 In May 1985, when Tania Aebi was only 18 years old, she cast
off from the docks of South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan, and sailed 27,000
miles around the world, alone on a twenty-six foot sloop. Concerned about her
lack of ambition, her father had offered her this dramatic opportunity as an
alternative to a college education, and she took him
up on it. For the next two and a half years, with only a cat for company, she
and her boat, VARUNA, crossed the Caribbean, the South Pacific and Indian
Oceans, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic, stopping in 23
countries along the way. She sailed through storms and calms, gathering stories,
friendships, inspirational examples, and maturity along the way. She also
learned a lot about setting a larger-than-life goal and being committed to
following it through despite the hardships of weather, mechanical
breakdowns, the death of her mother, loneliness, doubt, and fear.
In November 1987, just barely 21, Tania Aebi stepped back onto the cement shores
of New York City, a solo-circumnavigator. She spent one year after her return
reliving the trip in words, writing her bestselling book, MAIDEN VOYAGE, the
personal account of a modern day odyssey and the childhood turbulence that led
up to the undertaking.
The book is currently in its eleventh trade paperback printing, it has been
translated into seven languages, and portions of it have been anthologized in
many collections. As Walter Cronkite put it, MAIDEN VOYAGE is “an exciting tale
of an extraordinarily brave and romantic adventure.”
Tania now lives and participates in a small town rural life in New England,
where she has been a mother of two boys between going back to traditional school
and earning her BA and MFA. She also earned her captain's license and leads
learn-to-sail 10-day flotillas in different countries around the world, writes a
column for a popular sailing magazine, and is currently working on another book.
A natural storyteller, since her return, Tania has been lecturing to different
groups all around the country and overseas. To rapt audiences, she richly
details her youthful adventure, supplemented by an exotic slide show of pictures
taken underway. With humor and honest reflection, she tells of how she once took
on the biggest challenge she would ever face, triumphed, and in what ways this
experience has forever impacted her life. This is a genuine and inspirational
story you won’t soon forget.
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