In November 1996, sixteen boats left France to circumnavigate the globe alone--without stopping and without assistance--through the world's most savage waters, the Southern Ocean. This is the story of the 1996 Vendée Globe, the most dangerous of all sailing races, as experienced by the fourteen men and two women competitors. Over the next six months, each waged a solitary battle to stay alive against six-story waves, bone-chilling cold, ice-laden seas and their own physical and mental limitations.

An electrifying account of human courage and endurance, Derek Lundy's brilliant storytelling takes us not only into the maritime action, but also the sailors' spirits. Our hearts race with one competitor as she struggles with raging seas searching for a missing rival, and we mourn with another as his forlorn, crippled ship fades from sight. Told with the mastery of Conrad and the intensity of minute-to-minute survival, this gripping tale is sure to appeal to blue-water and armchair adventurers alike.

A lawyer by training, a writer by profession and a sailor above all, DEREK LUNDY is also the author of Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy.