The great American sailor Joshua Slocum may have had little else to do when he began rebuilding the small sloop Spray. He could, however, look back at a lifetime on the ocean as preparation for his remarkable circumnavigation. Beth Leonard attended college and collected a master's degree in business. She could point to a successful international management consulting career, but there was no blue-water sailing on her resume. Like so many of us, Beth felt an itch of discontent inside the corporate suit she put on every day. Unlike most us, though, Beth couldn't resist scratching that itch. Following Seas recounts the story of Beth's transformation from business analyst to expert in the sea, the wind, the sky, the stars and Silk, the boat on which she learns to depend for her life. Over the course of three years, Beth grows into someone to whom Joshua Slocum could tip his hat in sailing fellowship. The dramatic shake-down cruise recounted in the prologue of Following Seas became the first leg of a sometimes tumultuous and sometimes serene circumnavigation. Sailing west-abound, Beth and companion Evans Starzinger pilot silk from the Azores, through the Panama Canal, and into the South Pacific, where the peoples of remote islands play a vital part in the story. How does one decide to leave a career and adopt a new way of life? What will you discover about the new places you see, the people you meet? Most important, what might you discover about yourself? Following Seas tells the story of Beth Leonard's journey of discovery. Why not weigh anchor, sail west-around, and share this journey of exploration yourself?
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
What we do in life is perhaps less important than what it does to us. Beth Leonard's story is about change brought about when she found her American dream rotting from the inside out. It is also about the courage to throw away the power and prestige of an international consulting position and seek a new life afloat, a life intimately in touch with herself, her partner, and her planet. Her graceful prose and imaginative photography pull us through raging seas, exotic ports of call, but it also takes us through her journey of self discovery and spiritual renewal. Following Seas is an exciting combination of travel prose and photographs. --Alvah Simon, author of North to the Light, A Year in the Arctic Ice.
In Following Seas, Beth Leonard takes her readers on several voyage at once--personal, social, and historical. As she says, "The literal voyages across oceans...had become a figurative voyage into the depths of my heart and soul..." As she sails, she absorbs the wisdom and courage of the early voyagers--Christopher Columbus, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Joshua Slocum--and in port, she learns from the perspectives of the many people she meets.We are carried along with Beth and her partner Evans through calms, storms, and days of unbounded joy until we realize, with them, how much the sea can test us and change our lives. --Patience Wales, Editor, SAIL magazine
About the Author
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Yuppie tries to discover self, but never finds the world,
By A Customer
This review is from: Following Seas, Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life (Paperback)
If this book came with a money back guarentee, I would ask for my money. The wonderful cover design, the excellent paper and fancy graphics made me fell that the publishers thought this story was really worth promoting. But any cruising story that states several times that cruising is fixing your boat in a series of exotic places, is definitely dumb. I would not want my cruising partner to read this, it makes the whole thing sound boring. Not one real personal encounter with local people - socializing in this book is just with other sailors from the same social and financial rank. Could have met these same folks at my marina. I though going out to see the world meant really mingling - but then if you have to spend so much time fixing a boat, who has time for anything else? Too bad the writer - who is very concise and clear, did not have more romance in her soul, or more time to get away from her boat.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Understanding the emotion behind sailing and exploring.,
By Devildoc8@aol.com (N.Carolina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Following Seas, Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life (Paperback)
Beth Leonard, takes the reader in a new direction with her book Following Seas: Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life. It is her real life story of a real average person, who by chance and opportunity took an incredible juorney. Her ability to communicate her thoughts and feelings is remarkable; especially considering this is her first book. I meet Beth Leonard at a presentation of her story and she is not only intelligent but very down to earth. She signed my copy "Follow your dreams, live your passion" She did this. What I really found most enjoyable about her book was it is the first book I have ever read which express the feeling behind sailing. This book is not about sailing, rather the emotions it generates; highs and lows. Enjoy the adventure.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intelligent, insightful, well-written book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Following Seas, Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life (Hardcover)
Recently I heard a fascinating public radio interview with Beth Leonard and ran out to get her new book. A more enjoyable read I can't imagine! She's lived an interesting life, having achieved a high degree of success in the corporate world only to leave it all behind to sail around the world for three years. She writes of her adventures at sea and on land, amid different peoples and cultures, with great intelligence, insight, style, and personality. While I'm sure sailors will enjoy this book, it's about so much more than sailing. It's about the importance of having a dream and not being afraid to live it. I highly recommend this book. It's had a profound influence on me and helped me re-think and re-order my priorities.
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