The strange voyage of Donald Crowhurst,

Spoilers below, although being a non-fiction book which describes events from 1968, it is really just the general gist of the book.In 1968, the British newspaper the Sunday Times sponsored a ‘round the world' sailing race - for solo yachtsmen, to travel non-stop from the UK south then around the Cape of Good Hope, east below Australia and New Zealand, below Cape Horn then back up through the Atlantic to the UK. It was known as the Golden Globe Race, there were nine entrants, and it was a staggered start (meaning they were not travelling together). Four withdrew before leaving the Atlantic. Another four followed the route (for most of the race). The last man is the topic of this book. Donald Crowhurst.Donald Crowhurst's life before the race and the origins of the race get a chapter each, then a chapter about the design and construction of his purpose build trimaran. Then, the race is on. However it is not the reader who is woefully unprepared for this, but Crowhurst. Without sufficient time to complete trials of his trimaran, and no time to develop the technology that Crowhurst has been telling everyone he is trialling on his journey. Probably a good time to drop in that he is an electronics engineer, with his own company which develops nautical electronics - although the sole product seems so be the Navicator, a radio direction finding device for yachting. Swept up in the moment he explained to the media various inventions (which he had though of, but not actually constructed) would be fitted to his yacht.And so the authors, who spent a long time researching and examining he evidence now piece together what Crowhurst actually did for the duration of the race while his fellow competitors sailed around the world! I don't intend to spoil the book, but it is fairly well known that he didn't leave the Atlantic, and even made land once for materials to repair his yacht, having not adequately provisioned for this type of repair. He also ran a number of sailing logbooks. Three of the four were recovered. These were the mostly factual log, a radio log (again factual), and a third log in which he wrote various things, including poetry and other short stories, but also philosophized, and especially towards the end of his voyage demonstrated his slow shift towards insanity. At one point, he actually made a plan through which he may have been able to avoid being exposed for a fraud, although circumstances prevented that happening, and this seemed to put him over the edge. He wrote in riddles and wrote a lot of barely understandable passages, but progressively described the pressure on him to succeed. The forth logbook, which it is believed contained his ‘final version' of the falsified log was never recovered, and the authors believe it was taken with Crowhurst when he stepped off the stern of his yacht, sadly committing suicide. While some parts of the book are speculative (as supported by the evidence), those sections are clearly identified as such, and clear explanation is given as to how conclusions were drawn.Much time goes into analyzing how Crowhurst ended up in the situation, as it is explained in the narrative that it was not a premeditated plan to falsify his journey. Crowhurst was actually a talented yachtsman and able navigator. A man doesn't single handedly sail 8000 miles and almost back, much of it within the southern Atlantic Ocean without ability, but he was certainly overconfident in his preparations and planning, and this proved to be insurmountable.Not really my normal type of book, and in some respects it is a shame I read this before the well known [b:A Voyage for Madmen 6055 A Voyage for Madmen Peter Nichols https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348623648l/6055.SY75.jpg 9405] published in 2002, which covers this race it its entirety. However this book is well written and it contains compelling explanations and research. It is an engrossing reconstruction of events, and I found it hard to put down at times.4 Stars.