
“They Went to Sea in a Sieve, They Did” - Thevet
http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/big-read-donald-crowhursts-heartbreaking-round-world-hoax/
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nemo1618
A fascinating tidbit from Wikipedia:

>The 1986 Soviet film Race of the Century ("Гонка века") gave a dramatic
presentation of the events of the Golden Globe Race and the fate of Donald
Crowhurst. The movie focused on the idea of competition in a capitalist
society as a soul-consuming "rat race", where all community members including
children are under constant pressure, and failure and poverty are not
tolerated. It portrayed Crowhurst as a deeply honest man being forced into a
dangerous unwinnable enterprise by his disastrous financial situation and the
greed of his entrepreneur Best. The screenplay took some liberties with the
facts, such as downplaying Crowhurst's role in his own destruction, and
reporting Tetley as having been killed in a wreckage instead of committing
suicide many years later (probably to increase the tension). Crowhurst's
suicide is ascribed chiefly to the inability of a moral person to survive in
an immoral society.

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gregschlom
By the way if anyone in this community is into solo round the world sailing,
the Vendee Globe is currently under way.

It's a fantastic race that happens every four years: all participants have the
same type of boat, although newer generation boats are much faster than those
a couple of years old, and they have to sail around the world solo and without
any external help - so that if something breaks they cant stop somewhere to
get a replacement part. Each sailor has a camera and is required to send
videos of their journey, which are fantastic to watch if you enjoy this kind
of things:

[http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/](http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/)

Videos: [http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/web-
tv/playlist/104](http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/web-tv/playlist/104)

Real time gps tracking:
[http://tracking2016.vendeeglobe.org/hp5ip0/](http://tracking2016.vendeeglobe.org/hp5ip0/)

~~~
seszett
Also, the race this year is especially interesting as the two first racers are
still within miles of each other, even after having sailed for about 10 000
nautical miles (11 000 miles, or 18 000 kilometers)!

The navy actually just met both of them on yesterday
[https://twitter.com/VendeeGlobe/status/804057688866856960/vi...](https://twitter.com/VendeeGlobe/status/804057688866856960/video/1)

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telesilla
I LOVE this story. So interesting, particularly Crowhurst and Moitessier. A
lot to find:

[http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/deepwater/](http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/deepwater/)

Short tv doc on Crowhurst, how he fabricated his position to try and fake
success:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpaP8TmGkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpaP8TmGkU)

Moitessier, who just decided to quit the race and stay at sea:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Moitessier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Moitessier)

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llasram
If you want more detail on this story, I found Peter Nichol's book _A Voyage
for Madmen_ on the race as a whole quite engaging.

~~~
ComteDeLaFere
I read _The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst_ in high school, and can
recommend that as well.

~~~
lmm
Looks like the ebook's being released later this month. Guess a marketer
somewhere is laying some groundwork.

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revelation
Stop with the creepy image zooming, it's not edgy, it's annoying.

~~~
preordained
It's nothing. The pictures are clear/visible when I occasionally wander from
the article to one for a moment--they zoom a bit, didn't care either way. I
think UX/UI pedants see the web in a different way than the users they are
supposedly championing.

~~~
lmm
Motion is always distracting. Same reason we hate animated ads.

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creeble
Incredible story, and Deep Water (the documentary) is hands-down the best
documentary I've ever seen.

It's easy to write off Crowhurst as a nut job, but the movie does a great job
of showing him as just a human in a tight spot.

~~~
Bulkington
Concur re: Deep Water doc. The competitors all carried small movie cameras and
tape recorders, and there's some great / creepy footage and narration, IIRC.

Stream it:
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EC8IMM](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EC8IMM)

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headmelted
I have nothing to add to this other than I literally recite "The Jumblies" to
my son every night to put him to sleep, and its the only thing that works.

I can see why the poem struck such a chord with Donald Crowhurst, though. The
regret of those that didn't go and experience "the hills of the Chankly Bore"
is what frames the ending.

I'm sure he read the poem to his son, too, and I could understand why the
journey would have scared them both.

I thoroughly recommend Samuel West's reading from CBeebies if you are able to
find it.

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cromulent
I read this other account recently, for those that are interested:

[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/05/donald-
crowhurst-...](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/05/donald-crowhurst-
lone-sailor)

