On Friday 14 June 1968 Suhaili, a tiny ketch, slipped almost
unnoticed out of Falmouth harbour steered by the solitary figure at her
helm, Robin Knox-Johnston. Ten and a half months later Suhaili,
paintwork peeling and rust streaked, her once white sails weathered and
brown, her self-steering gone, her tiller arm jury rigged to the rudder
head, came romping joyously back to Falmouth to a fantastic reception
for Robin, who had become the first man to sail round the world
non-stop single-handed.
By every standard it was an incredible adventure, perhaps the last
great uncomputerised journey left to man. Every hazard, every
temptation to abandon the astounding voyage came Robin's way, from
polluted water tanks, smashed cabin top and collapsed boom to lost
self-steering gear and sheered off tiller, and all before the tiny
ketch had fought her way to Cape Horn, the point of no return, the
fearsome test of any seaman's nerve and determination.
A World of My Own is Robin's gripping, uninhibited, moving
account of one of the greatest sea adventures of our time. An instant
bestseller, it is now reissued for a new generation of readers to be
enthralled and inspired.
