Once in a Lifetime

This is a book about chaos, hazard and destiny. It is the story of Nick Auger, an insurance broker who runs an office in West London.

Despite having only sailed once and decided the sport was too hazardous for a middle-aged man with four daughters, he somehow finds himself completing an application form for Chay Blyth's next race, the BT Global challenge.

Stunned by Chay's decision to take him on, his wife shocked by this new and hazardous commitment, he sets out to prove that he can sail round the world, and deserts his business and his family to do it.

The book is the story of how this completely inexperienced yachtsman took it on just for the challenge.

In the simple words of the cliche 'because it was there' -- and how he stuck it out for all six legs (many people gave up and were substituted along the way).

The resulting narrative is a whacky, no-holes-barred account of Nick's adventures, his relationships with the crew and other competitors in varying situations: stretches where the sea is relatively quiet, alternating with breathtaking accounts of desperate survival measures, particularly during the Southern Ocean leg.

Between the sailing legs there are the stopovers.Nick's training equipped him very well to deal with conditions at sea.

But he was totally unprepared for dealing with conditions on land.

For instance, in Rio, he admits to whole lost days due to overindulgence in alcohol as a result of the overwhelming gratitude at having reached land safely.

The 'Commercial Union' came in fifth out of fourteen, although they had hoped to do even better.

On the last leg they were narrowly beaten for fourth place by ninety seconds.

They did, however, take immense pride in being the only boat to have carried out the whole race without any unforced changes of crew.

For Nick the experience was a challenge, and his journey was an inner one as well as an outward one.

He came back at the end, carried on in his insurance business and now enjoys it a lot more.

In the words of Eliot, he has returned to the place where he started, and knows it for the first time.