As an Olympic sailor and author, I’m often asked about the link between the two. Sailing and writing have both been important to me since childhood. One of my earliest happy memories is of pushing a tiller and having the boat turn, a kind of power most kids are denied until they are old enough for a bicycle. Another early memory involves creating a book (construction paper, staples, you know the drill) and then writing the story and realizing it didn’t fit into the number of pages I’d built. It was the first of many lessons about the interaction between structure and content.
When computers took over desktop publishing, it brought my graphic design skills to life. I can’t draw by hand (at least not so anyone else can understand it), but I can arrange type around photos and graphics in a way that reinforces the impact of both. And lucky for me, most of my work is in the marine industry, so most of those photos (and most of the text) contains boats.
The real link, of course, is self-motivation. I wouldn’t have made it to the 2004 Olympics or ever published anything without that.
Published books: Game of Sails (Live Wire, 2012), Cape Cod Surprise (Gemma, 2010), and Oliver’s Surprise (Gemma, 2008).
Enjoy this blog, and please let me know if you have comments.
Helloooo! Very much enjoyed browsing your site, especially as it has my favorite literary quote on the header. My father used to read to us in the evenings in front of the fire (right coast winter ritual) when we were that perfect age…the only two books that I remember are The Wind in the Willows and a giant, old book titled “The Boys of 1812″ which was a very detailed history of our early naval adventures. I’ll be back!
Thanks for checking out the site. I don’t remember reading WITW as a child so much as “re” discovering it as an adult. And the quote is, of course, the best expression I’ve ever found of the basic joy I find in being on the water.
Hi Carol, do you have any nice photos of your Marlin you can share? I am a bit of a Herreshoff nut, and would like to have some more Marlin photos for my collection of beautiful Herreshoff boats.
HI Carol,
I was checking out my USSAILING e-mail w. the books available pg. & was surprised to read that you were from Jamestown! I too am originally from Jamestown where I grew up sailing & racing a 9′one-design yacht on Narragansett Bay & fooled w. boats off the east ferry beach thruout my life there, until leaving by age 23. I have read part of your Olivers Surprise story and, even from the first pgs.,it takes me back there, when either sailing or rowing our boats or dory. It was always all about boats then , as we still took a ferry to Newport, before the bridge was completed.
I’m still enjoying sailing, racing, and some kayaking where I reside in OK..on the lakes. I intend to purchase your books and read them to the younger generation, as your stories depict the true joy of sailing that only a childhood in Jamestown can tell!
Teresa:
Thanks for your comment! Yes Jamestown is still a fine place to be a kid. I hope you enjoy the book and the sequel “Cape Cod Surprise,” about where I grew up.
I actually won the 2000 Snipe Nationals on the lake in Oklahoma City. I hope my books will help pass on the joy of sailing to the next generation.
cheers
Carol
[...] About Carol [...]
Hi, Neat post. There is a problem with your web site in web explorer, would check this… IE still is the market chief and a large part of folks will miss your excellent writing due to this problem.