Beth Leonard

(s/v Hawk) For a lifetime of writings and publications on important issues which have helped many overcome obstacles and encouraged them to cruise in small boats

Beth Leonard and her husband, Evans Starzinger, completed their first circumnavigation of the earth in 1995, a three-year tropical voyage aboard their 37-foot ketch, SILK. Within months of their return, they had determined to head off again in a custom boat to sail the high latitudes. During their four years ashore building their 47-foot aluminum sloop, HAWK, Beth began sharing what she had learned with others through speaking engagements, books, and articles. By the time they set out on their second circumnavigation in 1999, Beth had finished her how-to book, The Voyager's Handbook, which has helped thousands of people realize their sailing dreams.

Over the course of the next decade, while living aboard HAWK and sailing more than 75,000 nautical miles, Beth wrote hundreds of articles for more than a dozen sailing magazines including Yachting World, Yachting Monthly, Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, and SAIL. She also completed the second edition of The Voyager's Handbook, adding a half dozen new chapters and vastly expanding the material in every chapter. Her fact-based analytical approach combined with a respect for the many different ways that people live aboard their boats allow her readers to find their own best path to realizing their cruising dreams.