Passion for Life - Adventure against the odds by Sinnett-Jones, David
pub. by iUniverse, Inc. NY - 2004     isbn 0-595-31648-4 pbk
256 pages. B&W pictures, - - biography - adventure
David Sinnett-Jones was born 3 April 1930 in U.K. His mother and father were singers. His childhood was marked with living through WWII in England. He worked for a while as a commercial seaman, spent some time in Canada and did national service in the Army in England. He modified cars to race and eventually was hired by Cooper cars as a race driver. He had an accident (not on the race track) which blinded him in one eye, did other physical damage and ended his racing career. He bought and ran a dairy farm in Wales and began messing around with boats. With a friend he built 2 Spray replicas (of Joshua Slocum's boat) and after sailing to South Africa and back, enbarked on a sail around the world. He participated in the 100th anniversary of Joshua Slocum's similar achievement being at Newport, Rhode Island, USA on 27 June 1998. He sailed back to Wales and sometime later developed a leak from a hard grounding and had to abandon ship off Ireland in 300 ft.of water. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to raise the vessel. Later he built a re-creation of Slocum's Liberdade in plywood, modern design done by Bruce Roberts-Goodson. The first attempt to cross the Atlantic failed with gear failure some 200 miles west of the Azores. He returned to Wales in stages. In 1999 he sailed to Brazil, then re-creating Slocum's own Liberdade adventure sailed on to Massachusetts in USA. He did not make part of the voyage due to ill health. He flew to England, and then re-joined the voyage in northern Virginia, USA. After the Joshua Slocum Society International (JSSI) celebrations he flew home to Wales, was diagnosed with heart problems and lived. (until he died in 15 Nov. 2007 at the age of 74, shortly after this book was published). He was not shy about noting his love-life as it occurred throughout his life resulting a spicier tale and in protraying a well rounded understanding on his life. He was married, had 2 children, and later divorced.
~ 2009-08-

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