And Amanda Swan Neal has invited you all to the seminars she will be [...]]]> We’ve already announced here on the blog that Pam and I will giving two free Women and Cruising seminars at the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show, at Jack London Square in Oakland, California on April 16 and 17.

And Amanda Swan Neal has invited you all to the seminars she will be offering at Strictly Sail.

But that’s not all. There will be over 100 seminars during the show and Women and Cruising contributors will be giving a number of them. Here are 7 more great seminars that Pam Wall, Janna Cawrse Esarey and I will be giving during the show.

Come meet us and let’s talk cruising!

(1) Cruising the French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean

Kathy Parsons Saturday April 17 – 2:15pm Room: Compass and Sunday April 18 – 2:15pm Room: Compass

The French and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean provide rich and varied cruising opportunities: from Martinique and Guadeloupe’s French Creole cuisines, to inland travel through Central and South America, to the music and beauty of Cuba. Yet boaters often hesitate, faced with language and cultural differences.

With photos, hand-outs and personal stories from over a decade of travel throughout the Caribbean, author and cruiser Kathy Parsons shows how and why to fully explore these areas.

You will leave this seminar with a list of Caribbean destinations that you won’t want to miss and practical tips that will reduce cultural misunderstandings and make your travel more safe and enjoyable.

(2) Outfitting for Blue Water Cruising

Pam Wall Saturday April 17 – 11:45pm Room: Portside

Pam Wall has years of sailing and cruising experience. In this seminar she shares many good ideas on how to make your boat safer, more efficient, and therefore more fun.

See the many photos of good ideas on how to sail your boat efficiently, be safer, and a lot more.

(3) Family Sailing Around the World

Join Pam and Andy Wall and their two small children as they sail their 39 foot sloop around the world. This wonderful sailing family adventure took six years.

Enjoy the entertaining stories, and learn from the thrilling experiences of a family seeing the world from their own home, their boat KANDARIK.

(4) Cruising the Bahamas

Pam has been cruising the Bahamas for over 30 years. Come join Pam in a cruise around the Abacos in the Bahamas.

Get all kinds of good information on what to see, where to sail, and what to do in the lovely Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas.

(5) Sail the Transatlantic on the Four-Masted Bark Sea Cloud

Come and join the Trans Atlantic Passage of the lovely and historical yacht SEA CLOUD.  This beautiful 367 foot private yacht was built for Marjorie Merryweather Post and is now a charter yacht that works the Caribbean in the winter and the Mediterranean in the summer.

Pam Wall just recently sailed from the Canary Islands to Antigua and wants to share this wonderful 16 day passage aboard the bark SEA CLOUD.  Come and see what it is like to cross the Atlantic with the trade winds and enjoy the life aboard a square rigged sailing ship.

(6) The Motion of the Ocean: Funny Stories from a Salty Marriage

Janna Cawrse Esarey   Sunday April 18 – 1:00pm   Room: Regatta II

Janna Cawrse Esarey will show photos and read from her travel memoir, The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, & a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife (Simon & Schuster 2009).

It’s the humorous, true story of a couple that honeymoons across the Pacific on a beat-up, old boat—only to find that sailing 17,000 miles is easier than keeping their relationship off the rocks.

If you’re interested in blue-water cruising, boating as a couple, women aboard, or just want a good laugh, come join us!

(7) Keeping Your Onboard Relationship Off the Rocks

Janna Cawrse Esarey   Saturday April 17 – 4:45pm   Room: Regatta II

You love your spouse. You love your boat. Why can’t you three get along? Take heart, even the happiest union strains under onboard pressures; our friends call their boat the Divorce Machine.

This hands-on seminar will help you identify potential pitfalls and give you tools for boating better together. Topics include the Pink and the Blue, Boat Hygiene, Romance on Watch, Divorce Docking, and most importantly, What She’s Actually Thinking.

This seminar is intended for anyone—sailors, powerboaters, racers, cruisers, men, women—who would like to sail happily ever aboard with a loved one.

About Kathy Parsons

Kathy Parsons is author of the books, Spanish for Cruisers and French For Cruisers, popular language guides for boaters.  

Together with friends Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin and Beth Leonard, Kathy conducts “Women and Cruising” seminars at boat shows, answering questions that women have about the cruising life.

She is the founder of this website, Women and Cruising, which provides advice, inspiration and resources for women cruisers.  

Kathy Parsons has spent much of the last twenty years living aboard and sailing the US, Bahamas, Caribbean and Central America. Along the way, she has pursued a number of passions: diving, hiking, and inland travel, and learning and teaching foreign languages.

Look for Kathy in the Author’s Corner at the Boat Show.

About Pam Wall

Pam Wall works for West Marine in Fort Lauderdale.  After many years of sailing around the world with her husband, Andy, and two small children, Pam has become a diplomat for West Marine by offering her knowledge to offshore cruisers.

She not only answers questions on anything to do with sailing, but can be of assistance in suggesting fun things to do, places to eat, foreign country checking in process, great places to anchor, and of course her specialty, what to take aboard your boat for safe, efficient, and fun sailing and cruising.

With many miles of cruising under her belt, Pam is a source of information for anyone to use.  Her lectures at boat shows take you all over the sailing globe and give everyone who attends the desire to be out there too!

Together with friends Kathy Parsons, Gwen Hamlin and Beth Leonard, Pam conducts “Women and Cruising” seminars at boat shows, answering questions that women have about the cruising life.

About Janna Cawrse Esarey

Janna Cawrse Esarey is a teacher by training, a writer by day, and a sailor by luck.

Her book, The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, & a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife (Simon & Schuster 2009), is the humorous true story of a couple that honeymoons across the Pacific on a beat-up, old boat—only to find that sailing 17,000 miles is easier than keeping their relationship off the rocks.

Janna’s work appears in sailing magazines, such as Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, and 48 North, and travel anthologies, most recently More Sand in My Bra.

She blogs about work-life-love balance for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at “Happily Even After.” Janna was selected as a 2008 Jack Straw Writer and currently performs the juggling act of writer, mom, and wife—only dropping a few balls daily. Visit her at http://www.byjanna.com.

More info:

Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show
Jack London Square, Oakland, CA
Thurs, April 15 – Sun, Apr 18, 2010

• Visit the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show website.
• View the complete seminar schedule.
• Get details on our Women and Cruising seminars.
• Read about Amanda Swan Neal’s seminars.

Janna Cawrse Esarey will be speaking at the 2010 Seattle Boat Show, January 29 – February 6, 2010, at Qwest Field.

Janna is the author of The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search for [...]]]> Here’s a great opportunity to meet another Women and Cruising friend:

Janna Cawrse Esarey will be speaking at the 2010 Seattle Boat Show, January 29 – February 6, 2010, at Qwest Field.

Janna is the author of The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife.

Gwen Hamlin and I both read Motion and thoroughly enjoyed it. Janna has a great sense of humor, and she certainly captures the dynamics of cruising, especially that of a couple learning to live together on a small boat. I highly recommend it!

Janna will be giving seminars on Sunday and Monday. Monday is Women’s Day at the Boat Show!

Here are the details of Janna’s seminars:

Writing and Sailing: From Blog to Book and Everything In Between

Sun, Jan 31, 2:15 pm, Red Stage

Ever dreamed of writing the next great sea story? Want to see your name in by-lines? Need advice on boat blogging? This hands-on seminar will help. We’ll start small (blogs, queries, your favorite sailing rags) and end big (book proposals, manuscripts, publication). Open to experienced writers and armchair writers alike.

The Motion of the Ocean

Mon, Feb 1, 3 pm, Green Stage

Janna Cawrse Esarey will show photos and read from her travel memoir, The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, & a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife (Simon & Schuster 2009). It’s the humorous, true story of a couple that honeymoons across the Pacific on a beat-up, old boat—only to find that sailing 17,000 miles is easier than keeping their relationship off the rocks. If you’re interested in blue-water cruising, boating as a couple, women aboard, or just want a good laugh, come join us!

Keeping Your Onboard Relationship Off the Rocks

Mon, Feb 1st, 5 pm Green Stage, and 6:15 pm Red Stage

You love your spouse. You love your boat. Why can’t you three get along? Take heart, even the happiest union strains under onboard pressures; our friends call their boat the Divorce Machine. This hands-on seminar will help you identify potential pitfalls and give you tools for boating better together. Topics include the Pink and the Blue, Boat Hygiene, Romance on Watch, Divorce Docking, and most importantly, What She’s Actually Thinking. This seminar is intended for anyone—sailors, powerboaters, racers, cruisers, men, women—who would like to sail happily ever aboard with a loved one.

And here is the same schedule organized by day, so you can plan your visit to the Seattle Boat Show:

About the Seattle Boat Show:

Seattle Boat Show – Qwest Field – Fri, January 29 – Sat, February 6, 2010

Visit the Seattle Boat show website

View the complete seminar schedule.

See the list of Janna’s seminars at the Seattle Boat Show.

About Janna Cawrse Esarey

Janna Cawrse Esarey is a teacher by training, a writer by day, and a sailor by luck.

Her book, The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, & a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife (Simon & Schuster 2009), is the humorous true story of a couple that honeymoons across the Pacific on a beat-up, old boat—only to find that sailing 17,000 miles is easier than keeping their relationship off the rocks.

Janna’s work appears in sailing magazines, such as Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, and 48 North, and travel anthologies, most recently More Sand in My Bra.

She blogs about work-life-love balance for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at “Happily Even After.” Janna was selected as a 2008 Jack Straw Writer and currently performs the juggling act of writer, mom, and wife—only dropping a few balls daily. Visit her at http://www.byjanna.com.

“Choosing a mate is like picking a house paint from one of those [...]]]> … That’s the subtitle of Janna Cawrse Esarey’s new book The Motion of the Ocean, that we mentioned a while back on the blog. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (though I like her subtitle) and such lines as:

“Choosing a mate is like picking a house paint from one of those tiny color squares … You never know how it will look across a large expanse, or how it will change in a different light.”

Gwen Hamlin, however IS reading it now, and she is really enjoying the book and Janna’s perspective. She has promised to write a review for Women and Cruising when she finishes.

So for fun, here’s Janna’s You Tube video book trailer for the book. Enjoy!

More info:

Visit Janna’s website

Check out The Motion of the Ocean on Amazon.com.

Has anyone read this new hot-off-the-press book by Janna Cawrse Esarey? She seems to have a great sense of humor – and it’s certainly a “Woman and Cruising” type book!

Janna just sent Gwen Hamlin an email announcing her book and we both went to check out:

Janna’s website, Her YouTube video [...]]]>

Has anyone read this new hot-off-the-press book by Janna Cawrse Esarey? She seems to have a great sense of humor – and it’s certainly a “Woman and Cruising” type book!

Janna just sent Gwen Hamlin an email announcing her book and we both went to check out:

Janna’s website, Her YouTube video trailer, and the
book listing on Amazon

The book’s complete title is:

The Motion of the Ocean
1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife

And here is the description:

Choosing a mate is like picking house paint from one of those tiny color squares: You never know how it will look across a large expanse, or how it will change in different light.

Meet Janna and Graeme. After a decade-long tango (together, apart, together, apart), they’re back in love — but the stress of nine-to-five is seriously hampering their happiness. So they quit their jobs, tie the knot, and untie the lines on a beat-up old sailboat for a most unusual honeymoon: a two-year voyage across the Pacific. But passage from first date to first mate is anything but smooth sailing. From the rugged Pacific Northwest coast to the blue lagoons of Polynesia to bustling Asian ports, Janna and Graeme find themselves at the mercy of poachers, under the spell of crossdressers, and under the gun of a less-than-sober tattooist. And they encounter do-or-die moments that threaten their safety, their sanity, and their marriage.

Join Janna and Graeme’s 17,000-mile journey and their quest to resolve the uncertainties so many couples face: How do you know if you’ve really found the One? How do you balance duty to others while preserving space for yourself? And, when the waters get rough, do you jump ship, or do you learn to navigate the world…together?

Let us know if you’ve read it – and tell us how you liked it!