Sea of Dreams: Racing Alone Around the World in a Small Boat

By Adam Mayers

Book Overview

The biennial Around Alone yacht race is the most thrilling adventure in the world for the sailors passionate enough to undertake it. It's a two-class solo race that starts and ends in Newark, New Jersey, with stops in England, South Africa, New Zealand, and Brazil, and it is as tough in its way as the non-stop race, the Vend?e Globe. In 2002, thirteen sailors competed, some of them professional sailors, well funded by corporate sponsors, and some of them adventurers who sacrificed almost everything to enter the race. Among the adventurers wasDerek Hatfield, a former fraud-squad Mountie, whose forty-footSpirit of Canadahad cost him almost everything he had. The race takes sailors through the wild storms of the Bay of Biscay, the frustrating and infamous Doldrums, the angry Southern Ocean, and the treacherous seas off Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America. All of them dangerous waters that stretched the sailors' abilities to the limit and beyond. Hatfield'sSpirit of Canadabecame the plucky Little Boat That Could when it lost its mast in rounding Cape Horn. In this nail-biting account of the race, Adam Mayers brings to life the joys and the agonies of racing alone and the dreams that drive these men and women to sail around the world solo.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771057539
• ISBN13: 9780771057533
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 0.9" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

A must for yacht racers

This is the most brilliant book I have read detailing an account of offshore single-handed racing. I couldn't put it down. The book flows from one event to the next and fills the reader with the details experienced and lessons learnt along the way.

The riveting story of a fast-paced, around-the-world race

Sea Of Dreams: Racing Alone Around The World In A Small Boat, by Adam Mayers is the riveting story of a fast-paced, around-the-world race for the "Around Alone" yacht race. Derek Hatfield in his yacht "Spirit of Canada" raced against twelve others around the world, beginning in New York Harbor, with stops in England, South Africa, New Zealand, and Brazil, and finally ending in Newport, Rhode Island. Sea Of Dreams is an amazing tale and very highly recommended reading, especially for anyone in search of a gripping and nautically inclined true-life story of a fearless pursuit of a dangerous race on the high seas.

Sea of Dreams vs Godforsaken Sea

This a great book, about the other solo around the world race. It reads like a thriller and taught me a lot of things I didn't know about solo sailing. Derek Lundy's Godforsaken Sea which was about the 96 Vendee was gripping and so is this one about the 02 Around Alone when the Cdn. Derek Hatfield was rolled over at the Horn and Brad Van Liew who lives in Charleston set new speed records for the race. His race was just as amazing. The other American guy Tim Kent was also a great story, getting stronger and stronger as the race went on.