Moitessier

By Jean-Michel Barrault
With an Introduction by Peter Nichols
Translated by Janine Simon

Cruising World, May 2006:

"In 1969, the world believed Bernard Moitessier had gone mad after he gave up first place in the Sunday Times Golden Globe and kept on sailing until he fetched up in Tahiti. His reason: '...because I am happy at sea and, perhaps, to save my soul.'

"Moitessier, born in Hanoi in 1925, was forever torn between the culture and mores of his parents' native France and those of its Southeast Asian colonies where he grew up. When political changes wrought by World War II drove deeper the wedge between East and West in his beloved Vietnam, Moitessier reacted by sailing away aboard his junk, Marie Therese. He thus became one of a group of vagabonds who were romantic ideals for a whole generation of cruising sailors.

"He periodically suffered emotional and financial lows. To recover, which usually meant building another boat, he worked fanatically at whatever job came his way. He also wrote about his travels and travails, efforts in which he was encouraged and aided by author Jean-Michel Barrault.

"Through his books, Moitessier became an icon among sailors worldwide. In this biography, Barrault succeeds in capturing a wanderer's life that encompassed the successes, failures and inconsequential doings left in the wake of a pelagic philosopher and free spirit. Sheridan House also has published all of Moitessier's books in English translations."

SAIL Magazine, April 2006:

"This book purports to be the first published biography of Bernard Moitessier, the famous French sailor who in 1969 blew off his chance to win the Golden Globe, the first singlehanded round-the-world race, in order to keep on sailing in the Southern Ocean. It isn't quite a proper biography, however. The author, Jean Michel Barrrault, a French yachting journalist who was close to Moitessier, pays little attention to Moitessier's early years in Vietnam and the voyages he made aboard his first three boats. Barrault relies mostly on Moitessier's autobiography, Tamata and the Alliance, for this material. He instead focuses on all that happened after he and Moitessier first met in Paris in 1958. This, fortunately, includes the exploits that made Moitessier's reputation —his nonstop passage from Tahiti to Spain in 1966 and his quixotic Golden Globe bid—plus his long struggle in later years to make ends meet and come to terms with himself. In the end, Barrault's very personal portrait of his old friend is affectionate and honest. He elicits both the unrelenting idealist and the imperfect human—self-obsessed, but also irresistibly charming and charismatic."

The Ensign, February 2006:

"For bluewater racing fans, Bernard Moitessier is legend. In 1969, after nearly circumnavigating the globe without stopping or receiving aid from another vessel, he chose to keep sailing instead of crossing the finish line, shunning the prize and the accolades earned by this feat.

"His friend of 36 years, Jean-Michel Barrault, who urged Moitessier to write about his adventures, now brings us an intimate look at this sea tramp.

"Born in Hanoi, French Indochina, in 1925, Moitessier liked to mix with the natives in his local market, learned Vietnamese and befriended local fishermen, who taught him and his friends how to sail and navigate using seaman's eye.

"After the Japanese surrender in 1945 , revolution rocked the land, and Vietnam emerged. The conflict racked Moitessier as he watched it rip old friendships apart. This upheaval and the suicide of his older brother brought on a depression that would plague Moitessier for the rest of his life.

"After several attempts at a job, he became a sail bum, spending much of his time on the water. When he needed to repair his vessel or get a new one, he would pull into port, preferably in the South Pacific. A good writer who was certainly knowledgeable about his subject, he wrote magazine articles to support himself.

"After gaining fame in the sailing world with his steel ketch, JOSHUA, Moitessier began writing books, which sold well and allowed him to pursue his wandering life.

"A sailor, storyteller, lecturer and tormented soul, Moitessier reveals his life's voyage in this compelling book."

Sailing, January 2006:

"In an unscripted move, Bernard Moitessier used a slingshot to send the following message onto the deck of a nearby freighter. “I am continuing non-stop toward the Pacific Islands because I am happy at sea, and perhaps also to save my soul.” It was a move that amazed and inspired a nation in a way that only a Frenchman can relate to. Moitessier’s book, The Long Way, also inspired a generation of preeminent solo offshore ocean racers. Philippe Jeantot, perhaps the greatest modern day solo sailor wrote: 'I was 15 when I received as a gift The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier. I read it twice the same night and I knew I had found my way'.

"Moitessier, a Sailing Legend is immensely readable and like any good story about the sea it is full of surprises and twists. One truly wonderful chapter, titled 'Royalties for the Pope', is quintessential Moitessier. Living in Tahiti and finishing up the final few chapters of The Long Way, Moitessier decides that he will donate all the royalties from the book to the Pope. He’s about to authorize his publisher to make the pontiff the beneficiary when his girlfriend, Ileana, becomes pregnant.

"Probably best-known as the man who turned his back on certain victory in the Golden Globe 'because I am happy at sea, and perhaps also to save my soul'. The author knew him for 35 years and started his writing career with The Long Way. This affectionate portrait brings out all the talents and conflicts in its subject, a man of great enthusiasms, a man who cared passionately about people and the environment and who never succumbed to complacency or apathy."

"The title of Jean-Michel Barrault's new book, Moitessier: A Sailing Legend, captures how most sailors feel about acclaimed sailor Bernard Moitessier. Barrault was friends with the legend for 36 years, and has much to add to what Moitessier wrote in his own books."

Ocean Navigator, November/December 2005:

"By most standards, Bernard Moitessier was a nut. Indeed, the first words of this book are, 'He's mad!' uttered by a stunned watch officer whose ship, anchored in Cape Town, had just been plugged by a message-bearing missile. The bearded Frenchman, his gray hair whipped by the breeze, had lobbed a weighted note bearing the words, 'I am continuing non-stop towards the Pacific Islands because I am happy at sea, and perhaps also to save my soul'.

The author was a close friend of Moitessier's for 36 years, so the reader gains new insight to the man's quixotic nature along with the basic facts: childhood in Indochina, the rootless wandering, the inability to maintain a steady job. The book also documents the man's personal struggles with fame and his strained personal relationships, including those with the author."

Sailing S.A., November 2005:

"Every sailor worth his salt has heard of Bernard Moitessier; read his books. Indeed, many far from the sea and from yachting, also read his books; attracted in no small measure by the sheer mystery of the man; a man who confounded newsmen, the public, friends and family by simply sailing off into the blue again, when almost certainly, he was heading for fame by completing the first solo non-stop race around the world in 1968. But this restless, enigmatic and intrepid sailor scorned all that, turned right instead of left as he rounded Cape Horn, and in doing so, became just as much of a sailing legend as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the Briton who did win the 1968 Golden Globe event.

"Moitessier's ability to put pen to paper as much as his sailing skills won wide acclaim, but always, one found difficulty in deciding just how much of the real Moitessier was being revealed, or trying to understand some of the decisions he made during his lifetime. Or perhaps all the pointers were there, but now and then needed a little clarification and elaboration so as to better understand the man. Writer Jean-Michel Barrault has provided all of that in this wonderfully told, insightful story of his long-time friend. The portrait of Moitessier is painted through the letters that were exchanged between the two, the observations of the author, and the many little excerpts from some of Moitessier's own writings. In a book that loses nothing in its translation from the French, the author takes you on a roller coaster ride with a man who seemingly searched and stretched to find his own sort of world, to find physical and spiritual peace, and perhaps to find healing. To say more would be to spoil it. Read it. You will enjoy it. Guaranteed."

Latitudes & Attitudes, October 2005:

“This is the life story of sailing legend Bernard Moitessier, told by his friend of 36 years, the person responsible for getting Moitessier to start writing about his adventures. This book starts with the historic first solo non-stop race around the world which Moitessier dropped out of, and ends with his death in 1994. It's great insight into a fascinating man."

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