in my element: life lessons from the world’s toughest solo ocean race

’An entertaining and compelling page turner that will stay with you.’ Pete Goss

The boat picks up another wave and surfs again, faster this time, deafening. My eyes are streaming, sore from the icy wind that throws spray in my face. And over the top of it all I can hear my own laughter. I feel powerful, strong. I am a thousand miles from land in one of the world’s most dangerous environments. Alone and free.

The Vendée Globe Race is one of the world’s toughest sporting events: a single-handed, non-stop lap of the planet, with no assistance. The route takes competitors around the fringes of Antarctica, tackling terrifying conditions in the Southern Ocean before rounding Cape Horn. In My Element is the gripping and uncompromising story of Pip’s incredible journey, but it’s about so much more than sailing.

A thousand miles from land and surviving on only 30 minutes of sleep at a time, with both skipper and vessel relentlessly pushed to the brink of failure, Pip tells it straight, acknowledging that success never comes without mistakes and mishaps and these challenges do not mean defeat; they are opportunities to learn and grow. This, her first book, is both a gripping record of one of her toughest races ever and an inspiring account of the mental and physical strategies that have allowed her to discover, as a middle-aged woman, a life that allows her to live ’in flow’ and achieve success.

From embracing fear to managing anxiety, enduring the daily grind whilst appreciating the pure magic, pacing yourself and rising to the occasion, Pip’s journey teaches the importance of seizing every moment and truly living in your element.

Pip Hare is an extraordinary woman. She is one of our top solo sailors and a world record holder in a traditionally male sport. She now runs an international racing team and has a growing audience gripped by her feats of bravery and overcoming hardship. In late 24 she will again be attempting the terrifying non-stop, round-the-world solo yacht race The Vendée Globe - possibly the hardest single-handed feat of endurance ever created.