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One of the few men who have understood their lives.I wish I could count myself among then, but I fearit is too late. Moitessier rounded the World when he wasmy age, life had prepared him while living in South Asiafor this moment. Moitessier was one with the universe,the sea, the birds,the dolphins, the clouds.What a great gift, it makes us poor city dwellerssee how fragile and how little of life we get.I only lived like that when i was young, I think thatafter I turned 23, all that was gone and a new reality settled inwhich is still with me.Every time he rolled himself a cigarette in his cabinI did the same, try to catch his spirit.bon voyage my friend Bernard
i buy this for all my friends who sail; the easy light reading is perfect for a winter's read. the sailing info is helpful and the connection with the dolphins make this almost a spiritual reading. love it
It's seldom we get to read sea stories of truly transcendent quality. Moitessier follows in the footsteps of Joshua Slocum in faithfully representing the places a man's mind can go in the long hours at sea. A deeply meditative account, offering depictions and analyses at the nexus of human and sea life that was S/V Joshua.
I'm a soloist- a singlehander. One feels the swell beneath while reading this book. I really appreciate the way that being in tune with the sea and its environs is expressed in this book. So beautiful it almost brought me to tears. The last third or so discusses rigging, complete with diagrams. Not by any means a comprehensive guide to sailing round the world but a capable sailor can learn from it.Buy this book.
Moitessier is a lousy writer. No passion. No philosophy. I bought this because I'm interested in taking up sailing and was intrigued why he gave up winning the race and sodded off to Tahiti instead. No LIFE. Unfortunately it's more of the same: dreary 'logical' daily accounts of boring sailing log details interspersed with equally dull, repetitive, shallow, wispy musings on nature. I read the Logical Route and was bored stiff. No excitement.
There's some soft rant against the 'machine' at the end. No depth. No adventure. If this is what Zen posing, bearded frog cross legged sitting on deck contemplating your navel, waves and stars 16 hours a day does to you I think I'll pass.
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