The World About Us

Song of the Sirens (5x27)

: 26, 1971

"I continue non-stop because I am happy at sea and perhaps because I want to save my soul". This cryptic explanation left many questions unanswered when ace French sailor Bernard Moitessier dropped out of the first round-the-world, non-stop yacht race in 1969. Having already circumnavigated the globe, Moitessier felt compelled to ignore £5,000 prize-money and sail towards a destination which was, to say the least - uncertain. The reasons behind his strange 'compulsion' (echoed also, perhaps, in the mysterious disappearance of Donald Crowhurst during the same race) can easily be interpreted as 'sea-fever.' But this account of Moitessier's voyage - filmed by the mariner himself - reveals that there is much more to the psychology of long-distance sailing than we might at first imagine.