Talk:Fatal Storm: The 54th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

My second reading of the book. The follow up 10 years later was more than worth the second purchase price. Having experienced extreme weather at sea I can vouch for the human stories. And have partaken rum from the keg of Canon Maris in Hanalei Bay Hawaii in 1980 and respect the skipper's background. This is truly a story for the ages...thanks.

Good read - about a tragic situation
Anyone who is a sailboat skipper has nightmares over situations like this. Why did yacht "a" survive, and yacht "b" did not. Some of it has to do with construction - a number of the saliboats were of untried or unproven design. Perhaps because I'm a traditionalist, I like a deep displacement hull, with proven capabilities - problem is, that won't sail fast.

Slow at first
Way too much detail about arrivals on dock for race and other races to keep the attention of a non sailing reader but I waded through that and got to the guts of the story. Could not put it down. Still struggled with descriptions only a sailor would understand about what happened on the boat and why but the rescues were so clear I could smell the salt spray.

Fatal Storm: The 54th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is one of the world's major sporting events.

In 1998, it became one of the world's major sporting disasters.

Six sailors tragically perished and numerous yachts sank or were badly damaged.

The subsequent search and rescue operation was one of the most phenomenally accomplished peacetime efforts the world has ever seen.

In this fully updated edition to mark the 10th anniversary of the tumultuous race, Rob Mundle, one of Australia's leading journalists and yachtsmen, tells this story of challenge and survival with compassion, vigour and understanding.

Drawing from extensive interviews with officials, crews, survivors and rescue service personnel, he relates like no other the calamity and triumph of the 1998 blue water classic.

'Mundle's portrayals of courageous sailors and heroic rescuers fighting for their lives are as vivid as any I have read.'- John Rousmaniere, author Fastnet, Force 10

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