The best sailing books of all time: Adrift by Steven Callahan

Adrift, by Steven Callahan (1986)

       Adrift is a great book to read if you need to put your troubles in perspective. You may think you're having a bad day because traffic was brutal on the way to work and then this thing happened in the office and now you have to rewrite a super long email - but unless your day ends with you being left to die on a small piece of plastic in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, then you're not really having too bad a day. 

      In January 1982, Steven Callahan left the Spanish coastline in a 21 foot sailboat with the intention of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. He'd already made this journey once before, so his confidence was high. He was travelling solo. Unfortunately, during this crossing, fate was not smiling on his humble sailing craft.  6 days out from the Canary Islands, Steven's small boat sank for unknown reasons. He collided with some unmovable object, possibly a whale. In a panic, he scrambled into his tiny inflatable raft and cut the cord with his sinking boat. Thus began his harrowing, slow-motion drift across the majority of the Atlantic Ocean. 

        For 76 days, Callahan survives on wit and cunning alone, hand-spearing fish, fending off sharks, distilling potable water from the ocean. As the north equatorial current slowly pushes his flimsy raft towards the Caribbean Islands at 10 miles per day, Callahan is left with plenty of time to ponder life and death and, apparently, collect material for a phenomenal Sea-faring adventure book.

   Adrift spent 36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It's a riveting read and if nothing else, it will encourage you to double check the quality of your emergency raft before you make your next ocean crossing.