Taking On The World

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: Fine
Publisher: Michael Joseph Ltd
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 2002
Edition: First Edition

Description: 394 pages. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in Fine condition throughout.

Publishers Description: "Physically I am totally exhausted and, mentally, not so far off. My whole body aches and I feel drained. My mind feels like its been frozen and is trying to wake. Yesterday was the hardest challenge of my life, though funnily this morning feels ten times worse..." On 11 February 2001, Ellen MacArthur sailed into the French Atlantic port of Les Sables dOlonne to complete the Vendee Globe, sailings toughest race. She had beaten the odds and all the race could throw at her - storms, icy seas, exhaustion, rigging failures and, at the point she was fighting for the lead, an almost catastrophic collision with a container floating just beneath the surface. At 24 she became the youngest person ever to complete the race and the fastest woman ever to circumnavigate the globe. No Briton has ever sailed around the world faster. The scenes that greeted her return were extraordinary; hundreds of thousands of people lined the waterfront to cheer in "La Petite Anglaise" in her boat, "Kingfisher". During the race, climbing "Kingfishers" 90-foot mast in the teeth of a storm to replace a sail felt "like clinging to a telegraph pole in an earthquake ...the closest to death I have ever been". But Ellen MacArthur never forgot that she had made a choice. She was chasing a dream. To give it any less than her all would to have been to let down everyone who believed in her and anyone for whom fate had denied the opportunity to realize their own ambitions. She knew she could never give up. This is her story so far: how, from her childhood in landlocked Derbyshire, she made it to the startline of the 2000/2001 Vendee Globe. And, told in full for the first time, its the story of the race that catapulted her into the headlines and the nations affections. Dramatic and deeply moving, "Taking on the World" should inspire and enthral everyone who reads it. Industry Reviews On the evening of Sunday February 11 2001, the site of a diminutive English woman sailing into the port of Les Sables DOlonne captivated the world. Ellen MacArthur, a 24-year-old from the land-locked county of Derbyshire, had finished the Vendee Globe, generally acknowledged as the worlds toughest maritime race. She didnt win the race, she finished second. But that didnt matter. Ellen MacArthur was the youngest person ever to complete the race and the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe by sea. This is the story of a love affair with the sea and sailing. As a child of four, Ellen was taken on a sailing trip on her aunts boat and was immediately captivated. Determined to buy herself a dinghy, once home she began to save all her pocket money, keeping track of it on a large chart. She pored over magazines, sending off for the various catalogues and filing them in order of the size of dinghy. At the age of ten she bought her first boat - Threepny Bit - and went to her first race training camp. Captivated by the sight of the Whitbread Race whilst recovering from a bout of glandular fever, Ellen decided that race sailing was for her. At the age of 18, she was nominated for and won the BT/YJA Young Sailor of the Year. A year later, in Iduna, she sailed round the coast of Britain and the following year raced single-handedly across the Atlantic. Through her book, one hears Ellens voice taking us with her through the ups and downs of sailing. She tells of her struggles to get sponsorship. She introduces us to her close-knit sailing family. She takes us with her around Britain, across the Atlantic, on the Route de Rhum and, of course, on the incredible journey of the Vendee Globe. Those of us who were transfixed by the documentary on her Vendee Globe will never forget the sight of this 5ft 3ins figure struggling more than once to climb the mast to fix the sails. Some of her emails are reproduced and the reader is there with her, watching the dolphins, seeing the sunrise, being awed by the icebergs and frightened by the storms. Lavishly illustrated with over 100 colour photographs, this is a book for anyone who ever had a dream. (Kirkus UK)

ISBN: 9780718145255