Book review: Extreme Sail by Oliver Dewar

Editor James Boyd thumbs through this hair-raising tome

Once upon a time 'Extreme Sail' was a column I wrote for Yachting World magazine, so it was with some intrigue to be reviewing a book of this same title by one of the budding writing talents within our profession - Oliver Dewar, journalist, experienced offshore yachtsman and now author.

With a foreword by Dame Ellen MacArthur, Extreme Sail’s 160 pages and 155 photographs mostly do what they say on the tin. The tone is set by the cover - one of Jon Nash's phenomenal near monochrome images of Alex Thomson's Open 60 Hugo Boss submarining her way to Les Sables d'Olonne prior to the start of the last Vendee Globe.

Subjects covered in the book include all the obvious shorthanded offshore territory - the Vendée Globe, Transat, Transat Jacques Vabre, OSTAR and Figaro as well as the fully crewed Volvo Ocean Race and now defunct Global Challenge. These are clearly subjects close to Dewar's heart and they provide great insight into this world of bravery, pain, endurance, aspiration, triumph and tragedy.

In addition Extreme Cruising is also covered in a chapter at the rear of the book including practical advice for non-sailors thinking of giving this a whirl, along with a chapter dedicated to the Southern Ocean including a ‘Tourist Guide’ to the remote, watery wastes at the bottom of the world. Dewar is one of the few people we know to have been to the remote South Atlantic islands of Tristan da Cunha and thus his insight carries gravitas.

Slightly at odds with the title of the book, particularly as they are the opening chapters, are the sections on inshore racing and the America's Cup. While these may be a little simplistic for weathered readers of thedailysail the way they are written is far from obvious and they are still engaging.

The real meat starts to appear in chapter three on the Volvo Ocean Race where many of the top stories involving drama on the high seas appear. Many of these we'd forgotten - such as Ed Danby going aloft on Lion New Zealand in the 1985 race only for his bosun's chair to part company from the halyard... etc. Like the America's Cup section the Volvo chapter comprises a potted history of the race and it is a shame there wasn't more space here to expand some of the better yarns.

For history enthusiasts, Extreme Sail chronicles the 1968-69 Golden Globe Race and looks at the pioneers of solo sailing with the exploits of Slocum, Chichester, Moitessier and Knox-Johnston as well as the less celebrated French socialite and athlete, Alain Gerbault, whose five-year solo circumnavigation between 1919-24 involved playing a variety of curious sports on barren rocks and tropical paradises around the globe.

Overall the book is nicely broken up. Rather than being continuous narrative, there are the potted histories of the AC and Volvo as we've said, while the Route du Rhum is illustrated through studying Michel Desjoyeaux’s emphatic win during the catastrophic 2002 race, while Ellen MacArthur’s record breaking solo circumnavigation is told through her own daily reports from her trimaran, B&Q.

Those who move their lips while reading can indulge in the images cherry-picked from the world’s heavy-weight, classic and modern marine photographers including Carlo Borlenghi, Gilles Martin-Raget, Billy Black, Jon Nash, Jacques Vapillon, Rick Tomlinson, Kos and Beken of Cowes. For the artistically-minded, the book includes paintings of J Class notables and the horrific, cannibalistic Raft of The Medusa oil painting by Théodore Géricault.

Dewar adds about his book: "Whatever motivation inspires men to sail beyond the limit of normal human endurance, a diverse cultural legacy remains: for many Anglo-Saxon sailors the sea represents a challenge to be endured and conquered. For their French counterparts, though, the sea is often considered as a supreme, primeval force of nature connecting man with his soul. One of the aims of Extreme Sail is to reveal the environment that has generated this range of conviction.

"A further intention of the book is to unite the various, modern disciplines within the sport; inshore and offshore, big boats and dinghies, cruising and racing. Although many sailors insist that the sea has bound all levels and sectors of the sport together in a salty, marine brotherhood, this belief is misguided. Many inshore racing crews regard offshore sailors as courageous Neanderthals, while these ocean racing primates view their shore-based relatives as delicate, coastal flowers. Cruising yachtsmen consider racing crews to be arrogant speed freaks who, in return, often treat cruisers as mossy-bottomed obstacles cluttering a race course (in reality, the only common consensus among sailors is the belief that large motor yachts should be treated with contempt). Extreme Sail attempts to demolish the maze of partitions that exist within the sport."

Extreme Sail is aimed at holding a broad appeal to those involved in all varieties and disciplines within yachting. It is also available in French ( Extrême Voile) and German ( Segeln Extrem) versions alongside the UK, American and Australian editions.

Regardless of whether you give two figs for the subject matter or not Dewar is one of the top writers in the sailing industry at present and his occasionally off-the-wall approach combined with a eye for obscure detail and a pithy sense of humour give him the ability to make whatever he writes about both interesting and entertaining. Extreme Sail is a good read and definitely gets the thumbs up for our Christmas stocking.

In the UK the book is available from Amazon here at a 'reduced from £20' £13.60 (ex p&p).