When Ellen finished the Vendee Globe, yachting's toughest race aged just 24 the nation took her to it's heart. The depth of the affection for Ellen is extraordinary - she makes people feel like they can do anything!This is her story, written intrue Ellen style, in her own words, without the help of a ghost writer.Passionate, dramatic and and deeply affecting, her story will move and inspire all who read it.

In October 2009 Ellen MacArthur, one of the greatest sportswomen in the world, announced her retirement from competitive sailing. Many were in disbelief. How could the woman who had fought so hard to set so many records give up racing? But Ellen had found an even tougher challenge than sailing solo round the globe.Now Ellen is ready to write about her incredible last ten years, including the trip which changed her life.She speaks honestly about the trials of fame after comi...

Joshua Slocum's epic solo voyage around the world in 1895 in the 37 foot sloop Spray stands as one of the greatest sea adventures of all time. It remains one of the major feats of singlehanded voyaging, and has since been the inspiration for the many who have gone to sea in small boats.Starting from Boston in 1895, by the time he dropped anchor in Newport, Rhode Island over three years after his journey began, he had cruised some 46,000 miles entirely by sail and entirely ...

Imagine an economy in which today's goods become tomorrow's resources and nothing is discarded.Ellen MacArthur, the founder of her eponymous foundation, which works to accelerate the transition to a regenerative economy, writes that we need to stop living a "take, make, dispose" lifestyle. We need to think about a circular economy where waste and pollution are prevented, products are reused and natural systems such as agricultural land are regenerated.This is the seventh es...

What is life like without arms?Rod Haines was born in 1942, at a time when doctors freely gave advice on options of what to do with this armless baby, and whom they thought would also have limited brain function.Rod was the middle child of five children and his childhood was full of love, support and encouragement from family and friends. He was mainstreamed at school and went on to university to become a lawyer, and later diverting into other academic areas, especially in ...

Les Powles only had 8 hours of sailing experience when he decided to sail solo around the world. Many novices would be content to just dream of such an adventure, and maybe get as far as a solo Channel crossing a couple of years down the line. Not so Les Powles, one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary and eccentric sailors.Les was in his 50s when he built himself a yacht with little prior knowledge of boatbuilding. Remarkably he made it across the Atlantic, though his nav...

In January 1969, aboard his home-built wooden boat Suhaili, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person every to sail solo, non-stop around the world. 25 years later, Sir Robin again completed a record-breaking circumnavigation, co-skippering Enza with Kiwi yachting legend Sir Peter Blake. His place in sailing's pantheon of greats was assured.Then, after the tragic death of his wife Sue, Sir Robin decided he would try again. in October 2006, at the age of 67 -...

Pete Goss became a national and international hero when he rescued French yachtsman Raphael Dinelli as his boat sank beneath him in the round-the-world single-handed sailing race, the Vendee Globe, on Christmas Day 1996. In doing so Pete scuppered his own chances in the race but was awarded theLegion d'Honneur by France's president and made a friend for life in Dinelli.Close to the Wind is his own story of the race and its dramas, his revolutionary boat,Aqua Quorum, his thoughts and emotio...

When Ben Tucker and his kid brother Matt decided to sail south in search of icebergs on Ben's small home-built kiwi sloop, their father Jon was allowed to come along as their cabin-boy, on a promise of good behaviour.The unfolding adventure took them through thick pack ice to become trapped at the windiest place on the planet, a remote location in East Antarctica.'Snow Petrel' is proof of what ordinary people can achieve on a minimal budget. Recently released in New Zealand...

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stone Barrington series tells the true story of his journey sailing alone across the Atlantic Ocean.Stuart Woods had never owned more than a dinghy before setting out on one of the world’s most demanding sea voyages, navigating single-handedly across the Atlantic. How, at the age of thirty-seven, did this self-proclaimed novice go from small ponds to the big sea?Now with a new afterword that looks bac...

Sailing, Yachts and Yarns is a selection of British sailing legend Tom Cunliffe's most entertaining, outspoken and instructive writing from the pages of Yachting Monthly magazine. Tom's regular column for this leading sailing magazine gives him free reign to explore a wide range of topics. He has a gift for capturing the magic of sail and finding pearls of practical wisdom in the most unlikely nautical adventures. Sailing, Yachts and Yarns is a wonderful miscellany of wit, wisdom and wonde...

One of Britain's greatest living sailors shares a collection of distilled wisdom, acute observation and fascinating anecdotes. _x000D_This book is a collection of provoking, insightful and perceptive pieces of writing by Robin Knox-Johnston. His forthright and compelling views are based on a wealth of experience and expertise. The spotlight of his steely gaze falls upon the great ocean races and the brave men and women who compete in them. He considers the lessons of seamanship he learned ...