FOLLOWING SEAS, SAILING THE GLOBE, SOUNDING A LIFE

Book by Leonard, Beth A.

Despite a childhood steeped in the liberal activism of the sixties and seventies--or perhaps because of it--Beth Leonard followed the prescribed advice on how to succeed in business. A good college. Graduate school. Hard work at a prestigious company. Serendipitously, she found a sea-lorn kindred spirit at the same time that she found her success hollow.

Since 1992, Beth has followed in her long-time dream of writing and the sea. Her latest book, Following Seas: Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life, tells of her three-year circumnavigation with her partner Evans Starzinger. The book echoes her rediscovered delight in family, friends from many nation and walks of life, and this fragile planet. After that voyage, she says "Despite being more involved in the sailing community, the adjustment back to shore life has been much more difficult than the transition to cruising."

Ms. Leonard is also the author of The Voyager's Handbook: The Essential Guide to Bluewater Cruising (International Marine, 1998) and a regular contributor to major sailing magazines such as Cruising World, SAIL, Sailing, Blue Water Sailing, and Yachting World. She is also a frequent speaker on nautical topics.She and Evans live in Maryland, where in their spare time they are preparing the boat Hawk for cold-water sailing.

INSIDE FLAP: A soul journey begins with a vague dream, whose origins may be uncertain but whose pull is strong. This tale of a circumnavigation is also the story of one woman's journey into her dream. Beth Leonard followed the success path of the materialistic '80s: from college to business school to being an international management consultant--a path that took her away from the core of herself, family and friends, and the sense of fulfillment that only comes from within.

The story begins when, despite her lack of sailing expertise, her partner Evans Starzinger suggests they circumnavigate the world in a small sailing boat. She listens to her heart and chooses to follow the sea and chase her dream of becoming a writer.

In the three-year circumnavigation, there are intervals of up to 29 days when she and Evans are alone at sea. Ms. Leonard reads the early ocean explorers' logs and journals. She feels their presence as she faces the same dangers and celebrates the same landfalls. At each landfall, she immerses herself in cultures where Western values have no place, where life is lived to different rhythms. She learns from the hospitality, humility, and hope of the people she meets in a South Pacific pearling lagoon, a South African laundromat, and a cafe in the Azores. From these new perspectives, she discovers how to live a life both fulfilling and satisfying.

Armchair sailors and adventuers alike will be drawn into her voyage of discovery and change. Anyone with an unquenchable dream will find in these pages the encouragement to chase that dream, right over the horizon...and find themselves at journey's end.