Les Powles only had 8 hours of sailing experience when he decided to sail solo around the world. Many novices would be content to just dream of such an adventure, and maybe get as far as a solo Channel crossing a couple of years down the line. Not so Les Powles, one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary and eccentric sailors. Les was in his 50s when he built himself a yacht with little prior knowledge of boatbuilding. Remarkably he made it across the Atlantic, though his navigation skills didn't match his boatbuilding abilities; his first landfall was Brazil. He'd been aiming for Barbados - 100 miles north, and in a different hemisphere! Three complete solo circumnavigations followed, all of them full of incident. The last one saw him given up for dead when he hadn't been heard from for four months. His boat had been damaged in a storm, he'd lost all communications and had virtually run out of food. When he sailed up the Lymington River (aged 70) in a skeletal state his arrival caused a media frenzy. Lymington Yacht Haven subsequently gave him a free berth for life. A terrific achiever who has beaten the odds, Les Powles tells his story in a lively, entertaining, humorous and compelling way. It will resonate with sailors and non sailors alike, and may inspire one of them to become the twenty-first century's Les Powles.

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.

Les Powles only had 8 hours of sailing experience when he decided to sail solo around the world. Many novices would be content to just dream of such an adventure, and maybe get as far as a solo Channel crossing a couple of years down the line. Not so Les Powles, one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary and eccentric sailors. Les was in his 50s when he built himself a yacht with little prior knowledge of boatbuilding. Remarkably he made it across the Atlantic, though his navigation skills didn't match his boatbuilding abilities; his first landfall was Brazil. He'd been aiming for Barbados - 100 miles north, and in a different hemisphere! Three complete solo circumnavigations followed, all of them full of incident. The last one saw him given up for dead when he hadn't been heard from for four months. His boat had been damaged in a storm, he'd lost all communications and had virtually run out of food. When he sailed up the Lymington River (aged 70) in a skeletal state his arrival caused a media frenzy. Lymington Yacht Haven subsequently gave him a free berth for life. A terrific achiever who has beaten the odds, Les Powles tells his story in a lively, entertaining, humorous and compelling way. It will resonate with sailors and non sailors alike, and may inspire one of them to become the twenty-first century's Les Powles.

This memoir of life in the American desert by the author of The Monkey Wrench Gang is a nature writing classic on par with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey recounts his many escapades, adventures, and epiphanies as an Arches National Park ranger outside Moab, Utah. Brimming with arresting insights, impassioned arguments for wilderness conservation, and a raconteur’s wit, it is one of Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works. Through stories and philosophical musings, Abbey reflects on the condition of our remaining wilderness, the future of a civilization, and his own internal struggle with morality. As the world continues its rapid development, Abbey’s cry to maintain the natural beauty of the West remains just as relevant today as when this book first appeared in 1968.

Teaches and illustrates 179 variations of solitaire, grouped by game types such as tableau-clearing, pile games, combination games, and building by suit, color, or number.

The Offshore Pipeline Construction Industry: Activity Modeling and Cost Estimation in the United States Gulf of Mexico presents the latest technical concepts and economic calculations, helping engineers make better business decisions. The book covers flow assurance, development strategies on pipeline requirements and the construction service side with a global perspective. In addition, it focuses on one of the most underdeveloped, promising assets – the Gulf of Mexico. Pipeline construction and decommissioning estimation methods are examined with reliable data presented. A final section covers trends for oil, gas, bulk oil, bulk gas, service and umbilical pipelines for installation and decommissioning using correlation models. This book delivers a much-needed tool for the pipeline engineer to better understand the economical choices and alternatives to designing, constructing, and operating today’s offshore pipelines. Built with construction and decommissioning decision tools supported by reliable data and case studies Organized by parts, including a section devoted to Gulf of Mexico statistics and estimation methods Helps readers gain practical knowledge on strategies and cost models from a global pipeline perspective, including environmental and mitigation considerations

Tubular Structures XV contains the latest scientific and engineering developments in the field of tubular structures, as presented at the 15th International Symposium on Tubular Structures (ISTS15, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 27-29 May 2015). The International Symposium on Tubular Structures (ISTS) has a long-standing reputation for being the principal