The Lonely Sea and the Sky

Description

Aged eighteen with a taste for adventure, Francis Chichester emigrated to New Zealand with ten pounds in his pocket. He tried his hand as a boxer, shepherd, lumberjack and gold prospector, before returning to England. Having qualified as a pilot, in 1929 he embarked on his most famous solo flight in the de Havilland Gipsy Moth from England to Australia. Shortly afterward, he would survive a near-death catastrophe in an attempt to fly solo around the world. Turning to sailing, he won the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race in Gipsy Moth III, despite having been diagnosed with cancer two years previously. In 1967, he became the first person to sail around the world solo from west to east via the great capes. AUTHOR: Born in 1901, Francis Chichester emigrated to New Zealand at the age of eighteen with only ten pounds in his pocket. With the impetuousness of youth, he tried his hand at a myriad of jobs, some more successful than others, and by the age of twenty-six, had been a farm-hand, a boxer, a shepherd, a lumberjack, a member of three trade Unions - the Firemen's, the Miners' and the Timber Workers' - a railway worker, a gold prospector, a coal miner, a door-to-door salesman, and a land agent. And it was only then that his real adventures began. SELLING POINTS: An important book and a classic tale. One of the original great adventures, told in a way that makes you feel the wind and seaspray on your skin as you read. 2012 sees the 45th Anniversary of him becoming the first person to sail around the world solo from west to east. 2012 also sees the 40th anniversary of his death. REVIEWS: 'I would find myself engrossed in his book; he was one of my greatest inspirations and motivations to get involved in the world of solo sailing' - Dame Ellen McArthur

'The Lonely Sea and the Sky is the acclaimed autobiography of this iconic postwar figure.' * Conde Nast Traveller magazine *