By the Grace of the Sea: A Woman's Solo Odyssey Around the World (INTERNATIONAL MARINE-RMP) - Softcover

Henry, Pat

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071435425 ISBN 13: 9780071435420

Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2004

Synopsis

This is a life-changing voyage over vast oceans. Teen mother, architect, professor, businesswoman - Pat Henry knew a thing or two about survival. But when her once-successful business went bankrupt, she lost the will to begin again. Instead, she set sail with no money aboard her 31-foot Southern Cross on a journey through eight years, forty countries, and thirty thousand miles that would ultimately make her one of the first women - and the oldest - to sail around the world alone. Ahead lay new beginnings on exotic shores. But at sea, in a solitary circle of gales, slow miles, and overarching sky, she found by hesitant degrees a precious gift - the distance from which to reach peace with the choices and abandonments of a tumultuous life.Searingly honest, "By the Grace of the Sea" is for travellers, daughters, mothers, and seekers. 'A damn good book - it might even be a great book...The way in which [Henry] tells her story is nothing less than extraordinary' - "Sailing". 'Henry's captivating account fills readers with admiration for her courage and stamina' - "Booklist". 'A powerful and compelling personal account of [Henry's] battle with the elements - plus inner and outer demons - while struggling to complete her solo journey around the world. What a book and what a woman!' - Willard Manus, author, "This Way to Paradise". 'Her openness about her life should inspire others to make their own way in the world, however they define it. Her message resounds: If I can do this, anyone can' - "Caribbean Compass".Pat Henry, a recipient of the Joshua Slocum Society International Golden Circle Award for her solo circumnavigation on board Southern Cross, has sailed eighty thousand miles on small boats. She is a founding partner in Coming About, Any Woman's Sailing School, in Puerto Vallarta. Her watercolor paintings have been exhibited in galleries around the world. She can be contacted through her Web site.

About this title

Review:

"Henry's captivating account fills readers with admiration for her courage and stamina." - Booklist; "A wonderful voyage of self-discovery." - Indianapolis Star; "A powerful and compelling personal account of [Henry's] battle with the elements - plus inner and outer demons - while struggling to complete her solo journey around the world. What a book and what a woman!" - Willard Manus, author, This Way to Paradise"

About the Author:

A born seeker and wanderer, Pat Henry married at 15 and gave birth at 16. After delivering a second daughter, she finished high school near Bloomington, Indiana, and worked at being a wife, mother, and the principal means of support while her husband went to college. But a conventional life was never in her cards. After divorcing, she earned an architecture degree from the University of Illinois while a single mother; and later toured the country on her motorcycle, ending up in California with $12. There she waitressed, sold real estate, drafted blueprints, taught at San Francisco mudflats, and discovered sailing on a friend's 50-foot trimaran, aboard which she sailed first to Mexico and later on a three-year voyage to Southeast Asia. Back in California, she started a business importing a flame-retardant fabric for clothing worn by firefighters. Overcommitted financially, but with success in reach, her business was ruined by the withdrawal of a key manufacturer. Reeling financially and emotionally, she began the voyage recounted in this book almost accidentally, discovering along the way first her talent as a painter, and more recently her ability to write.

About this edition

• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0071435425
• ISBN 13: 9780071435420
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384