Capsized: Jim Nalepka's Epic 119 Day Survival Voyage Aboard the Rose-Noelle

by Steven Callahan

Note: This Kindle Edition Has Been Enhanced with Color Photographs Not Included in the Paper Edition

"An intriguing tale of personal victories claimed from disaster." - Publishers Weekly

"Soulful, emotional ... earnest and engrossing." - KIRKUS

"While the suspense, drama, and harrowing adventure of CAPSIZED will no doubt grip any reader, it shouldn’t be missed that Steve Callahan’s book also is about the complexity of the individual and the collective. Callahan shows us disparate people forced to rely upon each other for their mutual survival. In a manner of speaking, it is the id, ego, and super-ego simultaneously at odds and in concert. CAPSIZED may just tell one crew’s story, but it also is the story of the best of human nature eventually winning out in the worst of times." - Adam Braver, author of NOVEMBER 22, 1963 and MISFIT


In a superb narrative, NY TIMES bestselling author Callahan chronicles the four-month (April - August 1989) struggle of Jim Nalepka and three other crew (Phil Hofman, John Glennie and Rick Hellriegel) to survive on their capsized trimaran adrift in the the stormy seas of the wintry South Pacific. For shelter, the four huddled together in a dank hull compartment 20 inches high and only as wide as a double-bed. Most of their gear was lost in the same gale that caused them to capsize. They were drenched nearly constantly with frigid seawater, and caught fish and collected rain for sustenance before the wind and current finally carried them to New Zealand's Great Barrier Island.

CAPSIZED was originally published with a slightly different title by HarperCollins in 1992. The new edition has been revised (with additional text and illustrations) by Callahan.

346 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2013

About the author

Steven Callahan is an American author, naval architect, inventor, and sailor most notable for having survived for 76 days adrift on the Atlantic Ocean in a survival raft. Callahan recounted his ordeal in the best-selling book "Adrift: 76 days lost at sea", which was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than thirty-six weeks.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Gregor]

Spannende Geschichte von 4 Leuten, die auf offener See 119 Tage lang ums Überleben kämpfen. Neben viel Lebenswillen gehört auch eine Menge Glück dazu. Die Geschichte bekomme am Ende nochmal einen deutlich persönlicheren Toutch, den es für mich nicht unbedingt gebraucht hätte, trotzdem gehört es dazu. 3,5/5

[Hendrik]

Gregor hat keine Ahnung, das Ende passt für mich hervorragend zum Rest des Buches und zeigt nochmal deutlicher die besondere Beziehung zwischen Rick und Jim.

[Jessica]

Intriguing, couldn’t put it down

I read “adrift” and was excited to read more of Steven Callahan’s writing, especially that he wrote this story for someone else, a story of survival like his own, but so very different.

[Stuart Barry]

Great read of the interpersonal struggled within a long term survival scenario

Great personal insights.
Realistic portrayal of survival at sea at the right pace.
Written with great humanity n n n

[Erik Schroeder]

Good survival book.

[Leigh Morris]

Takes 118 days of monotony and turns them into a gripping narrative of group cohesion and division.

[Wade Lake]

Beautiful and real. A story about friendship as much as about being adrift at sea. Truly wonderful.