For those wondering about all that talk of the “good old days” in the Volvo Ocean Race, there could be no better primer than the recently published Sailing Legends: Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race 1973-2009, by veteran sailing journalists Bob Fisher and Barry Pickthall.
The book serves as a comprehensive guide to how the VOR evolved from a bunch of amateur sailors with sextants racing aboard all manner of different boat types to the refined spectacle it is today. Maxi ketches, capsizes, suicides, rock stars (real ones!) and guys with bushy ‘70s haircuts, it’s all here—a must read if you want to truly appreciate the modern VOR.
Sailing Legends
By Bob Fisher & Barry Pickthall
175 pps, $49
Endeavour London Ltd.
