This book must be read in the context of the other two about the first ever single hand round the world race in the early sixties. Though Bernard isn't much of a writer,he is so consistently devoted to the sea--even when it's nasty back--and his struggle to find his place in the world that the account leaves you admiring this man's courage and single vision.Among "cruisers"--i.e. those devoted to blue water sailing above all else--Bernard is known as the uncontested expert. He is famous for "surfing" his boat in heaver weather, a feat few sailers want to experience, much less purposefully seak out. The appendix is full of weathered tips on safe sailing.