Sailing Biographies, Autobiographies and True Stories

: Top 3 Autobiographies for Dinghy Sailors

: Other Great Sailing Biographies

: Top 3 Non-Fiction Sailing Stories

: Other Great Non-Fiction Sailing Stories

: Top 3 America’s Cup Books

: Other Great America’s Cup Books

: Books on Long Distance Racing

: A to Z of Sailing Biographies, Autobiographies and True Stories

: Top 10 Bestselling Sailing Biographies, Autobiographies and True Stories

It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned sailor or a landlubber with no sailing experience at all – sailing biographies and true stories tend to be fascinating and enthralling. They produce some incredible insights into the human psyche, cutting close to what makes us all tick as they explore how people respond in the most extreme of circumstances.

Most books avoid getting technical, which helps make them accessible, allowing us instead to explore the sense of wonder, adventure and sometimes trauma that different types of sailing can inspire.

From terrifying brushes with death to inspirational and aspirational life stories; from crazy, unthinkable journeys to hilarious and idiotic mistakes, these books having something for everyone.

Sailing Biographies and Autobiographies

The Top 3 Sailing Biographies for Dinghy Sailors

: Close to the Wind by Ben Ainslie

: Born to Win by John Bertrand

: Golden Lily by Lijia Xu

Choosing a Top 3 of sailing autobiographies is not easy, but by narrowing the focus to biographies that are useful for dinghy sailors, suddenly three books stand out well above the rest.

Ben Ainslie’s autobiography is a must for any aspiring sailor as it charts his progress from sailing Optimists to winning Olympic Golds and the America’s Cup.

John Bertrand’s record of how he also won the America’s Cup – breaking a 132-year winning streak in the progress – is full of vital insight and covers Bertrand’s successful career in dinghies before moving on to the Auld Mug.

Golden Lily also looks at how to become one of the best sailors in the world, and it has some incredibly useful ‘Interludes’ with practical help for improving performance mixed in with the autobiographical material.

Three brilliant books that will inspire and teach.

Other Great Sailing Biographies

: Saved by Tony Bullimore

: Against The Flow by Dee Cafari

: Close to the Wind by Pete Goss

: The Bruce Kirby Story: From the River to the Sea

: A World of My Own by Robin Knox-Johnston

: Taking on the World by Ellen MacArthur

: Race Against Time by Ellen MacArthur

: The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier

: Second Wind by Nathaniel Philbrick

: Chasing the Cup by Jimmy Spithill

: Three Ways to Capsize a Boat by Chris Stewart

True Sailing Stories and other Sailing Non-Fiction

The Top 3 Sailing Non-Fiction Sailing Stories

: Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols

: Left for Dead by Nick Ward

: Ocean Crossing Wayfarer by Frank Dye

There are a lot of wonderful non-fiction sailing books, but these three really stay with you for a long time after you have read them.

I’ve chosen A Voyage For Madmen, but I could just as easily have chosen Chris Eakin’s A Race Too Far. Both cover the incredible and ill-fated Sunday Times Golden Globe race of 1968-69 with a thriller’s pace and excitement, but also a great eye for the important details. If you were only to read one book on the race the A Voyage For Madmen probably shades it, but once you’ve read it you’ll want to know more, and for that I heartily recommend A Race Too Far. I read them one after the other, and I loved them both.

Left for Dead is also written with all the breath-taking pace and page-turning excitement of a great thriller, and it also has its fair measure of controversy. It is well worth a read for anyone that wants to know what it is like to be caught slap-bang in the middle of the storm of the century, forced to battle for your life.

Rounding off the Top 3 is Frank Dye’s account of sailing a Wayfarer to Iceland and Norway from the UK. This is written in a different style – less thriller and more unembellished account – but for seasoned sailors Dye’s account of his utterly extraordinary adventures is incredible.

The Top 3 America’s Cup Books

: Born to Win by John Bertrand

: Chasing the Cup by Jimmy Spithill

: The Billionaire and the Mechanic by Julian Guthrie

Long Distance Racing

Solo Circumnavigations

Including the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race,
The Vendee Globe,
and other Solo Circumnavigations

: Saved by Tony Bullimore

: Against The Flow by Dee Cafari

: Race Too Far by Chris Eakine

: Close to the Wind by Pete Goss

: A World of My Own by Robin Knox-Johnston

: Taking on the World by Ellen MacArthur

: The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier

: Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols

: The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall

The Fastnet Race

: Fastnet, Force 10 by John Rousmaniere

: Left for Dead by Nick Ward

Sydney – Hobart

All the Best Sailing Biographies, Autobiographies and True Stories
A-Z by Author / Subject

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Close to the Wind
by Ben Ainslie

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UK and Ireland

‘Take it from a neutral observer: the most accomplished competitor at work in British sport today is Ben Ainslie. Chris Hoy, Lewis Hamilton and Rebecca Adlington deserve praise but the real fanfare should be reserved for Ainslie … [He has] a combination of dedication, stamina, tactical nous and, the clincher here, a sustained level of ruthlessness rarely witnessed before in British sport.’ – Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

‘Sailing’s superman – The Times

‘An interesting self-portrait … it encapsulates his personality: pleasant and unassuming off the water, ruthless on it.’ – Independent

Born To Win
by John Bertrand

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UK and Ireland

Read my review

Born To Win is the best sailing biography I’ve read. If you can find a reasonably priced copy (or own a kindle), then I can’t recommend this book enough.

Saved
by Tony Bullimore

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