It's a true story so incredible, it seems romanticized. When in 1968, Sunday Time organized a prize for the first solo sailor to sail around the world non-stop and without assistance, 9 participants took the start. Among them, Donald Crowhurst was the last to set sail.
It is his adventure that is told in journalistic form in this book. Having set off in a catastrophe on the last day before the line closed, with a new boat that was completely unprepared and on which he had hardly ever sailed, the sailor quickly had to deal with technical problems.
Embarked on a story that is beyond his comprehension, he sets up a false route, discloses false positions by the SSB and sets up the biggest lie in maritime history. He'll never leave the Atlantic! In the end, caught at his own game, having even forced a competitor to retire, he sinks into madness... All that will be found is his empty boat with 2 logbooks on board: the real one and the falsified one.
Written two years after the tragedy by two journalists, this book is a meticulous investigation that poses hypotheses without ever taking sides. It is a collection of testimonies that allow the reader to better understand the character of Donald Crowhurst. Above all it is an analysis of the numerous written documents found on board, which retrace the long wandering in the Atlantic of the trimaran Teignmouth Electron.
By republishing this book, the Arthaud publishing house offers us a clear vision of this incredible story. A book that reads like a novel, so much the story is scotchy. We just regret in this version, the absence of photo documents, sketches or maps to better follow and understand the life of Donald Crowhurst on his trimaran (there is only one map at the beginning of the book and 2 photos on the back cover). Fortunately, the power of the Internet and its incredible photo library will satisfy the reader's curiosity.
2018 will be the year of the 50 e anniversary of the Golden Globe race. There will be many events to celebrate this anniversary. This book is part of this logic for the greatest pleasure of the readers by plunging us back into this adventure on which the current yachting is still based.
Donald Crowhurst's Strange Journey
- Editions Arthaud
- 13.5 x 22.1 cm
- 390 pages
- 19.90 euros
