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The Long Way is Bernard Moitessier's own incredible story of his participation in the first Golden Globe Race, a solo, non-stop circumnavigation rounding the three great Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn. For seven months, the veteran seafarer battled storms, doldrums, gear-failures, knock-downs, as well as overwhelming fatigue and loneliness. Then, nearing the finish, Moitessier pulled out of the race and sailed on for another three months before ending his 37,455-mile journey in Tahiti. Not once had he touched land.
List of contents
Part One
Chapter 1: Full Sail
Chapter 2: Clear Light
Chapter 3: Sunday at Trinidad
Chapter 4: Muchos Pocos Hacen Un Muncho
Chapter 5: Played and Lost…Played and Won
Part Two
Chapter 6: Good Hope
Chapter 7: A Saw-tooth Wake
Chapter 8: The Days and the Nights
Chapter 9: The Long Way
Chapter 10: The Rule of the Game
Chapter 11: Christmas and the Rat
Chapter 12: The Time of the Very Beginnings
Part Three
Chapter 13: My Elder Brother
Chapter 14: Joshua against Joshua
Chapter 15: One Night…
Chapter 16: One Day…and a Night
Part Four
Chapter 17: True Dreams—and False
Chapter 18: Time to Choose
Chapter 19: The Turning Point
Chapter 20: Listen, Joshua…
Chapter 21: Time to Choose—Part II
Chapter 22: The Second Turning Point
Appendix
Glossary
About the author
Bernard Moitessier was born in 1925 in Indochina and much of his sailing knowledge was gained during time spent at sea with the fishermen of the Gulf of Siam. One of the greatest ocean voyagers, he became a legend in his time. He was also a gifted writer and wrote four books describing his seagoing adventures. He moved to France where he spent the last years of his life working on his memoirs, Tamata and the Alliance (Sheridan House, 1995), the story of an unusual man and an exciting life. Bernard Moitessier died in the summer of 1994.
Summary
Bernard Moitessier was in the lead and nearing the finish of the Golden Cup—a solo circumnavigation of the world—when he abandoned the race and set his course for a personal journey that would conclude three months later in Tahiti. Moitessier himself recounts the story of his personal quest in lyrical and though-provoking prose.
