5: Played and Lost…Played and Won Part Two Chapter 6: Good Hope Chapter 7: A Saw-tooth Wake Chapter 8: The Days and the Nights Chapter 9: The Long Way Chapter 10: The Rule of the Game Chapter 11: Christmas and the Rat Chapter 12: The Time of the Very Beginnings Part Three Chapter 13: My Elder Brother Chapter 14: Joshua against Joshua Chapter 15: One Night… Chapter 16: One Day…and a Night Part Four Chapter 17: True Dreams—and False Chapter 18: Time to Choose Chapter 19: The Turning Point Chapter 20: Listen, Joshua… Chapter 21: Time to Choose—Part II Chapter 22: The Second Turning Point Appendix Glossary
