Francis ChichesterRecensioni

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.

Solo Flight of the deHavilland Moth "Elijah" from New Zealand to Norfolk Island; thence to Lord Howe Island; thence to Australia.
Sir Francis Charles Chichester KBE was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route and the fastest circumnavigator, in nine months and one day overall in 1966–67

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.

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

Chichester recounts the story of how he set out from Brooklands Surrey in November 1929 with the aim of breaking Bert Hinkler's fifteen and a half day solo flight record to Australia. Filled with details of the countries he visits, the characters he meets and his hours in the plane, along with detours, scrapes and near misses along the way. Told with wonderful warmth and humour Sir Chichester brings to life his exciting account of aviation history.
Solo to Sydney is a book by Sir Francis Chichester about his solo flight in the 1920s from England to Australia in a de Havilland DH.60 Moth biplane. The book was first published in 1930 and subsequent editions have been published by Stein and Day. Chichester had relatively little flying experience when he undertook this epic voyage and the book recalls his experiences in dealing with bad weather, poor, or non-existent navigational aids and maps and his journey in general. Chichester was even more famous for his yachting achievements in a series of boats he named Gypsy Moth after his airplane.

Chichester had a very direct writing style, which I assume was very much in line with his character - a person defined by his actions and the next challenge. This is the third book of his that I have read. In a way, I am working backwards through his life. I started with his circumnavigation of the globe by sail and subsequent knighthood. In this book I find context with his earlier achievements in flight and navigation and listlessness as a young man. Typically of Chichester, this book provides little detail of internal thought and relationships, but delivers on giving you a sense of what he was able to accomplish and his desire to throw himself in the deep end to succeed in new pursuits.

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

It's hard to believe that just over 40 years ago, the feat of solo circumnavigation of the globe had only been achieved by a handful of people. This is a relatively straight forward read, with little self-reflection; however, the strength of Chichester's personality is clear through his writing. Chichester's achievements throughout his lifetime are simply amazing.½

4932. Gypsy Moth Circles the World, by Sir Francis Chichester (read 10 Jun 2012) This is an amazing account of the trip around the world whch the author made alone in his sailing vessel, leaving Plymouth, England, on 27 Aug 1966 and making only one stop (in Sydney, Austrialia) and returning to Plymouth on May 28, 1967. He had huge amounts of trouble on the voyage, but got no help from anyone except when he was in Sydney. Some of the technical talk about sailing was of no interest to me, but the exceptional ability of the author to solve the troubles he underwent cannot but be admired. It is an exceptional story and I could not but rejoice over his completion successfully of his endeavor.

Chichester's book details his solo sail around the world, which was the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by a single-handed vessel and it was the longest voyage by a solo vessel without a port of call. (He stopped only in Sydney, Australia during his voyage to and from Plymouth, England.)

His story in interesting and compelling. However, the book is not an easy read for a non-sailor... Chichester assumes you have sailing knowledge and his book is sprinkled with sailing terminology, which was not explained (at least in the 1968 edition.) I found other books about round the world voyages (including Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World" and Bernard Moitossier's "The Long Way") to be more accessible to a non-sailor.

Con 65 años, Chichester da la vuelta al mundo a vela en 1966.

Sir Francis Chichester tells a fascinating and detailed story of his historic solo circumnavigation via the Southern Oceans. From day to day, with changes in the weather and the boat's responses to it, there were plenty of surprises both good and bad. I enjoyed reading this book very much.

Chichester’s account of his preparation and participation in his first solo ocean race from Plymouth to New York in 1960 aboard Gypsy Moth III. The Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race, later referred to as OSTAR marked the beginning of a quadrennial event which grew from 5 entries in 1960 to 40 entries by 1972. Although an accomplished sailor in his late 50’s, Chichester shares his foibles as well as triumphs as he prepares for this historical race. His writing assumes that the reader is relatively well versed in sailing terminology when describing the design and testing of his beloved self-steering invention that he refers to as “Miranda”. He somewhat nonchalantly records the 30 day race itself with frequent naps and “chatter” breaks with his favorite whiskey. Perhaps most interesting to modern sailors are the descriptions of the seemingly ancient navigation & communication equipment used less than 50 years ago. The event marked the beginning of a brave new world in sailboat racing from privately funded sportsmanship to corporate sponsored high stakes competition. I found it a pleasure to read and a window into the sometimes forgotten formative years of solo sailing competition.½