Francis Chichester (1901–1972)

Personal adventures of the man who was the first to fly alone from New Zealand to Japan, who won the first single-handed trans-Atlantic Yacht Race in 1960, and who made and broke his own records in other races.
The complete autobiography of the great adventurer Sir Francis Chichester, the first and fastest man to singlehandedly circumnavigate the globe

Aged 18 and with a taste for adventure, Francis Chichester emigrated to New Zealand with ten pounds in his pocket. He tried his hand at a number of ill-fated careers—a boxer, shepherd, lumberjack, and gold prospector, to name a few—before returning to England. Having qualified as a pilot, in 1929 he embarked on his most famous solo flight in the de Havilland Gipsy Moth from England to Australia. Shortly afterward, he survived a near-death catastrophe in an attempt to fly solo around the world. Turning to sailing, he won the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race in Gipsy Moth III, despite having been diagnosed with cancer two years previously. In 1967, he became the first person to sail around the world solo from west to east via the great capes. Here, his entire life—including his greatest failures and successes—are told by the man who experienced it all firsthand.… (altro)

In my childhood I remember my Dad following the reports of Frances Chichester's single-handed circumnavigation of the world. Being capsized at one point sticks in my memory.
It turns out that this happened soon after he left Sydney when, against advice, Chichester sailed into the path of a storm, on his way to pass to the north New Zealand. It was a remarkable journal, which probably did not capture the public interest until Jon Sanders did three circumnavigations without stopping, and Jessica Watson completed a version of circumnavigation as as a 16 year old.
Chichester's book is a description of the voyage through his own eyes. A fair bit of space is spent on describing the technical aspects - which sail went up, which rope failed etc. which may be interesting for sailors, but probably less so for those not familiar with the jargon.
I was a remarkable voyage, all the more so because he did it without any modern navigation aids, and patchy radio contact.
Fun fact: He was shadowed around the bottom of South America by HMS Protector, which in the previous decade had gone to the aid of ship in distress that had onboard Edmund Hillary and Vivian Fuchs.… (altro)

Librarything review https://www.librarything.com/work/1167541/reviews/117551558
This was a very disappointing read. Various writings were just thrown together in a very lazy way, with little thought or structure to it. Don't get me wrong, there's some quality pieces included from authors like Shackleton and Drake, but I'd urge people to find out their books, rather than choose to read this one. Chichester is responsible for some far better reads.
½

Goodreads reviews https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/489.Along_The_Clipper_Way… (altro)