Author(s): Andrew Fagan

NZ Non Fiction

In 2007, Kiwi musician and radio personality Andrew Fagan set sail in his 5.4 metre plywood yacht, Swirly World, to circumnavigate New Zealand. And just to make it more difficult, the outspoken Fagan included a leg to the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands in the notorious Southern Ocean. All in all he sailed over 3000 miles in two months. Facing such potentially lethal conditions in such a tiny craft took careful planning mixed with extreme determination, serious fortitude and uncommon daring. In this account of his voyage, Fagan tells of having to avoid icebergs, sailing through a force ten storm in the Southern Ocean and visiting sites of shipwrecks at Port Ross in the Auckland Island group: 'With the genuine concern of a very fatigued person, I was sailing for my life and I knew it!' In a country fed on a regular diet of exceptional sailing feats, his voyage was immediately embraced and celebrated. SWIRLY WORLD SAILS SOUTH is a sharply accurate and humorous narrative blend written from Andrew's journal accounts and accompanied by photographs. He offers a unique and refreshing perspective on the world of solo sailing, bringing the intensity and self-doubt alive and revealing the extreme emotional endurance required in order to complete such a long and multi-faceted journey alone.