Hell on High Seas

by Rob Mundle, Harper Collins, 272 pages, RRP $36.99.

The day someone writes a best-selling anthology of sea stories that feature fair-weather sailors enjoying stormless seas, I'll eat my favourite sailing hat.

Then again, it would be hard for a story about a doddle across the briny to compete with Mundle's opening sentence about his own near-death experience: "It struck with the speed of a viper: the heavy wire locked instantly on to my legs with horrendous tension."

Mundle, an experienced offshore sailor who wrote the international best-selling Fatal Storm, has collected some tried and true tales of survival and added some new ones to create Hell on High Seas. The publishers have then taken a leaf from Reader's Digest for the subtitle, "Amazing stories of survival against the odds".

The cover illustration looks scarily like the famous scene from The Perfect Storm, when the crew of the Gloucester swordfishing vessel Andrea Gail try desperately to tackle a monstrous wave, and fail.

Once more, we get to read about the amazing survival of the crew of the 12.6-metre trimaran Rose-Noelle, stricken off the east coast of New Zealand in 1989 and then adrift for 119 days.

Still, it's hard not to read beyond the first four words of the opening sentence: "Horror makes a noise ..."

The remarkable skills of crew member and chef Jim Nalepka, who helped to keep the four crew together with his culinary prowess – he made "exquisite" biscuits glazed with jam from rotting burley – form some of the best tales of this survival odyssey.

Mundle's focus remains the infamous Sydney to Hobart race, which features prominently in this collection. Events from the 1940s are also included, which gives the impression that not enough drama has happened in recent years. Action speaks louder than words, but eight pages of photos, including the Rose-Noelle at anchor on a sunny day and a shot of its saloon, plus other yachts featured in the grip of drama but under way on a pleasant sail, are contrary to the book's title.

A good enough read, but maybe not one for the onboard library.

• Tracy Neal is a Nelson Mail reporter.

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