Sailing South 'til the Butter Melts (Paperback or Softback)

Most cats don't dream about sailing around the world. Neither did Chowder. But in the 1990's, she somewhat reluctantly joined her caregivers, Captain Lee and mate Sheila, on a voyage that lasted six years, covering over 45,000 miles while visiting foreign lands and remote paradise islands.

In this first of three books based on her true life sea adventure, Chowder reveals how she left her home on land and got her sea legs onboard a forty-three foot sailboat that Lee had built. While they sail down the west coast of the Americas to the enchanted islands of the Galapagos, she shares how she handles each experience and adapts to the variety of situations that occur during her first two years at sea. Her apprehension turns into a sense of curiosity and wonder as she is transformed into a global sea cat by the challenges of rolling seas, lightning, storms, sharks, wild jungle animals, and the dangers of pirates. Yet, she also purrs about the pleasure of eating fresh fish, playing with birds, listening to singing parrots, watching dancing dolphins or spouting whales, and being with friendly folks from many cultures. She loves to give the readers the inside scoop on life aboard a cruising yacht. Come sail away with her!

LeCain W. Smith, known to his friends as Captain Lee, was born near the ocean on the coast of Maine and was called to the sea early in life. Over the years different sailboats took him on many nautical adventures, and on most every voyage, he had a cat as a companion. With time, his skills came to include teaching sailing and navigation, boatbuilding, boat deliveries, yacht surveying, acting as a harbormaster, and chartering boats as a licensed captain. In addition, he wrote several nonfiction books with nautical, historical, and health-related themes. While living in Port Townsend, Washington, during the 1980's he spent five years building a forty-three foot ketch and then completed a six-year voyage around the world. In company with his mate Sheila and trusted sea cat Chowder, this extensive exploration took them through many remote islands of paradise and exotic parts of the world. When it was over, Chowder felt that all their adventures were definitely worth sharing. Since LeCain had produced Far Away, a documentary video about the South Pacific part of their voyage, Chowder decided to tell her own version of the complete story with a trilogy of books, starting with this one: Sailing South 'til the Butter Melts.