All At Sea

I'm currently reading "Sailing Alone Around The World" by Joshua Slocum.

It's a book about a sailor who, as far as I can make out, was insane. He built a boat with his own hands, and then, because he had nothing better to do, decided to sail it single-handedly around the world.

As it was the 1800's at the time, this represented quite a unique achievement - one, indeed, which a lot of people say has never been surpassed.

I'm sure Ellen McArthur might have something to say about that, but I digress.

Some of the more compelling chapters of Slocum's book focus on the extremely treacherous passage around Cape Horn. High seas, crazy winds, and the constant possibility of being smashed onto the rocks or simply broken apart by the power of the elements - doing this with modern equipment and a large crew must be scary enough, but alone in a handmade wooden boat in the 1800's...incredible.

Anyhow, the book has really given me a taste for another sailing adventure - I've been sailing 3 times in the Mediterranean with Robin the eccentric businessman and his various friends/in-laws and always had a great time.

We've never encountered weather quite as bad as that of Cape Horn though. To give some perspective, I think the highest winds we've clocked on Synolda were around 20 kts. Cape Horn can easily get up to 40, according to an internet at least. That would be quite scary to say the least.

Anyhow, this is a roundabout way of sailing that I'm very keen to do some hardcore, extreme sailing. Pottering around the Med drinking beer is all well and good, but I think that real men, men like Josh Slocum, need to be tested against tougher stuff.