Salt, Sweat, Tears
The Men Who Rowed the Oceans
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Incredible true stories from the limits of endurance, written by a man who’s been there" -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes, author and adventurer
A riveting first-person account and history of rowers who have attempted to navigate across the Atlantic
More people have climbed Mount Everest than have rowed across the Atlantic. For more than seventy days, Adam Rackley and his rowing partner ate, slept and rowed in a boat seven meters long by two meters wide, in one of the world’s most extreme environments. This is his story of adventure, endurance, and self-discovery.
They were following in the wake of pioneers. In 1896 George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen, a pair of Norwegian fisherman, crossed the 2,500 miles in a wooden fishing dory––and their record stood for 114 years. John Fairfax, a smuggler, a gambler, and a shark hunter, was the first to complete the feat singlehandedly in 1969. Others have followed; some have not survived the attempt. This is their story, too.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rackley's first book offers a personal and historical account of one of the world's most grueling competitions, the little-known Atlantic Rowing Race. Beginning with Norwegian fishermen George Harbo and Frank Samuelson, who in 1896, aboard the 18-foot Fox, successfully navigated the first safe dory passage across the Atlantic from New York to France in a mere 55 days, endurance enthusiasts have logged more than 300 successful ocean crossings. Still, 10 times as many people have climbed Mount Everest than rowed an ocean, and Rackley's no-holds-barred portrayal of his own harrowing journey from Spain to Antigua helps explain why. By alternating between his own story and those of ocean-rowing pioneers, he effortlessly builds suspense and humor into what could have been a dry retelling of monotonous days at sea rowing naked, rationing food, and eluding storms and much larger vessels. Rackley writes with brutal candor and a storyteller's flair providing readers memorable on-board views of a world most will never see.
