Against the Flow: The Inspiring Story of a Teacher Turned Record-breaking Yachtswoman: The First Woman to Sail Solo the "Wrong Way" Around the ... to Sail Solo the "Wrong Way" Around the World

click here for more details, find new or used items	Dee Caffari Our price £6.33 (£8.99) New from £2.74 Used from £1.00 Pages: 312 (Paperback) ISBN: 1408100010 Pub: Adlard Coles Nautical Pub date: 2009-03-01 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 252399

Reader Reviews:

best read for many a year (0/0 people found this helpful)

I have only dipped in as I wanted a book for a long flight. This looks like the one. The bits I have read enthrall me so if it is all the same it will be fantastic.
I am of course talking about "Against the Flow" the story of the first woman to sail solo the wrong way around the world.

Girls Own Adventure (0/0 people found this helpful)

I'm a huge fan of nautical adventure especially where it involves a single-handed sailor facing the worst that nature can throw at them. I love the classic Joshua Slocum account of his 3 year journey around the planet in a self-built sloop. Roger D Taylor's tales of his dramatic shipwreck in New Zealand and his vivid description of his single-handed crossing of the Tasmin Sea in a tiny home made ferroconcrete boat had me holding my breath as I turned the pages.

Dee Caffari's single-handed exploits are no less impressive but somehow they lack the romance and drama of her predecessors. I don't think it's the fact that solo circumnavigations have now been done many times by various individuals in both directions that makes Dee's achievement less interesting. Perhaps it was the commercial aspects of the endeavour that made the project less attractive or the competitive nature of both Dee and the other individuals involved that made the voyage seem more like it was taking place on a trading room floor rather than the wild open oceans. Whatever it was, this book left me hoping that each new page would hold at least one paragraphh of excitement on it - sadly, it did not.

Dee's book would no doubt provide inspiration for other women who dream of taking on some kind of major challenge in their lives but the wider audience should look elsewhere. Thankfully, I only paid a penny for a brand new copy of the book - Oxfam should at least get 10 pence for it...!

What an amazing account, what an inspirational woman! (0/0 people found this helpful)

An honest and graphic account of perhaps one of the most challenging and demanding human endeavours.

Truly Inspirational!

Honest tale (1/1 people found this helpful)

This kept my attention from the first page. What Dee achieved is truly amazing - sailing round the world against the prevailing wind. But this is more than a story about an amazing feat, it is also about the courage and determination that she showed in changing her life. Which saw her going from a teacher with a good safe job with little sailing experience - to an accomplished yachtswoman having sailed twice round the world and all in just 6 years. She tells the story with an amazing honesty which gives you a real insight into her journey.

Amazing round the world journey and its background (3/3 people found this helpful)

I bought this book because I had enjoyed other sailing books such as that written by Derek Lundy (Godforsaken Sea) and Rob Mundle (Fatal Storm). Dee's book certainly lived up to my expectations of what a sailing book should be about. Not only that but it is more than an account of her, nevertheless amazing, trip westwards around the world against the prevailing winds. But she also explained about her motivations in life and how she became involved in sailing initially. This is interesting, as it is always helpful to a reader to have an idea of what a person's motivation for doing things is; the book has more meaning as a result.

Regarding the journey itself, I think she covers it in the right amount of detail and focuses on the difficulties of the Southern Ocean. For a reader this is probably the most interesting part of the difficult journey, due to the multiple constant threats she and the yacht faced. I see that Dee is to be a contestant in the 2008 Vendee round the world solo race and I'll certainly be watching her progress right from the start in November.

Some diagrams explaining some of the nautical manoeuvres would be welcomed but other than that this book is difficult to criticise in any real way

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