Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters

Ted Thring is a book reviewer for the Queen’s University radio
station.

The frontispiece of this book is a chart of the route followed by the
Vendee Globe round-the-world non-stop race for single-handed sailors.
Starting in November at Les Sables d’Olonne, France, the route runs
east of the Canary and Cape Verde Islands; south of the Cape of Good
Hope, Australia and New Zealand; around Cape Horn and then north through
the Atlantic to finish at Les Sables some three months later. Vessels
must be monohulls not more than 60 feet long. Any assistance received
from other boats disqualifies the entrant.

The 1996–97 race was entered by 14 men and 2 women. Four boats were
lost, and one of the sailors—Canadian Gerry Roufs—was never found.
Others suffered damage that forced them into port but completed the
course despite having been disqualified. Even though the participants
were all experienced single-handed racers and had boats equipped with
sophisticated navigation gear and tracking devices, it was only through
good fortune and good seamanship that three sailors avoided being
shipwrecked.

The author is an experienced and accomplished sailor as well as an
excellent writer. This exhaustively researched book includes interviews
with the contestants and race officials as well as with the designers
and builders of the boats. Lundy vividly describes the sailing
conditions encountered in both the Atlantic and the southern ocean. It
is in the latter area that the most severe weather is found. Sailors
must contend with fierce storms, icebergs and drifting ice floes, winds
that can exceed 80 knots, and seas that can build to 50 feet or more. In
addition to changing sails and repairing damaged gear, the contestants
must keep the boat moving as fast as possible; it is, after all, a race.

The Vendee Globe is often described as the Mount Everest of sailing. In
fact, it is more than that because most Everest expeditions involve
large support groups and several climbers.