Somewheres East of Suez
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In 1983 Tristan Jones, well known as one of the finest sailing adventure writers of our time, had his left leg amputated. Refusing to become landbound after a lifetime at sea, he acquired a specially designed, virtually untippable 38-foot trimaran and began to sail around the world. Outward Leg is the tale of his intrepid voyage from San Diego to London. The Improbable Voyage chronicles his heroic journey along an unusual and hazardous route from the North Sea, through the rivers of Central Europe, to the Black Sea. In Somewheres East of Suez, the final installment of this extraordinary saga, Tristan sails eight thousand miles from Istanbul to Thailand. From the tourist- and terrorist-dominated ports of the eastern Mediterranean to African outposts peopled with famine refugees, Tristan maintains the unique perspective of a man who has had minimal contact with society's restraints, using his acerbic wit to spare no fools and offer biting social commentary. After barely escaping with his life in South Yemen, he sets off for the Far East, determined to win out against the difficulties of his disability, whether battling a tropical cyclone or surviving on a dwindling ration of fresh water in the vast windless expanse of the Indian Ocean.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the end of The Improbable Voyage, the author and his German crewman Thomas were heading for Turkish waters on Outward Leg, a 38-foot trimaran. Jones here takes up his narrative in Istanbul. The first stop of the continuing voyage eastward is Israel, where a young Swede, Svante, comes aboard, and the trio sets off for the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, where Jones had sailed on Barbara 16 years earlier (The Incredible Voyage). On the 1400-mile passage of the Red Sea, they dodge ship traffic, reefs, challenges by Egyptian and North Yemeni soldiers and a terrifying storm. Because of political unrest, visits ashore were few (Port Sudan and Aden, South Yemen). They run into a monsoon in the Gulf of Aden and around Cape Gardafui (off the Horn of Africa); it is calm and torrid in the Indian Ocean. They make landfall at Cochin, India, sail to the port of Halle in Sri Lanka and then to Thailand, two months behind schedule. Readers have come to expect a colorful tale of adventure afloat and ashore from Jones; they will not be disappointed in this book and will look forward to his next voyage.
