Rod Baker

I grew up in small-town England. Like many teens, I was bored with life and decided to leave home and go to sea. At age sixteen, I joined the British merchant navy as a deckhand. It wasn't quite what I thought, but then nothing ever is.

In 1968, aged 21, I immigrated to Canada and worked as a mate on a tugboat. During a December snowstorm in the Haida Gwai Islands, we hit a reef and were run over by the giant steel barge we were towing. I decided to change careers and worked as a shipwright, businessman, college instructor, psychotherapist, and executive director for two mental health organizations.

I could never decide what to be. Now semi-retired, I am trying my hand as a writer and have written four books:

1) "Constant Traveller, R801161," about my life at sea.

2) "I Need my Yacht by Friday - True Tales from the Boat Repair Yard," tells the story of my running a boat repair business for 20 years in North Vancouver

3) "Um, Where is Belize?" about a road trip I took with a cousin I didn't know, 14,000 kilometres from Vancouver to Belize and back. We drove in four-hour shifts, slept in the car and were equipped with enthusiasm and a Spanish phrasebook.

4) Unexpected Treasures - Running a Mental Health Nonprofit explains some of the challenges I experienced when I was executive director of a branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

I live in Lions Bay, British Columbia with my partner, Anna. My dog Fargo accompanied me on walks throughout my writing four books.

Website — rodbakerbooks.com