I've done much shorter ocean races, in relatively calm weather, and I enjoyed them. Unlike most of the people I written about, I don't think I'd be interested in doing the Hobart year after year, but I would like to do it at least once. Actually it would be more accurate to say I learned how much I don't know about sailing. For the most part my sailing experiences have been on small boats close to shore. Most of the races I've done have been day races around buoys in protected harbors.
Ocean racing is a completely different sport.
This is a story about people and challenges - adventure and heroism. It s a story of how very different kinds of people responded to something that was bigger than they were - and how it changed them. I think most readers will find themselves imagining how they would have reacted in similar circumstances and comparing that to what the characters in the book did. In doing so, I'd like to think readers will learn something about themselves.