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The Race: The First Nonstop, Round-the-World, No-Holds-Barred Sailing Competition
Why saw the handle off your toothbrush? Why tackle the world's stormiest waters in a fragile craft that has never weathered such seas before?
The answer to both these questions is the same: to sail faster than anyone ever has before. In engrossing, suspenseful detail, THE RACE relates how and why participants in the first running of The Race risked millions of dollars and their lives to dash around the world in record time.
Other contests have pushed people and boats past their limits, but no race has ever left so little margin for error. For this very reason, The Race attracted the world's best sailors, among them a Chicago multimillionaire who has set more than twenty records in competitions ranging from ballooning to flying to sailing, a young Briton best known for risking his life to fish a competitor out of the Southern Ocean during a solo round-the-world race, and a hard-nosed New Zealander with virtually no experience skippering multihulls -- the huge, fast, notoriously unstable boats that ran The Race.
Zimmermann also chronicles the tumultuous history of extreme sailing, in craft from nineteenth-century clipper ships to today's dangerous, high-tech marvels with masts fifteen stories tall, which are capable of making up to fifty miles per hour. He spotlights the protean personalities that have driven the sport: Joshua Slocum, who completed the first solo voyage around the world, aided by hallucinations of an old salt beside him at the helm; "Blondie" Hasler, an iconoclastic World War II hero who outraged the risk-averse sailing establishment by organizing the first single-handed transatlantic race; and Francis Chichester, the sailor who won it, despite weighing his small craft down with such luxuries as bottles of claret and a smoking jacket.
Tim Zimmermann, an experienced blue-water sailor, graces this high-tension saga with rich atmosphere, historical depth, and singular emotional intensity.
The answer to both these questions is the same: to sail faster than anyone ever has before. In engrossing, suspenseful detail, THE RACE relates how and why participants in the first running of The Race risked millions of dollars and their lives to dash around the world in record time.
Other contests have pushed people and boats past their limits, but no race has ever left so little margin for error. For this very reason, The Race attracted the world's best sailors, among them a Chicago multimillionaire who has set more than twenty records in competitions ranging from ballooning to flying to sailing, a young Briton best known for risking his life to fish a competitor out of the Southern Ocean during a solo round-the-world race, and a hard-nosed New Zealander with virtually no experience skippering multihulls -- the huge, fast, notoriously unstable boats that ran The Race.
Zimmermann also chronicles the tumultuous history of extreme sailing, in craft from nineteenth-century clipper ships to today's dangerous, high-tech marvels with masts fifteen stories tall, which are capable of making up to fifty miles per hour. He spotlights the protean personalities that have driven the sport: Joshua Slocum, who completed the first solo voyage around the world, aided by hallucinations of an old salt beside him at the helm; "Blondie" Hasler, an iconoclastic World War II hero who outraged the risk-averse sailing establishment by organizing the first single-handed transatlantic race; and Francis Chichester, the sailor who won it, despite weighing his small craft down with such luxuries as bottles of claret and a smoking jacket.
Tim Zimmermann, an experienced blue-water sailor, graces this high-tension saga with rich atmosphere, historical depth, and singular emotional intensity.
- GenresHistorySportsNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 29, 2017
The Race is a narrative of the year 2000 competition to sail around the world in large catamarans, called maxiCats, that exceeded 100 feet in length. Travelling at 25 to 30 knots in good winds, they would often overtake the waves, riding up the back, down the front and risking the burial of the hulls in the troughs. The winner was Club Med, skippered by Grant Dalton, completing the circuit in 62 days.
Good treatments of the boats, their crews and the tactics.
Good treatments of the boats, their crews and the tactics.
August 17, 2015
The first time I picked up this book, I couldn't get into it; I only read a few pages before putting it aside and reading something else. I don't know what my problem was because when I picked it up again, I got right into it and read it through to the end in a few days.
This book is a history of competitive sailing leading to The Race of the title, first held in the early days of the 21st century. It is also a history of sailing in general. There's a lot of info about individual extreme sailors who raced alone (single-handedly). And since weather is so important to sailing, there's a lot of information about weather too.
I didn't know anything about sailing or sailing races when I started reading this book. However, Zimmerman knows how to tell a story. The second time I picked up the book, after reading a few pages, I was hooked.
There are a couple of things I wish this book had.
Most important would be a glossary. Since I don't know anything about sailing, there were lots of terms I didn't understand. (Since I was reading the book deep in the woods, I couldn't look up definitions on the internet, and I wasn't traveling with a dictionary.) A glossary would have greatly enhanced my understanding of what Zimmerman was trying to convey.
The second thing I wished for while reading this book was a map of the route The Race took. (Maps of the routes of other races mentioned would have been a bonus.) My grasp of geography is rather weak, and a visual representation of the places mentioned in the story would have been of help to me. (Where is Cape Horn? I dunno, and again, I had no internet or world atlas to help me.)
The author does list his source material, which is good news for anyone who wants to do further reading.
My favorite part of the book comes near the end when Zimmerman writes about the food extreme sailors eat and how the diets of extreme sailors have changed through the years.
I am proof that one need not be a sailor to enjoy reading this book. One only need be interested in sailing or sailing races, or weather patterns, or the history of the sea to enjoy reading this book.
Actually, one probably only needs to like a good adventure story to enjoy reading this book.
This book is a history of competitive sailing leading to The Race of the title, first held in the early days of the 21st century. It is also a history of sailing in general. There's a lot of info about individual extreme sailors who raced alone (single-handedly). And since weather is so important to sailing, there's a lot of information about weather too.
I didn't know anything about sailing or sailing races when I started reading this book. However, Zimmerman knows how to tell a story. The second time I picked up the book, after reading a few pages, I was hooked.
There are a couple of things I wish this book had.
Most important would be a glossary. Since I don't know anything about sailing, there were lots of terms I didn't understand. (Since I was reading the book deep in the woods, I couldn't look up definitions on the internet, and I wasn't traveling with a dictionary.) A glossary would have greatly enhanced my understanding of what Zimmerman was trying to convey.
The second thing I wished for while reading this book was a map of the route The Race took. (Maps of the routes of other races mentioned would have been a bonus.) My grasp of geography is rather weak, and a visual representation of the places mentioned in the story would have been of help to me. (Where is Cape Horn? I dunno, and again, I had no internet or world atlas to help me.)
The author does list his source material, which is good news for anyone who wants to do further reading.
My favorite part of the book comes near the end when Zimmerman writes about the food extreme sailors eat and how the diets of extreme sailors have changed through the years.
I am proof that one need not be a sailor to enjoy reading this book. One only need be interested in sailing or sailing races, or weather patterns, or the history of the sea to enjoy reading this book.
Actually, one probably only needs to like a good adventure story to enjoy reading this book.
February 1, 2016
A race can be referred to as many kinds of vehicles. Such as cars, motorcycles, planes you name it, but this is no ordinary race. The Race, by tim Zimmermann, is based in a true story about a boat race, which began on December 31, 2000, in Barcelona, and took an approximate 62 days to finish the race, ending in Marseilles. "The most intense event of its kind,a nonstop circumnnavigationn of the globe in the fastest boats ever built"(Washington Post). Tim Zimmermann also an experienced sailor relates to a story like this giving it an intense feel, and exciting read to the readers. These sailors are known to be he most courageous people, spending millions of dollars on their boats and sailing them on the vast waters of the sea. This book was very descriptive and neat, the only disadvantage to the book was well nothing, I have no complaints.
September 1, 2012
I loved this book--pretty much read it out loud to my family and then insisted that they read it too. It's an account of the first non-stop round the world unrestricted multihull race which is placed in context by a history of round the world sailing. If you like this sort of adventure writing--a la Into Thin Air or Godforsaken Sea then this one is a must.
April 13, 2015
This is a book that looks at the history of sailing around the world races, mostly single-handed racing before describing in great detail the story of The Race - a team round the world race with no limits on boat design or course taken (other than the boat must round all three capes - Hope, Leeuwin, and Horn). A really fun adventure book!
November 28, 2007
i adore books about sailing. read this on the plane to seattle in a really critical time in my life. :-)
January 12, 2015
Fabulous - wow.
December 15, 2016
engrossing and exciting read. Highly recommended
September 29, 2018
The Race was probably the most exciting and most dramatic yacht race ever. It caught my attention at the time and I was one of many who followed it on internet.
This book goes deeper than the press. One gets a real sensation of the tussle, the risks, the setbacks and the drama.
In this story the winner did not have the best boat. The mix of preparation, leadership, maintenance and weather analysis is what gave the edge.
And the boats suffered a great deal. More than in other races.
It is a great story and it is well told. An outstanding sailing story.
This book goes deeper than the press. One gets a real sensation of the tussle, the risks, the setbacks and the drama.
In this story the winner did not have the best boat. The mix of preparation, leadership, maintenance and weather analysis is what gave the edge.
And the boats suffered a great deal. More than in other races.
It is a great story and it is well told. An outstanding sailing story.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews