Race Against Time

by Ellen MacArthur

Just after 10.00 on the night of February 7th 2004, Ellen MacArthur crossed an imaginary line in the sea off Brittany to become the fastest person ever to sail solo round the world. The record was held by a Frenchman, Francis Joyon. He'd slashed over 20 days off the previous record and many thought his extraordinary new benchmark would stand for 10 years or more. Most experts thought that the record would be beyond MacArthur. But in a superhuman effort that forced her to dig deeper than ever before, she proved the doubters wrong. Her effort captured the world's imagination and the scenes that greeted her return to Falmouth were euphoric. She had become, some claimed, the finest sailor her country had every produced. Drawing on logs, emails, sound and video diaries, this beautifully designed, fully illustrated book captures the drama, excitement, danger, joy and tears of a truly extraordinary achievement - in Ellen's own words.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Adventure, Travel, Autobiography

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2005

Reviews

[Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I read this non-fiction depicting day-by-day illustrated story of Ellen MacArthur's circumnavigating solo in 2005, leaving it at that on October 2009 due to my less motive. However, I found this book drawn on "personal logs, emails, audio and video diaries" (back cover) excitingly challenging in its own right since her narrations would inform her readers what happened, how she felt, how she solved problems, etc. along her unimaginable route in the high seas and oceans in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

Published with high quality paper, this book having its Penguin paperback size since its length and width are similar to Vladimir Nabokov's "Transparent Things" (Penguin 2017) should be more reader-friendly regarding its fonts, that is, they should be larger. All of its black-and-white and colour photographs are delightful to see with, of course, admiration to the job well done by her professional team of photographers, sketchers and computer graphics programmers.

To continue ...

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

A day by day diary of the record breaking solo circumnavigation of the globe.
It mostly reads like a blow by blow weather forecast and commentary crossed with a strung out, stressed and anxious fight to keep going; the text is generally, very repetitive.
There are some occasional interesting snippets of vulnerability;Ellen's thoughts, feelings, and her deep appreciation of the wildness and beauty all around her which break the adrenaline charged monotony of the text. (If that isn't oxymoronic!)
The best of these describe her time in the Southern Ocean,
For example;

"I don't think anyone should go to the Southern Ocean without having some fear of it. It's a very, very desolate place. You're at the end of the earth, in the middle of nowhere, no-one really lives here....the sea is unbelievable, it's like sailing over mountains. Like driving an all terrain vehicle very fast over mountains"

However, along with the technical jargon, particularly regarding sails this means that overall this book is probably most interesting to those who were already interested before reading it.
It does give an insight into what it takes though, and this is one very, very tough lady, who's sailing skills far outweigh her literary prowess

I couldn't figure out why pictures show two distinctly different multihulls! Did she change livery as well as sails en route?

[John Toffee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of reading the account of Ellen MacArthur's amazing world record for solo sailing around the world really intrigued me as I had read some other adventure-type books for a change of pace from my normal murder / thriller menu. A review of the book is probably best done in two sections:- the photographs and the text.
The photographs are outstanding and really give the reader the feeling of remoteness, isolation and desolation that Ellen must have encountered. The pictures of the boat (B&Q) are amazing with superb colour which contrasts fantastically with the complete grey blanket of the sea and sky during times of awful weather. The iceberg is one of my favourites too.
The words are written almost on the basis of A few notes, a bit like a diary, that Ellen has conjured up at the end of each day, indeed there are a few paragraphs for each day. And basically that is it, other than an introduction and a short epilogue. Ellen's account also comes across as one big long moan:- it's to cold, it's too hot, it's too windy, there's not enough wind, I can't sleep, I can't eat etc.etc.. There's also the constant pessimism that she won't break the record, even when she's five days in front and that her weather will be worse than current record holder (Francis) before she embarked on her attempt. The result is rather boring and meant that I had little empathy for Ellen, basically if you don't like the conditions, this is a round the world solo sailing record attempt at the end of the day, THEN DON'T DO IT1 Stay at home and get a normal 9 to 5 job and I bet you'll have something to really moan about then!
In summary the text's just about ok but the photographs are amazing.

[Radiant Volumes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ellen MacArthur – Race Against Time (2005). Account of the fastest solo sail round the world. Over-designed, with tiny type, too many “library” photos and silly magazine-style pull-out quotes repeating the main text. Oddly flat, humdrum writing underplays a remarkable experience.

[Gabriele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dame MacArthurs diary of her 2005 attempt to become the fastest person and first woman ever to sail solo round the world. She cut Francis Joyon's record in a superhuman effort by one day. Joyon regained the record in 2008 taking 14 days off Macarthur's record...It is a good read but does not reach the quality of 'Takin on the World'

[Lizzie Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite repeative, i know thats a little harsh but it was.

[Felix]

Loved it!

[Sheils Norts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Read it at sea. Made me feel lucky to be enjoying our yacht for cruising not racing. Seemed excessively harsh on herself, but well done Ellen. RESPECT. I couldn’t do solo.