conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know a description for a book titled A Voyage For Madmen about British, Apollo, Democratic with the genre: Sports & Outdoors, Water Sports?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: In the psychedelic summer of 1968, as Apollo 8 soared toward the moon and the Democratic Convention crashed in Chicago, nine men tried finally to accomplish the sailor's age-old ultimate goal: a solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the world. the author (Sea Change) deftly introduces myriad aspects of a voyage that promised "dubious, unquantifiable" rewards. He insightfully contextualizes the endeavor as an offshoot of Sir Francis Chichester's famous 1967 solo circumnavigation (with one stop), which represented to England a "longed-for" heroism. Detailing the British media's successful exploitation of the so-called race, he approaches the voyage as the remarkable result of nine men wishing to outdo Chichester. the author painstakingly describes the enormous difficulty of solo navigation in the pre-global positioning system of the 1960s. These "hardcase egomaniacs driven by complex desires and vainglory to attempt an extreme, life-threatening endeavor" used only rudimentary equipment and their wits. the author is at his liveliest when describing the only two participants who "were really happy aboard their boats": the French-Asian Bernard Moitessier, the most skilled sailor, whose mystical seamanship brings surprises, and the British Robin Knox-Johnson, who was energized during his journey by the memory of "the Elizabethan sea heroes of his youth." the author also delivers a compelling portrait of English Donald Crowhurst, an electronics engineer whose "supercharged personality" wreaked havoc on the entire race. While the author's pace is neither breakneck nor suspenseful, his careful details and psychological insight make for a riveting account of the triumphant human spirit. 16-page photo insert, 8 maps.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know the first three paragraphs for this book? End with the sentence ' Their waterlogged boat, containing Johnstone's diaries, was found in the middle of the Atlantic on 14 October.'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A Voyage For Madmen
  David Johnstone and another journalist, John Hoare, rowed away from the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay on 21 May. That placed them close to the eastbound currents of the Gulf Stream, which would be a significant boost across the Atlantic.
  Boat preparation and Ridgway's brief spell of blood poisoning delayed the two soldiers. They finally left from Cape Cod on 4 June. For weeks, they made dispiritingly slow progress until they reached the strong eastbound current of the Gulf Stream. They found the voyage and the blistering repetitiveness of rowing a monumental bore, but they were good partners, with different, complementary strengths, and they shared a perverse, soldierly satisfaction with their self-imposed hardship. They reached the Aran island of Inishmore off the coast of Galway, Ireland, after ninety-two days at sea.
  Johnstone and Hoare were never seen again. A hurricane crossed their path on 4 September. Their waterlogged boat, containing Johnstone's diaries, was found in the middle of the Atlantic on 14 October.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know five more paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Two days later, Stanley Best appeared at the Crowhursts' house in Bridgwater with the carrier bag full of presents that Clare had left on her husband's bunk. It had been found on the slipway with the other supplies.
  Eighteen hundred miles to the southeast – roughly midway between South America and South Africa – Loïck Fougeron had a lot more wind.
  Two thousand miles to the east – 1,100 miles the other side of Cape Town, well into the Indian Ocean – Bernard Moitessier was sailing through the choppy aftermath of a brief gale that had struck the day before. The wind, which had begun in the southeast, had backed through the northeast to the north during the night, before dropping away to a breeze on the morning of 31 October.
  But he was now halfway around the world – further, in fact, because with prevailing westerly winds from astern, his fastest route home would be to keep going. He had a commanding lead. He decided to continue as long as he could make progress. His sea heroes were watching.
  Knox-Johnston, Moitessier, King, Fougeron, Tetley, Crowhurst, and Carozzo on his mooring. This was the arrangement of the race fleet of seven boats across 15,000 sea miles on 31 October. Blyth and Ridgway were out. By nightfall, two more sailors would join them.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know the last three paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Betsy Beers for humour and wisdom; Carole Fungaroli for putting me in the canon, and being my friend and most valuable resource at Georgetown University;
  Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following copyrighted works:
  Donald Crowhurst. 'I feel like somebody who's been given a tremendous opportunity to impart a message.'