A Voyage for Madmen

By: Peter Nichols

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death.

In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death.

©2001 Peter Nichols (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A riveting account of the triumphant human spirit." ( Publishers Weekly)

Solid informative.

An amazing true story about athe first single hand sailing race around the world. A look into the kind of man that would put themselves on the ocean for 240 days without touching land.

An unusual perspective on the Golden Globe race

Having immersed myself in Bernard d Moitessier's 'The Long Way,' and explored the tale of Donald Crowhurst through his daughter's eyes, I found this unified account of the participants in that historic race really enjoyable and interesting. The author's decision to extend the narrative beyond the Golden Globe Race, delving into the subsequent lives of these sailors adds a lot to the race's story. I found the narration a bit slow to start with, but I ended up really appreciating the rhythm.

great story

I just reread this book a second time while a recreation of the race is underway. it is September 2018 and the boats in the current Golden Globe race just suffered a knock down last night. To boats just fasted one person injured.

Well done account of a snippet of time in sailing

It is about sailing, how exciting can anyone make it? All kidding aside, as a newcomer to sailing I found this historical account of primarily a handful of sailing's history fascinating as I may just end up sailing most passages solo.

The book covers a very interesting period of sailing history when macho, philosophical and truly mad men were literally racing across oceans and the around world on all kinds sailboats and budgets to achieve the final big ticket accomplishments in sailing.

Worth Your time

This story is very well written and chronicles in detail the arduous journey these men
undertook. You can almost imagine being there with them. Very engaging!

Wow

A story with a character for each facet of man's collective personality. The man we dream of being, the man we hope we aren't, and the men we more probably are.

Thought-provoking, just wow.

This is an incredible, haunting, beautiful, inspiring, thought-provoking tale of 9 men. Simply incredible.

Amazing!

What people will do when faced alone by their own demons and ghosts! Still presents as a mystery!

Change speed to x1.1 or x1.2

The narration is too slow for comfortable listening. Increase speed one or two notches and you’ll find the narrator acceptable. I found that x1.1 worked best for me, x1.2 was okay but just a bit too fast.
GREAT BOOK!!!

Captivating

An incredibly gripping narrative superbly narrated. One of the best sailing books I have read or listened to. An inspiring tale of courage and endurance.