In the extreme sport of blue water, or open ocean, yacht racing, the Sydney to Hobbart challenge is considered one of the most treacherous races in the world; 1998 proved why. Slammed by a sudden freak storm that unleashed ninety-mile-per-hour winds and enormous waves, twenty-four boats were abandoned at sea as sixty-three sailors fought for their lives. Amazingly, fifty-seven were rescued, but six died, including two who were never found. Premier adventure writer Martin Duggard takes us down 725 miles of Australia's eastern coast, and across the Bass Strait (known among sailors as 'Hell on High Water', as he re-creates the nightmare voyages of several ill-fated crews. Through interviews with racers, survivors, and devastated family members, he chronicles the emotional saga of the windswept sailors whose skill and daring were futile against the massive waves and unrelenting winds. He also probes the motivations of those unique individuals, including CEOs and Billionaires, who risk all to challenge nature's indiscriminate fury.
New York Times bestselling author Martin Dugard specializes in chronicling the drive of great men to realize their potential. His new book, To Be A Runner, completes that arc. This inspiring and informational series of essays is written from the viewpoint of Dugard's forty years as a distance runner. For the past six years he has also put that knowledge to good use by spending his afternoons as the head cross-country and track coach at JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. His teams have qualified for the California State Championships four years in a row, and his girls team won the state title in 2010.
Dugard's previous books include The Murder of King Tut (co-written with bestselling author James Patterson), which saw Dugard travel to Egypt to unravel the centuries-old mystery of who murdered Tutankhamen, Egypt 's legendary boy king; The Training Ground (Little, Brown, 2008), the riveting saga of America's great Civil War generals during the Mexican War, when they were scared young lieutenants first learning the ways of war; The Last Voyage of Columbus (Little, Brown; 2005), Chasing Lance (Little, Brown; 2005), Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (Doubleday, 2003), Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (Pocket Books, 2001), Knockdown (Pocket Books, 1999), and Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth (McGraw-Hill, 1998).
He has also co-written three books with Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor and The Apprentice.
In addition, Dugard recently wrote and produced Warrior, a coming-of-age film based around the sport of lacrosse. Warrior stars Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene (of Twilight fame) and will be in theaters May 2011.
It's also worth noting that History Channel's recent summer hit, Expedition Africa, is based on Dugard's Into Africa. He served as the show's historical consultant and designed the route the explorers would follow across Tanzania.
An adventurer himself, Dugard regularly immerses himself in his research to understand characters and their motivations better. To better understand Columbus he traveled through Spain , the Caribbean, Central America, and sailed from Genoa to Spain aboard a tall ship in the manner of the great navigator. He followed Henry Morton Stanley's path across Tanzania while researching Into Africa (managing to get thrown into an African prison in the process), and swam in the tiger shark-infested waters of Hawaii 's Kealakekua Bay to recreate Captain James Cook's death for Farther Than Any Man.
On the more personal side of adventure, Dugard competed in the Raid Gauloises endurance race three times, ran with the bulls in Pamplona on two occasions, and flew around the world at twice the speed of sound aboard an Air France Concorde. The time of 31 hours and 28 minutes set a world record for global circumnavigation. Dugard's magazine writing has appeared in Esquire, Outside, Sports Illustrated, and GQ, among others.
Martin Dugard lives in Orange County, California, with his wife and three sons.
