The Pacific Alone

In the summer of 1987 Ed Gillet achieved what no person has accomplished before or since, a solo crossing from California to Hawaii by kayak. Gillet, at the age of 36 an accomplished sailor and paddler, navigated by sextant and always knew his position within a few miles. Still, Gillet underestimated the abuse his body would take from the relentless, pounding, swells of the Pacific, and early into his voyage he was covered with salt water sores and found that he could find no comfortable position for sitting or sleeping. Along the way he endured a broken rudder, among other calamities, but at last reached Maui on his 63rd day at sea, four days after his food had run out. Dave Shively brings Gillet’s remarkable story to life in this gripping narrative, based on exclusive access to Gillet’s logs as well as interviews with the legendary paddler himself.

Kodoku is the true story of a young Japanese sailor whose fascination with the art of sailing led him on a solo trans-Pacific journey. First described in a best-selling Japanese book, then an internationally acclaimed motion picture, Kodoku is the full record of the background, conception, preparation, and execution of this daring, yet carefully planned adventure. It includes not only the full text of his original log, but also his supplementary comments, adding detail and highlight to the day-to-day experiences recorded in the log. Also included are charts, plans, and a diagram comparing some of the more noteworthy craft that sailed the open seas in the past. The 61 photographs, including 43 taken by Horie himself during the trip, add a vivid touch to this fascinating story of courage, tenacity, adventure, and humor.

This is the incredible true story of one man’s heroic battle against impossible odds, a tale of pain and anguish, bravery and utter solitude, a tale that ends in a victory not only over the implacable ocean but over himself as well. At the age of forty-five, Gerard d’Aboville set out to row across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the United States. Taking his rowboat the Sector, which had a living compartment thirty-one inches high, containing a bunk, one-burner stove, and a ham radio, d’Aboville made his way across an ocean 6,200 miles wide. Though he rowed twelve hours a day, battled cyclones and headwinds that kept him in one place for days at a time, was capsized dozens of times forty-foot waves that hit him like cannonballs, he never quit; even when he was trapped upside down inside his cabin for almost two hours while nearly depleting his oxygen trying to right the boat. One hundred and thirty-four days after his departure, d’Aboville arrived in the little fishing village of Ilwaco, Washington, leaving his body bruised and battered, and weighing thirty-seven pounds less. This is his story.

The incredible story of one man's heroic battle against almost impossible odds, Alone tells of d'Aboville's mission to row across the Pacific Ocean. A gripping story not just of physical endurance but of mental and spiritual fortitude.--Publishers Weekly. Introduction by Paul Theroux. 24 photos, 22 in color. Map.

It was an age without GPS and the Internet, without high-tech monitoring and instantaneous reporting. And it was a time when women simply didn t do such things. None of this deterred Sharon Sites Adams. In June 1965 Adams made history as the first woman to sail solo from the mainland United States to Hawaii. Four years later, just as Neil Armstrong very publicly stepped onto the moon, the diminutive Adams, alone and unobserved, finally sighted Point Arguello, California, after seventy-four days sailing a thirty-one-foot ketch from Japan, across the violent and unpredictable Pacific. She was the first woman to do so, setting another world record. Inspiring and exciting, Adams s memoir recounts the personal path leading to her historic achievements: a tomboy childhood in the Oregon high desert, an early marriage and painful divorce, and a second marriage that ended when her husband died of cancer. In the wake of his death and almost by accident, Adams discovered sailing. Six weeks after her first sailing lesson she bought a boat, and within eight months she set out to achieve her first world record. Pacific Lady recounts the inward journey that paralleled her sailing feats, as Adams drew on every scrap of courage and navigational skill she could muster to overcome the seasickness, exhaustion, and loneliness that marked her harrowing crossings.

Why does a 44-year-old father leave his family for six months to walk 4,286 km across America on the Pacific Crest Trail? What effect does it have on his marriage? on his children? and on himself? Following his -intuition, Tim Voors decided to embark on a life-changing hike, feeling alive, being afraid, pushing through pain, confronting emptiness and starting a passionate romance with the wilderness. Tim Voors takes us through the physical, mental and spiritual journey he experienced on this epic hike. Climb into his backpack as he takes you through deserts, mountains, forests and raging rivers, where he forges magical friendships, rediscovers who he used to be, and implements those lessons on returning home.

In 2007, Roz Savage set out to row 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean—alone. Despite having successfully rowed across the Atlantic the previous year, the Pacific presented the former office worker with unprecedented challenges and overpowering currents—both in the water and within herself. Crossing Earth’s largest ocean alone might seem a long way removed from everyday life, yet the lessons Roz learned about the inner journey, the ocean, and the world are relevant to all of us. She shares tales of the ups and downs of her voyage across the waves, while offering insights on how to find happiness through a meaningful and rewarding life.