More About the Author
After 30 years of professional writing about boats, sailing, New York history, cemeteries, religion, and other topics, it's still a thrill to learn that I've given people pleasure and security. Just this morning I read these words: "If you want your Ph.D. in sailing there's always John Rousmaniere's The Annapolis Book of Seamanship." That advice to a new sailor appeared in the Catalina Association Forum on June 27, 2009.
Though I've sailed some 35,000 miles on most of the oceans, I was born in Kentucky and spent my early years in Ohio. My family moved to the shore of Long Island Sound, where as a boy I fell in love with sailing and boats. Raised by parents who were wonderful story-tellers, I became determined to be a writer, and that's what I've been doing most of my life. I was educated at Columbia University (bachelor's and master's degrees in history) and Union Theological Seminary (M.Div. -- readers say they see religion and spirituality in my books), where my wife, Leah, works. After Army service, I spent several years as an editor at YACHTING magazine, them became a freelance writer while raising my two young sons solo.
I do a lot of lecturing and instruction -- 20-30 talks a year across the country -- in part because it puts me in touch with readers. When not sailing and writing, I enjoy mountain hiking, New York City, movies, reading fiction, poetry, and American history, and spending time with my wonderful sons, their wives, and their children.
