Description: When her husband first proposed that they pack up their things, take to the seas, and live on a boat full-time, Debra Cantrell was thrown for a loop. Such an extreme lifestyle change would require that she abandon a career she loved (and with it, she feared, her self-esteem), a comfortable home into which she'd invested countless hours of creative energy, and a vital support network of friends and family. Reluctant to give up so much, but equally eager to cut loose and dive into a life at sea, Cantrell began to wonder what other women before her had chosen to do. Thus began a five-year study involving dozens of fascinating interviews with women whose partners had suggested the cruising life.

The result of her effort is the remarkable Changing Course, a deeply insightful guidebook and narrative survey of the singular adventures of 107 compelling women. In this book, readers will discover a range of outcomes -- not every woman who went to sea stayed there, and not every marriage survived, but without a single exception, each woman was in some way changed and strengthened by the experience. Cantrell has crafted a wonderfully open-minded and reassuring guidebook for weathering the changes wrought by such a major lifestyle leap. Featuring advice on all factors one needs to consider, how to effectively frame arguments in thought and discussion, and how to advise useful strategies to secure happiness in the midst of a life at sea, this book is a groundbreaking hybrid of the self-help and sporting genres. In an era when "downshifting" is the name of the game and increasing number of people are considering the benefits of simplified living, Changing Course is both timely and practical.

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