"In April 2013, fifty-year-old Brett Archibald set off with his friends on a dream surf charter trip off the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia. It quickly became a nightmare: in the middle of a storm, suffering from severe food poisoning, Brett leaned overboard--and blacked out. He awoke in the raging sea. No one had seen him fall, and no one heard his shouts for help. He watched his boat sail away. It would be eight hours before his friends realized he was missing. A frantic search then began for the lone man somewhere in thousands of square miles of heaving waves. The turbulent weather protected Brett from the scorching sun, but also prevented planes or helicopters from assisting in the search. As hours passed, some wondered whether they were searching for a man or a corpse. A key few, however, never doubted that Brett would survive. This is the remarkable story of Brett's battle against the elements, creatures from jellyfish to sharks, and his own inner demons, and the simultaneous struggle to find him waged by an international community. Against extraordinary odds, the power of the human spirit would prevail."--Dust jacket flap.