Rating: 
Summary: Life and Death on the Southern Ocean
Review: "Below forty degrees south there is no law; below fifty degrees south there is no God." This quote begins the tenth chapter of Derek Lundy's Godforsaken Sea. With heart-racing action right from the start, Mr. Lundy explores various issues related to what seems like a foolish act: racing a sailboat solo, without stopping, through the vicious conditions of the Southern Ocean. Yet it is the stark and simple rules of the Vendee Globe race, the subject of this book, that make it so compelling: sail around the world without help and without assistance. The course of the race is equally simple: Atlantic Ocean - Southern Ocean - Atlantic Ocean. In an age where "extreme" sports are becoming commonplace, Lundy makes a compelling case for calling this sporting event the most extreme sport of all. In fact, dealing with the moral implications of people subjecting themselves to such a dangerous event is one of the challenges the reader of this book will face. Yet the sailors of the Vendee Globe, as presented in the Godforsaken Sea, are real, genuine human beings. They are people who, while in the near hurricane force conditions, cannot wait to get home, yet, when they do arrive back in France, cannot wait to get back to the sea. The reader is left with the clear idea that the Vendee Globe is an event where a competitor has a fairly good chance of not coming back alive.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping descriptions of extreme sailing
Review: A most satisfying read. It combines the excitement and terror of single handed racing in the Southern Ocean with insight into the people who did it in the 1996 Vendee Globe. It reflects their thinking and attitudes in the light of Montessier, Slochum and Saint-Exupery. I agree with the Time assessment that it ranks with the best of books on sailing.
Rating:
Summary: adventure on the high seas
Review: Derek Lundy has done a fantastic job of bringing the excitment and danger of racing solo sailboats to vivid life. The book kept me on the edge of my seat ,the descriptions of the seas, the interviews with the sailors and family members combine to give the reader a very good image of what it must be like to spend three or four months alone in the "roaring forties". If you are at all interested in sailboat racing or just like books about sailing than this book is a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Unable to put this book down...
Review: From the beginning sentence, I was unable to put this book down. Lundy describes the terror and excitement of the Southern Ocean race so that you are right there experiencing the event with the sailors themselves. The first chapters introduces some of the sailors and describes in detail the capsizing of their ships - then he leaves you there with them at the brink of death or rescue. You don't know the outcome until you've read further and get to know all the players and events that took place in the race. This book was fascinating from page one.
Rating:
Summary: Eeeeek!
Review: I grew up in the Southern Hemisphere (South Africa) and sailed Hobie 14s on the Cape Coast. You really learn to respect (actually dread is a better way to describe it sometimes) the sea if you sail in these fast little craft. I can only imagine how awesome the Southern Ocean must be. Lundy does an excellent job of describing the events as they unfolded in the 1996/1997 Vendee Globe. It is a truly terrifying account.A yachtie friend of mine summed this book up really well: if you want to enjoy sailing don't read books like this one. They'll just scare you into never setting sail again. To me this book was awful and captivating at the same time - you just can't put it down, because you know there is going to be this horrible gut wrenching saga taking place in a godforsaken place where the seas are like 'six story buildings' and 'knock downs' are common. Lundy does his best to delve into the minds of these (in my opinion)crazy competitors. His research on the race, navigation and seamanship in general is obviously excellent. He does seem to know what he is talking about. The technical stuff is mostly fascinating and thorough. But ultimately you have to do a big Galic shrug of the shoulders if you want to understand the sailors who compete in the Vendee Globe. All of Lundy's research and interviews with the competitors fails in this respect...they're just stark raving bonkers, just accept it! Buy this book but be warned...get something cheerful to read afterwards.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting peak into solo racing, but hard to follow
Review: I think if you have done a good bit of sailing or spent a lot of time in the ocean, this book would be riveting. But for the average landlubber, I felt it was long and a bit disorganized. Some of the analyses Lundy made, for example the one about what drives people to extreme sports, were interesting but out of place here - I wanted him to just get on with it. To me this book is another "Into Thin Air" clone applied to a different sport.
Rating:
Summary: A sailing book readers
Review: If you like sailing get the book. The things they do are truly amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Too much explanation - too little story
Review: Lundy constantly interrupts a gripping narrative with dry explanations. Some of the explanation is justified, like the construction of Vendee Globe racers, and some is interesting, like the history of circumnavigation, but it was a mistake to disrupt the story, which becomes hard to follow. If you are looking for another Into Thin Air to vicariously battle the South Seas from the safety and comfort of your armchair, it would be best to look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A good book that could have been great...
Review: Reading "The Godforsaken Sea" is an experience in frustration. The events recounted, the Vendee Globe race of 1996, has all the requisite features to make an exciting page-turner. Instead, thanks to Derek Lundy's strange choices in narrative, we know the ending from the time we finish the first chapter! The rest of the book is an exercise in filling in the blanks interspersed with philosophical quotes cribbed from more metaphysical authors. Equally frustrating is the complete absence of photos. Altho the book has 2 maps & a diagram of a typical Vendee Globe 60' sailboat, there are no photos at all (except 2 on the back cover)! Considering the amount of media coverage generated by this event in France, this lack is strange, to say the least. Photos are absolutely necessary in cases such as when Lundy describes his subjective reaction to viewing the latest design in racing 60' boats from the Groupe Finot workshop as compared to more traditional designs in the race. Why isn't the reader allowed to view the boats in question? He describes the way various sailors in the race appear to him; why can't we see them too? Considering the large number of sailors involved, photos of the most prominent would be a great help to the reader! Despite these caveats, "The Godforsaken Sea" still manages to enthrall as we experience capsizes beyond the reach of land-rescue efforts, incredible heroism in the face of seemingly impossible odds, self-surgery, physical deprivations & hardships...If only a little suspense had been added to the mix, Derek Lundy would have had a best-seller!
Rating:
Summary: A good book that could have been great...
Review: Reading "The Godforsaken Sea" is an experience in frustration. The events recounted, the Vendee Globe race of 1996, has all the requisite features to make an exciting page-turner. Instead, thanks to Derek Lundy's strange choices in narrative, we know the ending from the time we finish the first chapter! The rest of the book is an exercise in filling in the blanks interspersed with philosophical quotes cribbed from more metaphysical authors. Equally frustrating is the complete absence of photos. Altho the book has 2 maps & a diagram of a typical Vendee Globe 60' sailboat, there are no photos at all (except 2 on the back cover)! Considering the amount of media coverage generated by this event in France, this lack is strange, to say the least. Photos are absolutely necessary in cases such as when Lundy describes his subjective reaction to viewing the latest design in racing 60' boats from the Groupe Finot workshop as compared to more traditional designs in the race. Why isn't the reader allowed to view the boats in question? He describes the way various sailors in the race appear to him; why can't we see them too? Considering the large number of sailors involved, photos of the most prominent would be a great help to the reader! Despite these caveats, "The Godforsaken Sea" still manages to enthrall as we experience capsizes beyond the reach of land-rescue efforts, incredible heroism in the face of seemingly impossible odds, self-surgery, physical deprivations & hardships...If only a little suspense had been added to the mix, Derek Lundy would have had a best-seller!
| 
