: Still a larger number than 180 or whatever the number was. It's not
: all that uncommon anymore. Used to be, say 30 years ago, that
: there were few boats people would consider taking around the
: world, now there are quite a few that are built just for
: offshore sailing and equiped to do that.

: Also used to be that no one would consider even crossing an ocean
: let alone going around the world in a boat smaller than say 60
: feet, which limited the number of people that could afford to
: buy such a beast, now it's not all that uncommon to do it with
: boats as small as 30' and sometimes smaller, many more can
: afford it now days. Heck the 30 footer I owned had crossed the
: Atlantic, twice, not with me in it though.

I read this book in 1973 or '74 and found it inspiring. I think you'd like it. True story of a family that decides to do some serious bonding by taking a long sea trip, and ends up in lifeboats. Can't get much closer than that. I checked Amazon and apparently it is in print in paperback. Here's the blurb on it from Amazon.

Survive the Savage Sea, by Dougal Robertson

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After their 43-foot schooner was stove in by a pod of killer whales, the six members of the Robertson family spent 37 days adrift in the Pacific. With no maps, compass, or navigational instruments, and rations for only three days, they used every survival technique they could as they battled 20-foot waves, marauding sharks, thirst, starvation, and exhaustion
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It should be available from interlibrary loan.

PGJ