Sailing to the Reefs

Book excerpt: Bernard Moitessier is considered one of the greatest blue water sailors of the 20th century. Best known, perhaps, for abandoning the Sunday Times Golden Globe singlehanded round the world race when in the lead, in order to make almost another complete circumnavigation (the same race in which Donald Crowhurst's boat was found mid Atlantic after his suicide) he was already a legend in the making. This book is Moitessier's first, and it tells the story very charmingly of his shipwreck in the Indian Ocean after a monumental monsoon and how he built himself a new boat from scratch with no boat plans, power tools or financial resources in just 9 months. He made his own rope from nylon scraps found on the quay, built his own galvanized steel water tanks and sewed his own sails. With a commentary by Adlard Coles on heavy weather sailing, Sailing to the Reefs offers a treasury of practical hints for the self-reliant sailor and an entertaining read for armchair cruisers.