Fascinating firsthand narrative recounts author's circumnavigation of the globe in 34-foot sailboat he built himself. Tropical islands, natives, exotic ports, storms, near-shipwreck, many other adventures. 61 photographs.

The extraordinary story of an ordinary yachtsman who built his own yacht, then sailed around the world (three times) with only 8 hours of prior experience.

"It takes thousands of hours of sailing to get the kind of knowledge contained in this book." -- from the Foreword by Bruce Schwab The ONLY bible for how to sail your boat fast, safe, and alone Solo sailing is within any sailor's grasp with a little forethought--and this essential guide. Got a 35-foot sailboat? No problem. Is the wind blowing 20 knots? No problem. Are you racing offshore overnight? Even better. Singlehander Andrew Evans learned the hard way how to sail and race alone--with lots of mishaps, including broaches and a near tumbling over a waterfall--and in Singlehanded Sailing he shares the techniques, tips, and tactics he has developed to make his solo sailing adventures safe and enriching. Learn everything you need to know to meet any solo challenge, including: Managing the power consumption aboard a boat to feed the electric autopilot Setting and gybing a spinnaker Finding time to sleep Dealing with heavy weather

In early 1968, desperate entrepreneur Donald Crowhurst was trying to sell a nautical navigation device he had developed when he saw that the Sunday Times would be sponsoring the Golden Globe Race, the first ever solo, round-the-world sailing competition. An avid amateur sailor, Crowhurst sensed a marketing opportunity and shocked the world by entering the competition using an untested trimaran of his own design. Shock soon turned to amazement when he quickly took the lead, checking in by radio message from locations far ahead of his seasoned competitors. But on July 10, 1969, roughly eight months after he had sailed from England--and less than two weeks from his expected triumphant return--his wife was informed that his boat, the Teignmouth Electron, had been discovered drifting quietly, abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Crowhurst was missing, assumed drowned. How did he come to such an end when his race had begun with such incredible promise? In this masterpiece of investigative journalism, Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall reconstruct one of the greatest modern stories of one man's descent into self-delusion, public deception, and madness. Based on in-depth interviews with Crowhurst's family and friends, combined with gripping excerpts from his logbooks that revealed (among other things) he had been falsifying his locations all along, Tomalin and Hall paint an unforgettable, haunting portrait of a complex, deeply troubled man and his final fateful journey.

The vast majority of sailing yacht scenarios comprise a couple sailing the boat together, and needing to carry out all manoeuvres and activities themselves with no help from a back-up crew. Their boat handling, navigation, sail handling, anchoring and mooring skills all have to be carried out both efficiently and effectively, preferably with the minimum of physical effort (to conserve energy). But most sailing technique books assume a crew of 3 or 4, all willing to lend a hand. This book is therefore a first, addressing the most common sailing scenarios that anyone cruising will have to deal with, and providing clever, original, highly effective (and most importantly successfully tried and tested by the author) techniques and solutions for dealing with the huge variety of essential operations on a boat – from sail setting and reefing, to picking up mooring buoys in a variety of wind and tide situations, anchoring, berthing and leaving a pontoon shorthanded, picking up a man overboard, sailing in fog and heavy weather – and even going up the mast. This book will be a godsend to anyone sailing single or shorthanded – including couples with young children who need to be supervised by one parent whilst the other runs the boat. Organised into techniques for different cruising scenarios, the book features step by step sequential photos showing exactly how to approach each situation and carry out the task in hand.

Joshua Slocum's epic solo voyage around the world in 1895 in the 37 foot sloop Spray stands as one of the greatest sea adventures of all time. This work offers Slocum's account of his epic voyage. It is intended for admirers of his legendary achievement.