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Godforsaken book?

Customer Rating:

I'm sure this title has been taken already for a review, but you need to be warned. I acquired the book because I have a budding interest in sailing, and was looking for some sort of inspiration. This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. It may even be the worst book I have ever read--period. If I ever hear another word about "Autessier" or "Moitessier" for as long as I shall live, I shall vomit. These men may be greater sailors than I will ever be, but this book singlehandedly destroyed my perception of them. I never wish to hear another word about them again. This books was one endless worshiping drone about "great" (so we are told over and over) yachtsmen and the sea sprinkled in between with bits of the event the book is supposed to be about (what was that again?). On and on he quotes extensively from one Frenchman to the next lavishing ever more sickening fawning adjectives to describe how superhuman he believed these individuals were. ("When you are alone with the sea, that is the measure of a man. You and the sea--alone. A man must face his fear with the sea, and come to grips with them. The sea is not for boys, but for exceptional men. Moitessier understood this unlike any other man since Slocum. He faced the sea alone and conquered..." On and on he goes like this for chapter after chapter after chapter!) It is when he mentioned that he was atheist or agnostic that it became "clear" why. The author has abandoned the worship of a God to worship other human beings. Some may find this offensive, but the book is that bad. It badly needed some sort of explanation. I must admit, that for my own sanity I had to skip large tracts of this book.

Godforsaken Sea

Customer Rating:

Godforsaken Sea is one of the best books I have ever read, particularly as I have sailed in the storm that wrecked the Fastnet race in 1995 so have some idea of what the single handed commpetors sailing round the Antartic endured.They were surfing down waves 30 meters high under full sail at 40 knots and if this was not enough had to gibe a 200 square Meter spinnaker at night without any help. Moreover it was not safe on deck so this is a stupendous feat.They could lose a rudder from flotsam and had to do all repairs to rigging alone.It is a pity that the paper-back edition does not have the photographs

A Thorough Dissection of An Amazing Race

Customer Rating:

This book hovers between the thrill of reading an exciting story about life and death situations during solo sailing on the open ocean and the tedium of absorbing a barrage of information about the world of sail racing. Still, Derek Lundy manages this balance with reasonable skill. The story is well researched and the writing is competent, if at times a bit heavy. My only real complaint is that the flow of information could have been better organized to make it easier for the reader to keep track of the characters and their constantly changing status during the race. Well worth the read if you have any interest in stories about people who risk their comfort and their lives to endure and survive earth's most challenging environments.

Often thrilling, informative

Customer Rating:

However disjointed, this story still excites and intrigues. I found myself staying up late to finish chapters and search the internet for more about the Vendee Globe boats and racers. I was fascinated by the racers' skill and courage as they faced life-and-death situations. Like another reviewer, I think I saw the method to the author's style, which provided narrative to create interest mixed with backstory and more technical data to give the narrative context. Although not seamless, I think the it works pretty well. Also, the story would not have been as compelling without that context.

Or: How The French Seem To Do Everything Just A Little Bit Better.

Customer Rating:

The old adage "Don't judge a book by it's cover" is usually a good one, but the fact that the art director of GODFORSAKEN SEA actually used the exact same cover photo as Pete Goss's CLOSE TO THE WIND is an indication of what a supernumerary book this really is. Derek Lundy is an (Anglo?-) Canadian attorney-turned-sailor-turned-author. He has some recreational blue water cruising experience. He is the most rabid Francophile I have ever come across (frankly, that alone would cost him a star with most reviewers). He describes GODFORSAKEN SEA as "the story of the Vendee Globe and Gerry Roufs" but it isn't. That's one of the problems with GODFORSAKEN SEA: Lundy isn't ever quite certain what this book is about, and so he hopscotches from one topic to another and back again like a frantic capuchin monkey. If it were the story of Gerry Roufs (the only Canadian entrant in the 1996-97 Globe Vendee, and the only sailor to lose his life), GODFORSAKEN SEA would be a fine book. Lundy clearly identifies with Roufs, a (French-) Canadian attorney-turned sailor, rather like himself. Still, we find out relatively little about Roufs, his life, or his boat. Roufs may have disappeared in a gale, but he was a human being, never a cypher; he had a full life, which Lundy does poorly in reporting, and it's a shame, because GODFORSAKEN SEA could have been a fine memorial to the man. Lundy's attempts to draw parallels between the squalls he's sailed through and the hundred foot waves and hurricane winds of the Southern Ocean are sincere attempts to identify with the solo circumnavigators of the Vendee on some level. They may seem silly but they're forgivable. What isn't forgivable is Lundy's chaotic approach to the story. One minute he is mourning Gerry Roufs, the next he is singing the praises of each of the French entrants, then afterward he warns us perseveratively about the nasty conditions of the Southern Ocean. He takes a breath to discuss racing yacht design, and then he is reminiscing about his sailing experiences. A few asides are thrown in about the entrants' earlier sailing experiences, and he's back to weatherfax technology, Bordeaux wine or straightforward (but incomplete) race reportage: All this, over and over and over. GODFORSAKEN SEA is in desperate need of an editor, but editing probably would have reduced this book to a third of it's 272 pages, making it less marketable. As it stands, GODFORSAKEN SEA isn't quite Godforsaken; but it sure could use a prayer or two. Pete Goss's CLOSE TO THE WIND is a better written book about the same Globe Vendee, and if it focuses on Goss more exclusively, at least it isn't suffering from literary Attention Deficit Disorder. TWO AND A HALF STARS: All based on the innate quality of the story of the 1996-97 Globe Vendee.