Ice Bird

Imagine sailing alone for 14 weeks in freezing temperatures aboard a 32-foot sailboat. Imagine your boat capsizing three times, and losing your mast and rigging. And imagine doing all this without modern electronic navigational tools like the Global Positioning System. ICE BIRD: The Classic Story of the First Single-handed Voyage to Antarctica chronicles the author's 1972 trip from Australia to Antarctica aboard the sailboat ICE BIRD. Along the way, David Lewis sank into unbelievable despair as his small boat lost its mast, and he suffered frostbite and broken ribs. Eventually, he lost the use of his radio and engine, and was forced to hand-steer the boat. Though it was summer in the Southern Hemisphere, it snowed daily. Lewis faced gale-force winds and huge waves as he sailed 3,500 miles in his jury-rigged sailboat. Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. It tells the wonderful, true adventure of a man forced to overcome serious injury, damage to his boat and unbelievable stress as he captained his small craft more than halfway around the world at 60 degrees south latitude. If you enjoy sailing, read Lewis's adventure. You won't be able to put it down.