Some time back Jack Lanham set off on a round the world tour. However, fate had other plans. Seattle Women's Sailing Association, however, benefit from his generosity of spirit, his teaching and his availability. We would not be able to enjoy his as much if he were in the South Pacific. However, his trip down to Mexico provides good stories!

Karen Thorndike holds the Guiness Book Record for being the 1st American woman to sail solo around the world. Her circumnavigation took 2 years and 2 weeks aboard her 36-foot sailboat Amelia. Thorndike's journey took her eastward past the world's five great capes: Cape Horn (tip of South America); Cape of Good Hope (South Africa); Cape Leeuwin (south of Perth, Australia); South East Cape (Tasmania); and Southwest Cape (New Zealand). Karen's story of overcoming personal difficulties as well maritime ones are inspirational.

August "I think I've always been part fish," declares Jeri Callahan. Commonly known as "The Houseboat Lady" for her depth of knowledge about Seattle's smallest neighborhood, Jeri delights in sharing a glimpse into her enchanting community. She offers playful anecdotes of life afloat, introduces many of her intriguing neighbors, and has a ready answer to almost any question about houseboats and Lake Union.

Rick Brewer is with Global Delivery Services. He performs many of the west coast deliveries between Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii and US West Coast. He will address our group on delivery and boating in general. His background spans over 30 years of boating, from single handed sailing to Cruise Vessel Captain. Currently, he is an Instructor at the Seattle Maritime Academy and owns/operates Northwest Marine Solutions (www.nwmarinesolutions.com). He performs deliveries as well as assists owners in developing voyage plans for their own trips.

Did women ever go to sea? Author Barbara Sjoholm decided to find out. She spent four months traveling around the North Atlantic, from Ireland to Iceland, looking for folklore and true tales of women and the sea. Her entertaining and informative book, The Pirate Queen, is the result. Woven into Sjoholm's own adventures in the windy Orkneys and foggy Faroes are stories of storm goddesses, sea witches, and mermaids, along with the almost unknown biographies of women fishing captains, cross-dressing sailors, and bold Viking explorers. Sjoholm's trip begins on the west coast of Ireland as she visits the ancient castles of the notorious Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen who was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth in the sixteenth century. Regularly raiding foreign ships off the coastline of Ireland, O'Malley was said to have fought off Algerian corsairs just hours after giving birth to her son. She commanded two hundred men (and a couple of husbands) and acquired lands and fortresses that still dot the landscape today.

Diana Klybert Diana began sailing in the Pacific Northwest, enjoying her first taste of offshore racing in the Oregon Offshore Race to Vancouver, BC. She moved to Maui, Hawaii in 1986 where she worked professionally on charter and passenger sailboats and earned her USCG Captain’s license in 1988. She moved to Annapolis, Maryland in 1990 and became involved a number of unique sailing campaigns, including the US Women’s Challenge and the Brendan Corporation’s sailing program for learning disabled youth. There, she served as first mate on a Santa Cruz 70 campaigning on the East Coast and Caribbean. In 1994, Diana was contacted in Tortola, BVI regarding the forming of the first-ever women’s America’s Cup team, America 3. She flew to tryouts in San Diego and was privileged to serve as one of two mastwomen for the 1995 America’s Cup. From there she joined the Swedish Whitbread syndicate, EF, in Goteborg, Sweden and sailed with the sydicate’s sponsor boat program for six months. She was asked to do the 1997 Round the World Race with the women’s team, but opted out in search of more mixed team racing and a long life. In addition to the America’s Cup, Diana has sailed the Transpac, Newport to Bermuda, Marblehead-Halifax, and done a number of regattas and deliveries in the Caribbean and Europe. She has served as an instructor with the Tall Ship Sailing Semester for Girls, sailing in the Caribbean and Bahamas. She joined A3 team member Sarah Cavanagh as a sailing captain in her TeamSail endeavor in 1997, working with Sarah and other professional captains to bring teambuilding and cooperation to graduate MBA students and corporate clients around the world.

Powered by CityMax.com