When my friend Maria Ross asked me if I’d like to do a guest post on her blog, Red Slice, I was delighted. She’s a dynamo–a Marketing and Brand Strategist, Entrepreneurial guru, and the author of Branding Basics for Small Business and Rebooting My Brain: How a Freak Aneurism Reframed My Life.
I thought, “What a terrific opportunity to share with business people the invaluable skills that can be derived from an adventure like mine.”
In her newsletter she invited her audience to visit the post, saying:
“Ever imagine what it would be like to check out of your life /work for a while and set sail across the ocean? Would you do it for seven years? What do you think you’d learn?
Today, my good friend and author Wendy Hinman shares four lessons learned about success while sailing the ocean with her husband for seven adventure-filled years. She recently published a book chronicling her tale, Tightwads of the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey and I’m thrilled she’s dropping some wisdom on us in today’s guest post.
If you want the wisdom and perspective gleaned from her high-seas escapade, without leaving your warm, cozy office, please head over to the blog and check out these inspirational lessons.”
Here’s her post:
When people do something audacious and almost unimaginable, I tend to soak up their wisdom. They are the brave, after all. The bold. The ones who dare step off the cliff and test how deep the water really is while the rest of us bask safely on shore.
Wendy Hinman is a writer friend of mine who has lived an extraordinary life. She sailed the Pacific with her husband for 7 years, returned changed and wiser, and has written a book about her adventure, Tightwads of the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey. Today’s she shares four lessons about life and success she learned on that ocean voyage. MORE ….
I just updated my events page with presentations I have planned at the moment for 2013. It’s going to be a busy year!
Check the events page for the most up-to-date information.
Here’s a glimpse:
2013 Events: (in calendar order)
Island Story Slam, live storytelling “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” January 10, 2013 7:30pm Treehouse Cafe at Lynnwood Center on Bainbridge Island
Toastmasters January 17, 2013 11:50 am Winslow Arms, 220 Parfitt Way Bainbridge Island
Seattle Boat Show, various times and presentations January 25-February 2, 2013
Salty Speaker, Port Madison Yacht Club, February 9, 2013
Vancouver International Boat Show, various times and presentations February 11, 2013
Women in Boating Seminar, NSCC Seattle, February 23, 2013
NMTA Multihull Association, PSYC March 5, 2013
NW Spring Symposium with Beth Leonard, NW Maritime Center in Port Townsend, March 15-17, 2013
Shilshole Bay Yacht Club, Seattle Thursday, March 21, 2013
Sauvie Island Yacht Club, Portland, Friday April 5, 2013
Broken Compass Book Club, Mountain View Books Inc. Mountain View, CA April 8, 2013
Strictly Sail Boat Show, Oakland, CA, April 11-14, 2013
Avenidas Village community, Palo Alto, CA April 17, 2013
SVCB Meeting, Bay Area, CA April 20, 2013
Annapolis Boat Show, April 25-28, 2013
Seattle Yacht Club book discussion April, 2013
Center for Wooden Boats, Friday, May 17, 2013
Travel Writers Conference August 8-11, 2013
Fall Ha Ha Cruisers List Party Sept. TBA
Bluewater Cruising Association, Royal Victoria YC, Canada, Sept 17, 2013
Downwind Marine Seminars October TBA
In Yachting’s November 2012 issue, David Schmidt tells of our heartbreaking delay after 46 days of sailing non-stop across the cold North Pacific from Japan due to a foul bottom and a raging storm.
Here’s a copy of the full article. Yachting Magazine Nov 2012 Antifouling
A radio interview with KPTZ of Port Townsend, WA aired live:
Monday, December 17 at noon
Tuesday, December 18 at 6 p.m.
Wednesday, December 19 at 10 a.m.
Saturday, December 22 at noon.
Here’s a link to the interview.
Tightwads interview segment on KPTZ
Wendy cooking aboard
Wendy Hinman; Woodenboat Blue Water Sailor, Author, and Self Confessed Tightwad!
PODCAST SHOW NOTES
Wendy grew up the daughter of a Navy dentist, who made frequent military moves. When her dad was given an assignment in Hawaii, Wendy’s parents bought a Cal ’27 sailboat and enrolled the entire family in sailing lessons. At the age of 7, Wendy was getting her sea legs sailing the Hawaiian Islands. Next, Wendy’s family moved to Washington, DC and began sailing the Chesapeake Bay on a Catalina ’30. Soon Wendy was teaching sailing utilizing the advanced skills she had learned as a youth.
Wendy’s husband Garth also grew up in a sailing family. In fact, during his youth, Garth spent 5 years circumnavigating the world with his parents and siblings. Their trip included a shipwreck in Fiji and other extreme adventures and all navigation was celestial (can you spell sextant?).
It’s not surprising that early in their marriage, Garth and Wendy made plans for their own blue water extravaganza. The first order of business was to save money and pay off their home so they could “get away” for several years and live off the modest $1,000 per month their home would rent for. In 1998 they bought a 31′ Tom Wylie designed cold molded cutter – Velella – and 2 years later they were off on their 7 year, 34,000 mile adventure around the Pacific. Wendy has chronicled their blue water undertaking in her newly released book – Tightwads On the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey. You can also check out Wendy’s website: WendyHinman.com.
To listen to the interview, click here.
The inviting book shop at Cannon Beach
Valerie Ryan, owner of Cannon Beach Books wrote to say: “We sold the 2 books you left with us last week and are ordering 6 more. I know that we will blow these out over the Thanksgiving weekend. We put a Staff Favorite under the book and showcase it on the front table. You have a winner!”
On Sunday, folks in the Bay Area can see some of my gorgeous pictures as well as hear some salty tales from our seven-year adventure. Every time I do a presentation, my stories are different. These presentations are as much fun for me as they are for the audience. It’s a great opportunity to ask all those questions you’ve always wanted to know like: What did you eat? How did you cook? How did you get groceries?
I am hoping all those Latitude 38 readers who read my updates for years in the magazine will be there, as well as my friends from the Cruising Club of America, local friends and sailors.
Book Passage is one of those terrific independent bookstores that has an amazing collection of books and events to bring readers and writers together. It’s a haven for the armchair and actual adventurer. I know I’ve lost many an hour perusing the store and leaving with a stack of great finds.
Event Details:
Book Passage Bookstore
Sunday, November 18, 6pm
51 Tamal Vista Blvd. Corte Madera, CA 94925
Details about the event aare available here.
http://bookpassage.com/event/wendy-hinman-tightwads-loose-seven-year-pacific-odyssey
Hope to see you there!
A full house Eagle Harbor Books
More than 70 people came to hear Wendy Hinman at Eagle Harbor Book Company on October 28th. Eagle Harbor Books staff were delighted to have so many venture into the store for the event.
Tightwads story hits the newstand
Tightwads, take heart: Couple tell of seven-year cruise on the cheap
When Wendy Hinman set sail with her husband Garth, she didn’t know how long she would be gone, or where exactly they would go. . . . More
San Francisco Book Review logo
“A light-hearted tone and unaffected style make this an entertaining tale.”
San Francisco Book Review
“Learning Pidgin English in Vanuatu, the tea ceremony in Japan, dodging corruption in the Philippines and watching helplessly as an albatross dies, becalmed for days in the middle of the ocean, almost being crushed by a behemoth of a container ship. They get into some tough scrapes, but their yin and yang, self-control, and, more importantly, sense of humor, see them through.”
Read the full review on page 64 of SFO Book Review- August2012.
For an abbreviated online version, click here.
When my friend Maria Ross asked me if I’d like to do a guest post on her blog, Red Slice, I was delighted. She’s a dynamo–a Marketing and Brand Strategist, Entrepreneurial guru, and the author of Branding Basics for Small Business and Rebooting My Brain: How a Freak Aneurism Reframed My Life. 
