Roger Vaughan is an internationally published freelance writer with 15 books to his credit, including biographies of luminaries in the world of sailing and accounts of major regattas. He is widely published in periodicals, he has written the story for a feature film, scores of scripts for ESPN television, and plays for stage, television, and radio. He has also directed, written, and produced a number of videos, many of which are sailing-related. According to the New York Times Review of Books, “Vaughan is adept at perceiving those details that convey the total picture.” (Review of Fastnet: One Man’s Voyage)

Roger Vaughan grew up in Massachusetts where his father was a small town general practitioner who made house calls. At age eight, Roger began writing, taking photographs, playing music, and sailing, all of which became life-long pursuits. Personal offshore yacht racing experiences include the lethal 1979 Fastnet Race, and a leg of the 1990 Whitbread Race around Cape Horn. He graduated from the Choate School, and received a B.A. in English from Brown University.

Vaughan worked in mass print media as editor and writer in Philadelphia and New York for 10 years, at Saturday Evening Post, and LIFE magazines. Assigned briefly to LIFE’s Chicago Bureau where he covered 17 states, he returned to Manhattan to run LIFE’s Youth and Education Department, covering experimental education, the Monterrey and Woodstock music festivals, Bob Dylan, and the cultural upheaval of the 1960s.

Fleeing the big city, Vaughan moved to Rhode Island and worked as commercial fisherman, photographer, short-order pizza cook, and Director of Brown’s News Bureau before focusing on a freelance writing career after The Grand Gesture, his first book, was published in 1973. Grand Gesture, about a struggling America’s Cup syndicate, began an ongoing involvement with coverage of the America’s Cup. He has written 14 books since then, including biographies of media magnate, Ted Turner; the late Berlin Philharmonic Music Director, Herbert von Karajan; and live polio vaccine pioneer, Hilary Koprowski. Vaughan worked for many years as a writer for ESPN TV; has written and directed a score of videos; co-authored the story for the feature film Wind; and was founding editor of The Yacht magazine. Assignments have taken him to 44 of the states, and more than 20 countries.

Writing about accomplished people has always been Vaughan’s major interest. Among the many he has written about are: Roy Disney, Olin Stephens, Malcolm Forbes, Irving Johnson, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ann Sophie Mutter, Seiji Ozawa, Andy Warhol, Lee Marvin, and HRH Princess Margaret.

Resume of published material related to sailing:

Film
• 1992 Co-authored story for the feature film, Wind (Zoetrope Studios); screen credit.

Books
• The Grand Gesture, Little Brown & Co., Boston 1975
• Ted Turner, The Man Behind the Mouth, Sail Books (Norton), Boston 1978
• Fastnet, One Man’s Voyage, Seaview Books, New York 1980
• America’s Cup XXVII, The Official Record- Stars & Stripes 1988, DC Sports, Inc, San Diego 1988 (illus.) writer/designer /editorial dir.
• The Strenuous Life of Harry Anderson, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut, 2013

Internet Productions
• 2005-2007 Daily web reports for ESPN and other sites on Key West Race Week, Miami Olympic Classes Regatta
• 2006 Writer/producer for 58 reports for Virtual Spectator (vssailing.com) on the Volvo Ocean Race Round the World (Gary Jobson, presenter)
• 2011-2013 National Sailing Hall of Fame thumbnails of inductees at www.nshof.com
• 2012 Contributor, America’s Cup Discovered on You Tube at www.americascup.com

Television (all ESPN–writer):
• U.S. Olympic Trials 1996, Call to Glory (12 shows)
• America’s Cup 1988, 1994, 2000, 2003 (all live and taped shows)
• Whitbread Race 1990, 1994, 1998,2002(all live and taped shows)
• Quest for Speed (60 min.)
• Cape Horn (60 min.)
• Ultimate Sailing 1994, 1995 (series)
• Year in Sailing 1995 (60 min.)-2002
• Expedition Antarctica (two 60 min.)
• Jackie Robinson anniversary show (60 min)
• BT Challenge
• 80 Degrees North Under Sail (60 min)
• Voyage to the Edge, the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race (60 min.)
• Acura Miami Race Week 2007, 2008.

Periodicals:
• 2001—2009 Wrote three to four profiles a year of their owners for Oyster Marine, builders of high end cruising sailing yachts (Oyster News, UK)

http://www.rogervaughan.net/resume.html

http://www.rogervaughan.net/bio.html