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ALONE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC by Francis Chichester

ALONE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

By

Publisher: Doubleday

A noted English flyer, map maker, and yachtsman, tells- in the form of a detailed log- the story of his 40 day crossing of the Atlantic in the 40-foot sailboat Gypsy Moth III. The purpose of the voyage was a transatlantic race, held in June, with several English boats, manned only by their skippers, participating. Chichester's account is an intimate one. He tells of working the sails alone, navigating listening to the radio, taking tea or whiskey after a long stretch on deck. The most valuable part of his account is not of sailing itself, or of the vast, lonely sea, but of the hardships of one man doing the work of several. In so performing this feat he proves what one man, if he were forced to by adversity, can do. Unfortunately the writing tends to the dull side, as does much of the narrative itself. Probably a book of interest more to sailors and yachtsmen than to the average reader.