Gipsy Moth Circles the World - Hardcover

Francis Chichester

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340004843 ISBN 13: 9780340004845

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1967

Synopsis

A story of courage in the face of fantastic odds.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The delight in stories well told is as intrinsic to who we are as a species as toolmaking or song. And from time immemorial, few narrative genres have had the power to so stir the emotions or captivate the imagination as the true account of a lone adventurer's triumph over the titanic forces of nature. Among the handful of such tales to emerge in the twentieth century, one of the most ENDuring surely must be Sir Francis Chichester's account of his solitary, nine-month journey around the world in his 53-foot ketch Gipsy Moth IV. The story of how the sixty-five-year-old navigator single-handedly circumnavigated the globe, the whole way battling hostile seas as well as his boat's numerous design flaws, is a tale of superhuman tenacity and ENDurance to be read and reread by sailors and armchair adventurers alike.

This handsome first volume in The Sailor's Classics series restores in its entirety for a new generation of readers Francis Chichester's extraordinarily candid personal account of his adventure. First published in 1967, just months after the completion of Chichester's historic journey, Gipsy Moth Circles the World was an instant international best-seller. It inspired the first solo around-the-world race and remains a timeless testament to the spirit of adventure. The Sailor's Classics edition features a new introduction by series editor Jonathan Raban.

About the Author

Francis Chichester was a lifelong adventurer. In 1931, piloting a fragile single-engine Gipsy Moth, he became the first aviator to fly solo from New Zealand to Australia. He was also the first to make the rugged solo flight from New Zealand to Japan. In 1960, still weak from a near-fatal bout with lung cancer, he won the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race and, a year later, beat his own time across to New York by seven days. In 1964, he raced alone across the Atlantic in a yacht designed for a crew of six. Jonathan Raban is the editor of The Oxford Book of the Sea and author of ten critically acclaimed books, including Passage to Juneau. He is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, and a New York Times Editor's Choice for Book of the Year. He has been called (by The Guardian) "the finest writer afloat since Conrad."

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Publication date: 1967
• ISBN 10: 0340004843
• ISBN 13: 9780340004845
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288