Taking on the World : A Sailor's Extraordinary Solo Race Around the Globe - Hardcover

Macarthur, Ellen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071382275 ISBN 13: 9780071382274

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2003

Synopsis

A young woman describes her participation in the 2001 Vendee Globe, a single-handed, nonstop voyage around the world, in a powerful memoir of her experiences at sea. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Ellen MacArthur grew up in the small village of Whatstandwell in England's landlocked Derbyshire. Inspired by a sailing trip with her aunt when she was four, Ellen saved her school lunch money for eight years to buy her first boat, an 8-foot sailing dinghy. At nineteen she sailed around Britain alone in her 21-foot boat, Iduna, then began a string of impressive finishes in solo long-distance races that culminated in her record-setting performance in the 2000 - 2001 Vendee Globe. She was named Woman of the Year for 2001 by the Sunday Times (London), and in 2002 she won the Route du Rhum singlehanded transatlantic race in her boat Kingfisher. In early 2003 she commanded Kingfisher 2, a 110-foot catamaran, in pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy for fastest time around the world in a crewed sailboat. Ellen MacArthur now lives in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

From the Back Cover

THE YOUNG WOMAN WHO TOOK THE SAILING WORLD BY STORM

"A passionate account that is far more than just another book about racing."--The (London) Times

On February 11, 2001, Ellen MacArthur completed the Vendee Globe singlehanded nonstop sailboat race around the planet, perhaps the most grueling challenge in the world of sports, and docked amid the 250,000 well-wishers who had braved a winter night to welcome her back to France. Alone and unsupported, she had spent more than three months at sea and had beaten everything the race could throw at her--storms, icy seas, exhaustion, rigging failures, and, when she was fighting for first place, a catastrophic collision with a submerged shipping container that could have cost her not just the lead but her life. But Ellen had always known that the dream she was chasing would demand her last ounce of fortitude. To give any less would be to let down herself and everyone who believed in her.

At twenty-four she became the youngest person ever to complete the race and the fastest woman--and second fastest sailor--to circumnavigate the globe alone. The magnitude of her achievement was almost beyond comprehension, but it was the character that emerged from behind the headlines that made the more lasting impression. Modestly unassuming yet possessed of an indomitable will, Ellen made people feel they could do anything.

Taking On the World is Ellen's story--how, from her childhood in landlocked Derbyshire, England, she made it to the start of the Vendee Globe. Passionate and wise in its portrayals of love, friendship, and moments of despair, it is a story of longing and adventure, and of the incredible race that catapulted Ellen onto the front pages and into the limelight of international sailing. Dramatic and moving, Taking On the World will inspire and enthrall all who read it.

"An exuberant, headlong, exhausting ride. . . . In describing the terrifying exhilaration of surfing storm waves in the Southern Ocean, the absolute rock-bottom fatigue of single-handing a 60-foot boat for months at a time, the intricacies of navigation and weather routing, the frustrations of raising sponsorship money, or the highs and lows of her own emotions and motivations, MacArthur is always eloquent, passionate--and unfailingly honest. This is more than a book about sailboat racing; it's also about a dream ferociously pursued and the price paid for realizing it. Taking On the World is impossible to put down."--Derek Lundy, author, Godforsaken Sea and The Way of a Ship

"As different from other sailing books as Ellen MacArthur is from other sailors. . . . A story of mythic shape--of a young girl who receives a call to adventure and sets out on a compulsive journey, and finds mentors, tests, dark caves, despair, a supreme ordeal, and triumph. . . . The story of a magnificent obsession, with all the physical difficulty and emotional fallout that came with it. One is left full of admiration, and wondering mightily what this journeying heroine will achieve next."--Peter Nichols, author, A Voyage for Madmen

"Never have so many cheered so heartily for the sailor who finished second."--Herb McCormick, sailing columnist, New York Times

"MacArthur's triumph in sailing 26,000 miles around the world in less than 100 days sets standards in daring, defiance, and yachtsmanship that may not be matched for years to come."--The (London) Times

"You don't need to be a sailor to find it inspiring. It's about endeavour, a riff on Kipling's 'If' that has you wondering why you don't just go out and fulfill your dreams. She writes with fluency and frankness, . . . showing a wisdom that is beyond her years."--The Independent

Reviews

No one can argue with MacArthur's prowess on the high seas. The 24-year-old made international headlines in 2001 for placing second in the Vendee-Globe, a nonstop, 26,000-mile race that she completed alone in 94 days. Unfortunately, this exhaustive memoir of MacArthur's coming-of-age as a sailor in landlocked Derbyshire, England, doesn't make for a triumphant maiden voyage into the literary world. The book begins with her birth ("I was not in the mood to come out, so Mum had to be induced three weeks after my expected arrival date") and spares no detail of her life thus far, including that Paddy, her pet duck, "considered me his closest family." The real action of this book-the race itself-doesn't begin until Chapter 16, and even then the adventure is recounted slowly. When MacArthur writes about bidding farewell to one of her greatest supporters as she is about to set sail for the odyssey of a lifetime, she says, "He pushed a hard-boiled egg and an apple into my hand; I hadn't wanted any breakfast that morning, and he knew I wouldn't have eaten anything since then." In the end, MacArthur's unfocused style transforms what must have been an exciting experience into a remarkably boring read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071382275
• ISBN 13: 9780071382274
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 353