The Race: The First Nonstop, Round-the-World, No-Holds-Barred Sailing Competition

A contributing editor for Outside magazine provides a behind-the-scenes look at the fast-paced, around-the-world sailing race. An invigorating behind-the-scenes look at the world of extreme sailing, The Race is also a taut, engrossing account of the first running of the competition called “The Race,” which began on December 31, 2000, in Barcelona and ended sixty-two days later in Marseilles. The most intense event of its kind—a nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in the fastest boats ever built—The Race attracts some of the world’s best sailors and arguably its most eccentric personalities. Tim Zimmermann, an experienced blue-water sailor, relates in knuckle-whitening detail how and why sailors risk millions of dollars and their lives to dash around the world in record time. He garnishes this story with a chronicle of the tumultuous history of extreme sailing from the nineteenth century to today. Zimmermann “puts the reader right on board with the tough, colorful crews as they take a crash course (sometimes literally) in how to handle these astonishing machines” (Derek Lundy, author of Godforsaken Sea).