World of My Own

Originally published in 1970, Robin Knox-Johnston's A World of My Own has become a treasured classic - the dramatic account of the first nonstop, single-handed voyage around the world, for which Knox-Johnston won the Sunday Times Golden Globe trophy. On June 14, 1968, Suhaili, a tiny ketch, slipped almost unnoticed out of Falmouth harbor while Knox-Johnston's family and a few friends waved goodbye to the solitary twenty-nine-year-old figure at the helm. His was an incredible adventure, a feat of endeavor and seamanship which will be unsurpassed and unforgotten. Sheer determination helped him survive every imaginable difficulty: Several knockdowns in the Southern Ocean, the disintegration of the self-steering system, polluted water tanks and acid burns were among the numerous setbacks he encountered even before reaching Cape Horn, the fearsome test of any seaman's nerve. Written from diaries and logbooks kept throughout the voyage, A World of My Own is a gripping, startling, and moving account of one of the greatest sea adventures of our time.