I was born in a state as famous for our tornadoes as the musical refrain Oscar & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain".

When a fateful sail in Port Townsend Bay struck a harmonic chord of memories connecting my first-ever sail to my childhood on a cattle ranch, I was transformed.  Aboard a strange horse, metaphorically, I was simultaneously "at home". The profundity of the experience led to a move from Alaska to Hawaii, then a move from land to ocean.  I followed my heart on a bouyant voyage, a circumnavigation of the world.

The circumnavigation waypoints:

By early 1994, I'd finished 2 major upwind ocean passages (from Honolulu to Port Townsend, Washington and from Newcastle, Australia to Kauai via New Zealand, Cook Islands and French Polynesia) and was well underway on my Ph.d. For exercise and social time, I joined a canoe club in Nawilwili Harbor on Kauai. They were asked to compete at the Heiva Festival in Papeete, Tahiti and I decided to go.  As fate would have it, these dates intercepted Captain Nancy Erley who was after circumnavigating the world once with an all woman crew was now teaching sailing offshore in the Pacific.  Nancy needed a First Mate for two upwind passages: Tahiti-Marquesas and Tahiti-Hawaii.  Having confirmed a stomach of steel and a fondness for tradewinds, this was a perfect crossing of paths for us both. 

One day I was sleeping on the beach under a Hau tree and cheering my canoe friends in Papeete and the next I was climbing aboard Tethys, a 38-foot cutter rigged double-ended sloop.  Opportunity knocked and I answered.  We made those passages with 2 women on each leg and by the time we spotted Mauna Kea on the skyline two months later, we were set to sail as a team for the next six years, teaching women on ocean passages.

I've published stories of some parts of the trip and am working on a book. Here's a brief, but itinerary by country.  To the right is a map from Nancy's website that attempts to help the geographically impaired.  Before the circumnavigation, I certainly fit that description myself!   Enjoy.

Nearing the equator in the Pacific.Circumnavigation Passages: By Country

Tahiti-Marquesas

Tahiti-Hawaii

San Diego-Mexico

Mexico-Guatamala

Guatamala-Nicaragua 

Nicaragua-Costa Rica

Costa Rica-Panama

Panama-Galapagos

Galapagos-Marquesas

Marquesas-Tahiti

Tahiti-American Samoa

American Samoa-Tonga

Tonga-Minerva Reef-New Zealand

New Zealand-Australia

Australia-Indonesia

Indonesia-Singapore

Singapore-Malaysia

Malaysia-Thailand

(I singlehanded from Thailand to Malaysia) 

Malaysia-Maldives

Maldives-Chagos

Chagos-Seychelles

Seychelles-Mayotte, Comorros

Mayotte-Madagascar

Madagascar-Mozambique

Mozambique-South Africa

South Africa-St. Helena

St. Helena-Brazil

Brazil-Trinidad

Trinidad-Venezuela

Venezuela-Panama

Panama-Galapogos

Galapogos-Hawaii

Hawaii-Port Townsend

We completed the circumnavigation in August 2001, then cruised the Canadian Gulf Islands and US San Juans before I settled in Port Townsend. We had a big welcome home celebration at Seattle's Bell Harbor (see photo). My mom, grandma, sister from Oklahoma and brother from New York, met us at the dock. So did the TV newspeople and hundreds of friends!

Nancy and Tethys stayed in Seattle where she split her time teaching on Tethys in the PNW, speaking at boatshows and commuting to San Francisco to work at Farallon Yachts.

I became director of Port Townsend's Wooden Boat Festival for 10 years, found Pax, my 28' classic Danish spidsgatter, began writing and now split my time with a home in Oklahoma.

The voyage of Tethys continues to inspire our work independently and as colleagues in the world of women and boating.