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Best Sailing Reads

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – Rob Mundle

Our Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an icon of Australia’s summer sport, ranking in public interest with such national events as the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open tennis and the Boxing Day cricket test. No regular annual yachting event in the world attracts such huge media coverage as does the start on Sydney Harbour.

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: A biography of a sporting icon is the story of one of the world’s greatest sporting challenges, an event where men and women from all walks of life are inspired and challenged by the beauty and power of nature.

Bestselling author Rob Mundle has competed in the race on three occasions and reported on it for both newspapers and television for more than 50 years.

From Ratbags to Respectability – David Colfelt

A concise history of Australia’s premier ocean-racing club, From Ratbags to Respectability traces the story of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia from its humble origins in 1944 through to its prominent position in the world of blue-water racing in 2005.

It tells the story of what was intended to be cruise to Hobart in 1945 that became a race (the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race) that captured the imagination of post-war yachtsmen and over the ensuing years turned into what is recognised as one of the three great ocean races of the world, some say “the Everest of ocean racing”. A young club struggling for acceptance in the yachting community and considered an ‘upstart’ in its early days, the CYCA carved a niche for itself in ocean racing, becoming the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s de-facto representative in the southern hemisphere. Throughout the ensuing decades the CYCA played a significant role in the development of safety procedures that have now been adopted by clubs around the world.

 

Fatal Storm – Rob Mundle 

The first book to recount the tragedy of the 1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Fatal Storm. Rob Mundle takes readers through every white-knuckling hour of the gale that descended in the predawn hours of December 27, stretching over 900 miles from Australia to New Zealand, bringing with it hurricane-strength winds and five-storey waves. In all, 57 sailors were rescued, plucked from the decks of broken boats or from the sea itself under impossible conditions. Six sailors died.

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Fastnet, Force 10 – John Rousmaniere

In August 1979, 303 yachts began the 600-mile Fastnet Race from the Isle of Wight off the southwest coast of England to Fastnet Rock off the Irish coast and back. It began in fine weather, then suddenly became a terrifying ordeal. A Force 10, sixty-knot storm swept across the North Atlantic with a speed that confounded forecasters, slamming into the fleet with epic fury. For twenty hours, 2,500 men and women were smashed by forty-foot breaking waves, while rescue helicopters and lifeboats struggled to save them. By the time the race was over, fifteen people had died, twenty-four crews had abandoned ship, five yachts had sunk, 136 sailors had been rescued, and only 85 boats had finished the race.

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Lion Heart – Jesse Martin

On October 31, 1999, schoolboy sailor Jesse Martin completed one of the last great adventures of the 20th century. At 18 years of age, and after 11 months at sea, he became the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop, and unassisted around the world. This is the story of why Jesse set himself such an astonishing task and how he managed to make his dream come true. A story of courage, loneliness, and danger, it also is an incredible, gripping, true-life adventure.

Jesse Martin was destined for adventure. Born in Munich in 1981 while his parents were travelling through Europe in a kombi van, he spent his early years in the beautiful Daintree Rainforest of North Queensland, Australia. By the time he was 14 he had sailed along Australia s tropical coast on a flimsy catamaran and had trekked through southeast Asia. At 16 he kayaked through remote islands of Papua New Guinea and then crewed on a yacht that sailed from Belize to Tahiti. He is an ambassador to a number of youth outreach organizations, including Reach Youth and the Young Endeavor Program.

 

Born to Win – John Bertrand

Born to Win is the classic story of the underdog winning and John Bertrand s psychological warfare, describing in detail the thrills and battles of Australia II s historic 1983 America s Cup win. But if you think this book is just about sailing, think again. It s a book about life, love, and the triumph of the human spirit. First published in 1985 and going on to sell more than 100,000 copies worldwide, this is the fully updated and revised edition, including Bertrand s life post the America s Cup. It hasn t always been smooth sailing, but it s an inspiring tale of courage, fortitude and commitment from a born leader and entrepreneur.

 

The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race – G. Bruce Knecht

On December 26, 1998, 115 sailboats crossed the starting line of the famous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The 630-nautical-mile contest is among the most difficult races in the world, a test of strength and endurance like few others. But no one could have foreseen the tragedy that would befall the competitors, who sailed into a massive storm that tore apart the fleet with hurricane-force winds and eighty-foot waves. What began as a race for glory rapidly became a fight for survival. In this gripping insider’s account, award-winning writer G. Bruce Knecht focuses on three yachts and their crews, weaving together an extraordinary story with vivid detail, outsized personalities, and high drama. Most importantly, he offers a glimpse into how people with very different backgrounds responded to something bigger than they were–and how it changed them forever. Hailed as “harrowing” by the New York Times, “pulse-pounding” by People magazine, and “the Perfect Storm of blue-water sailboat racing” by Walter Cronkite, The Proving Ground is a true-to-life adventure tale as thrilling as any work of fiction.

Taking on the World – Ellen MacArthur

When Ellen finished the Vendee Globe, yachting’s toughest race aged just 24 the nation took her to it’s heart. The depth of the affection for Ellen is extraordinary – she makes people feel like they can do anything.

This is her story, written intrue Ellen style, in her own words, without the help of a ghost writer.

Passionate, dramatic and and deeply affecting, her story will move and inspire all who read it.

 

Life at the Extremes – Francis Ashcroft

How do people survive extremes of heat, cold, depth, speed and altitude? This book explores the limits of human survival and the physiological adaptations which enable us to exist under extreme conditions. In man’s battle for survival in the harshest of environments, the knowledge imparted by physiology, the ‘logic of life’, is crucial. What causes mountain sickness? Why is it possible to reach the top of Everest without supplementary oxygen, yet be killed if a plane depressurises suddenly at the same altitude. Why are astronauts unable to stand without fainting when they return to Earth? Why do human divers get the bends but sperm whales don’t? Will men always be able to run faster than women? Why don’t penguins get frostbite?

 

True Spirit – The Aussie girl who took on the World – Jessica Watson

There is something different about adventurers; about the way their minds work. They look at the world as a place of challenges and though they know what fear is, they refuse to be hindered by it.

TRUE SPIRIT is Jessica’s story and in it she will detail her preparation, her journey and her battle with sleep deprivation, gale-force winds, mountainous seas, natural hazards like whales and icebergs and holding firm against the solitude that most of us can only imagine dealing with alone on a vast sea with no land to be seen and no help close at hand.

The name Jessica Watson will soon be part of sailing history. She will join Jesse Martin and Kay Cottee as someone all Australians can be inspired by. Jessica Watson is a dreamer who dares to do.

 

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