A
Voyage For Madmen by Peter Nichols Published by Harper Collins $26.00
Reviewed
by Kathleen May
Peter Nichols’ A Voyage for Madmen is a remarkable book. Nichols manages to tell the story of the first and only Golden Globe
Race, predecessor to the Around Alone and Vendee Globe races. In a seamless style he weaves together the
story of nine very different men who attempted to sail alone around the world
in yachts that were as different in design as the men themselves. The average
yacht length was around thirty-five feet all but two were single hulls the
others were trimarans which in 1968 was radical to say the least among the
naval architect community and down right heresy to established yachting
convention. Only three of the men made their living from the sea, Bill King a
former British Navy Submarine commander, Nigel Tetley a British Navy Lieutenant
Commander, and Robin Knox-Johnson a British Merchant Marine Captain. The rest
had backgrounds that ranged from Manager of a motorcycle company to electronic
engineer- well-known French sailor and author Bernard Moitessier was the only
one of the nine to have any southern ocean sailing experience.
A
Voyage for Madmen is rich in its detail while not getting bogged down with
it. This is the strength of the book.
With straightforward writing Nichols’ takes us on a voyage with each of
the nine competitors. From start to finish the author gives details about how
the Sunday Times newspaper came up
with the idea of the Golden Globe Race. The preparations of each sailor are
documented, this gives the reader a clear idea of just how much time, and money
and people were involved so that one person could sail around the world alone. Throughout the book there are wonderful
tidbits about Whitbread’s connection to the race, the relationship between a
sailor and his sextant, along with the navigational miscalculations and the
design flaws of each of the boats. When
reading this book you will notice that these are not the lean mean speed demons
of today's yacht racing on the contrary they were woefully inadequate boats
that would be fine for sailing around the English channel and possibly a run
across the Atlantic but not the sort of thing anyone would undertake a non stop
circumnavigation of the world in. This
fact is one of the continuing threads throughout the book along with the
loneliness and isolation each man felt during the race. While each one of the
sailors are sympathetic they do not seek to invoke your sympathy instead the
reader is just as likely to have a twinge or two of admiration for the sailors,
perseverance and resourcefulness in solving problems such as hulls being holed
sails ripping and self-steering gear that breaks. The solutions to each of
these problems are told vividly conveying to us not only the magnitude of each
problem but the circumstances that lead up to it. At the same time the author give us a glimpse into the mind of
each competitor - From Robin Knox Johnson who was as a psychiatrist put it “
distressingly normal “ to the deeply troubled Donald Crowhurst.
Peter Nichols sets the record
straight and debunks many of the widely held beliefs about the suicide of
Donald Crowhurst. In almost every
printed article and television documentary about the race since it was run some
thirty - three years ago one got the impression that Donald Crowhurst had a
structurally sound trimaran and was terrified of the southern ocean, which is
why he attempted his elaborate hoax.
While it can be argued that no sensible person wouldn’t have second
thoughts about sailing in the roaring forties, furious fifties and screaming
sixties of the southern ocean. The
opposite is the truth-Crowhurst’s boat was not well built and actually was
falling apart so much so that he secretly put into port so he could male
repairs to one of the hulls of the boat.
He also came to the realization that he wasn’t prepared to take on such
a monumental undertaking on such short notice. Suffering from bouts of depression
and unable to delegate any authority to anyone no matter how small in the
preparations for the race Donald Crowhurst is far and away the most tragic
figure in the book.
Plymouth home of the British Navy
became port of departure for Loick Fougeron, Nigel Tetley, Bill King and
Bernard Moitessier before the start of the race. Each had chose Plymouth as the
best port to get their yachts ready for sea. It seemed only natural for these
men to choose Plymouth with it rich maritime history endless parade of ships
coming into port with ship chandlers and boat yards along with it proximity to
the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean.
Rivalry was tossed aside as all four men shared insights and information
going so far as to have dinners together.
Loick Fougeron and Bill King made it into the southern ocean both knew
the limitations of themselves as well as their boats Fougeron was a close
friend of Moitessier’s who prior to setting out in his attempt at sailing solo
around the world had no single-handed experience. Nigel Tetley’s story is particularly compelling and tragic using
everything he had at his disposal to keep his trimaran in the race and not only
become the first men to sail around the world non-stop but also the first in a
trimaran yacht to do is wonderfully written.
In this sequence Nichols brings all the urgency and desperation Tetley
must have felt to life. Chay Blyth
loved a challenge the more formidable the better. The more arduous the
circumstances the better it was like a tonic that only served to spur him
on. John Ridgway who rowed across the
Atlantic ocean with Chay in a twenty - foot open boat in 1966 was more
introspective he believed that the success or failure of this endeavor rested
on his own strength or weakness he alone was responsible. Chay Blyth had a simpler view; his efforts
could only take him so far the rest was up to God and God was definitely on his
side. Alex Carozzo had sailed alone across the Pacific Ocean. In an age when design innovations were
looked at with a certain amount of skepticism he had a sixty-six foot cold
molded ketch built for the race.
Bernard Moitessier well known sailor
and author was completely at home on the sea. Born in Southeast Asia he
practiced yoga on the deck of his boat and had a Zen Buddhists outlook on
life. To him it was not a simple matter
of getting from point A to point B or in this case from A to A it was the
journey that counted. Moitessier was
searching for self-enlightenment and found it in the race. In a time before
there was any Email, ship to shore fax or cell phones Bernard had a unique way
of letting race officials and his sponsors know how he was fairing. With the use of a slingshot and film
canisters he was able to communicate with the outside world by the means of
writing a message down on paper, stuffing it into the canister and shooting it
over to a passing vessel. Motiessier
did not limit himself to just shooting messages of how he was doing over to
passing ship film that was shot by him
of himself on his boat and was also sent over by the same method to the passing
ship.
Robin Knox Johnson was also
perfectly at home in a sailboat at sea. He was “distressingly normal “ when he
left and was still that way when he got back according to the same psychiatrist
who examined him before he left and again upon his return. After a conversation
with his father one morning at breakfast - when on leave from the merchant
marine, they talked of Eric Tabarly’s victory in the OSTAR. The subject soon
turned to the hypothetical could Tabarly be thinking about circumnavigating the
world solo? Robin’s father left for work after posing this question to his
son. Knox Johnson sat at the kitchen
table stirring his morning coffee.
Sooner or later someone was bound to sail around the world nonstop. The
thought of Tabarly a Frenchman being the first to succeed in sailing around the
world non stop rankled him. Robin Knox
Johnson began to think of all the rich British maritime history, of Drake,
Cook, and of Nelson by rights he thought a Briton should do it first. Why not a Briton? Why not him? He wondered
if he could indeed sail around the globe alone. One question he asked himself was; would he go mad? Knox Johnson
had no grand illusions about such a voyage he knew that it would be a brutal
prison sentence of solitary confinement with the possibility of death by
drowning. In the end he decided to go.
In the end Peter Nichols takes the
story of a race and the stories of nine men and combines these two elements
into a very exciting and enjoyable book.
This is not a book that one will be able to put down easily as it keeps
you not only on the edge of your seat wondering what will next befall the
sailor you are reading about now, while at the same time you be will trying to
guess what the other eight are up to.
This book is exciting, thought provoking and it will give you a new
outlook on the beginnings of what would eventually become grand prix yacht
racing. From this book you realize just
how vast and dangerous the oceans of the world are. A Voyage for Madmen is a great read one that will surely be in the
library of every sailor and armchair sailor who have or are thinking of sailing
around the world.