Wendy Hinman

Tightwads on the Loose is the #1 Best Seller at Magnolia Bookstore!

I just learned the my book, Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey, is on the best seller list for Third Place Books! May 2012

Here’s a photo of it on the display shelf. Look at the company it’s in!

http://www.myballard.com/2012/06/11/ballard-writers-jam-at-egans-on-tuesday-night/

Local writers, including Wendy Hinman, will perform original work at Egan’s Ballard Jam House on Tuesday, June 12 at 7 p.m. This will be the final Ballard Writers Jam of the summer. It’s the third event of its kind, and according to Peggy Sturdivant, each one has been a full house. More . . .

Cruising Vancouver Island:
An Ideal Shakedown For Extended Voyaging
By Wendy Hinman

As my husband, Garth, and I planned to venture offshore, our heads spun with everything we needed to do to get our boat ready. Magazines intimidated us with all the luxuries and potential safety equipment we might carry. Ads taunted us with “How much is your life worth?” Our budget answered that otherwise unanswerable question. We bought a 31-foot boat, simply outfitted because that was all we could afford at the time, and we were unwilling to postpone our dreams to some indefinite future which might never come.

We found that the best way to prepare was to use our boat to figure out what worked for us. The first two years after we purchased our boat, we tested both ourselves and the boat by sailing to nearby anchorages. But as the date of our offshore departure loomed, we sought a more rugged test of our skills and equipment than the familiar bays and islands around Seattle: we decided to circumnavigate Vancouver Island for a shakedown cruise. It was a good decision. More . . .

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ospreyvoyages/?xjMsgID=225530

Velella Sailing in New Zealand

For certain others, like Wendy Hinman and Garth Wilcox, such dreams are the stuff life is. In 2000 the couple set sail from Puget Sound for a Pacific Odyssey in their 31-foot cutter, Velella. Seven years later, the couple returned home.

Along the way, they logged some 34,000 nautical miles, touched 19 countries, endured typhoons, experienced close calls with freighters, potential pirates and phantom night vessels, swam in snake and crocodile infested waters and made do without refrigeration and Internet.

A compelling read, “Tightwads on the Loose: a Seven Year Pacific Odyssey” flows as an adventure narrative with a “you are there” flavor. Ms. Hinman had done plenty of professional writing before the voyage: She’s as competent with the written word as she is at sea. And she clearly has a sense of humor — a necessary, conjugal survival tool within the confines of a 31-foot boat small enough to prevent her husband from standing straight up.”
Mike Dillon, Magnolia News

Read the entire article here.

http://www.magnolianews.net/main.asp?SectionID=26&SubSectionID=337&ArticleID=32918

“Dorade: The History of an Ocean Racing Yacht” by Douglas D. Adkins David R. Godine, 240 pp., $65 Dorade is a fine tribute in the form of a coffee table book that features well-crafted stories and photos of this majestic girl through her many glories and darker days. More . . .

Velella Sailing in New Zealand

My husband, Garth Wilcox, and I sailed our 31-foot sailboat, Velella, 34,000 miles for seven years. We ventured to the South Pacific and to Asia, enduring storms and typhoons as well as dangerous situations navigating reefs and ships that threatened to turn our modest home into kindling. We shared some amazing adventures together. She’s one special boat, not only to us. Find out what makes her so unusual. Read a profile of her here.

I’m heading for the Seattle Boat Show to do the second of five presentations: Comfort Afloat in the Heat of the Tropics. See details about my other presentations: Pacific Loop Options; Cruising on a Budget; and Go Small, Go Simple, Go Now at http://www.seattleboatshow.com/

The 2012 Women in Boating Seminar will be February 18, 2012. I’ll be presenting again at this year’s session. For more details about this year’s line up, visit this link.

Here’s an article about last year’s seminar, which was a great success.

This month’s Writers Connection features an interview with New York Times best selling author Erik Larson.

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Visit our listing of local events this month,click here.