The Maintenance Race

Yesterday, I listened to The Maintenance Race on my Audible app. 

This is a wonderful meditation on an important topic (maintenance), framed as three stories tied to the 1968 Golden Globe round the world, solo, nonstop sailboat race. 

This was a particularly tight fit for me, as I grew up with massive escapist "sail away from the alcoholism" dreams, and even spent a little time building cruising sailing boats.

Sparked by National Geographic-told tales of 16-year old Robin Lee Graham's solo voyage around the world on Dove, I would pour over the layouts, sail plans, and specs of boats like Harry Pidgeon 's Islander, Eric and Susan Hiscock's Wanderer III, and Jean Gau's Atom.
 

I knew, of course, a bit about Robin Knox Johnson and Suhaili, Donald Crowhurst's disappearance in the Atlantic on his ill-fated trimarin, and the epic voyages of Bernard  Moitessier, but I did not know all the details of the 1969 Golden Globe race or how they fit around the subject presented here. 

This is a story very well told by Stewart Brand (a man with at least 16 mentions on this blog!) and well-voiced by Richard Seyd.  

Give it a listen!  Highest recommendation!