Chris Santella - Fifty Places to Sail Before You Die: Sailing Experts Share the World’s Greatest Destinations

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To Deidre, Cassidy Rose, and Annabel Blossom,
whove been unwaveringly patient and generous with their time
so I might pursue my dream of writing books.

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This book would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the expert sailors who shared their time and experiences to help bring these fifty great sailing venues to life. To these men and women, I offer the most heartfelt thanks. I would especially like to thank Sue Maffei Plowden (Suma, to her friends), who offered much advice and countless introductions to her vast circle of sailing pals. I also want to acknowledge the fine efforts of my editors Jennifer Levesque, Dervla Kelly, and Kate Norment, designer Paul Wagner, and copyeditors Sylvia Karchmar and Elizabeth Norment, who helped bring the book into being despite a deadline baby (Jennifers first, Veronica Rose) and a very late manuscript delivery. These folks do a wonderful job; as Im fond of saying, if the words are half as good as the aesthetics of the book itself, it wont be a terrible read! Thanks should also go to my agent Stephanie Kip Rostan, who talked me off the ledge on more than one occasion (due to said late manuscript delivery). Last, Id like to thank my parents, who didnt insist that I take sailing lessons, but encouraged me to try new things and constantly expand my horizons... and my wife, Deidre, and daughters, Cassidy Rose and Annabel Blossom, who have shown such tremendous love, patience, and support as I wrestle against deadline after deadline.

Water occupies over 70 percent of the planet Earth, providing a multitude of sailing venues, from high-latitude exploration to sultry equatorial islands and all of the seas, bays, and lakes in between. To some offshore sailors these waterways provide highways to travel from place to place; to racing sailors they are a unique playing field that is ever changing with the weather; to cruising sailors they provide a peaceful setting to while away timeand for all, being at sea is a welcome break from life ashore.

Working in the sailing industry around the world has provided me with a lifetime of opportunities to make friends who share a common bond of spending time on the water. Often we return to the same placesa favorite regatta in Newport or Sardinia, a familiar anchorage in Maine or New Zealandwhile other times an invitation to try something new takes us farther afieldto Turkey, Antarctica, or the fjords of Alaska.

In Fifty Places to Sail Before You Die, Chris Santella has interviewed professional sailors, writers, boatbuilders, former Olympians, sailing instructors, yachting photographers, and others to find out their favorite places, and has endeavored to bring these places to life. Some of these you may know, but the description of others is likely to spur you on to pack your duffle and head out to explore some intriguing destinations.

In ports and harbors around the world there are always people to be found doing just what we all like to do: mess around in boats in a special place. I hope this title helps lead you to new ports and new friends.

SUSAN MAFFEI PLOWDEN

On the Sea of Cortez, cruisers enjoy calm waters and a reliable afternoon breeze.

I will be the first to admit that my sailing experience is somewhat limited: a seasons worth of sailing lessons at Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club in the summer of 1975, with a cruel crewmate who yelled Shark! each time we tacked (this, take note, was the year that Jaws was released); and several corporate events that transpired on sailboats in the San Francisco Bay where I was compelled to discuss the benefits of various technologies that I didnt fully understand (as the marketing guy, I was not required to understand much of anything). Despite these rather unpromising forays into the sport, I must say that several key facets of sailinga chance to be outside on the water in the company of friends, perhaps in the spirit of gentlemanly competitionhave always been appealing. When the opportunity to write Fifty Places to Sail Before You Die arose, I saw it as a chance to explore this passion that grips millions of men and women around the world.

To expand my horizonsand to get a real aficionados sense of what the sailing experience offersI followed a recipe that served me well in my first two Fifty Places books: seeking the advice of some professionals. I interviewed a host of people closely connected with the sport to learn about some of their favorite waters and sailing experiences. These experts range from professional sailors (like Gary Jobson and Mike Sanderson) to boat builders (like Jeff Johnstone) to Olympians (like J. J. Isler) to journalists and photographers (like Herb McCormick and Billy Black) to instructors (like Penny Whiting) to educators (like Peter Mello) to adventurers (like Skip Novak and Lin and Larry Pardey). Some spoke of waters that are near and dear to their hearts, others spoke of places theyve only visited once but that made a profound impression. People appreciate sailing for many different reasons, and this range of attractions is evidenced here. (To give a sense of the breadth of their sailing backgrounds, a biography of each individual is included after each essay.)