Novel describes lives of
sailors
 By
Jeff Cantwell
Staff Writer
After completing a 10-month, non-stop voyage, a
lone sailor pulls into port at Falmouth England. When he is asked where
he came from his reply is simple, yet astounding. "Falmouth."
"A Voyage for Madmen" is the true story of the
nine men who, in 1968, attempted to circumvent the globe in small one-man
sailboats without stopping.
Peter Nichols writes a compelling, factual narrative
presenting each contestant in his own light. There is no set hero of
the novel and it is made quite clear that the one man to complete the
journey will not be played as a favorite during the novel's earlier
pages.
The contestants include Robin Knox-Johnston, an
English merchant marine captain; Bernard Moitessier, a French hero out
to save his soul; Donald Crowhurst, a brilliant electrical engineer
facing his own problems; and six other men out to prove to either the
world or themselves that they can tackle this tremendous challenge.
Nichols, who obviously has spent some time on the
sea himself, draws the reader into the world of isolation and loneliness
each sailor spent on the sea.
Some of the men felt at home with the power of
gale force winds and the100-foot waves that attacked the small boats.
Others like Chay Blyth, a British Army sergeant
who had never sailed before his journey, were unaccustomed to the world
of seafaring and took the punishment, but did not enjoy it.
There were no Global Positioning Satellite systems
at this time, so the sailors had to rely on maps and sometimes-functional
radios. This left them truly alone to navigate some of the world's most
dangerous waters.
One scene involving Moitessier and a school of
dolphins is particularly engaging. It lasts only a page and a half of
the 289-page novel, but Nichols' writing makes every unbelievable sentence
as true as anything you can see with your own eyes.
Each sailor undergoes changes during his journey
and, with Nichols' sharp writing and seafaring knowledge, you can feel
the emptiness and watch a man's mind cross the thin line that marks
his sanity and the darker side of his psyche.
With only the over-dramatized and misleading tag
line and a few slow sections - understandable in a story with only the
facts - the book has few flaws.
"A voyage for Madmen" is a fantastic read for sailors
and non-sailors alike. Nichols has crafted a story so beautiful and
shocking in its sincerity that it is virtually impossible to put down.
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