Captain Pat Rains
Capt. Patricia Miller Rains (U.S. Coast Guard 100 Ton Master) cruised her 28-foot and 36-foot sailboats around the Sea of Cortez for 5 years while working as a freelance writer and photographer, also as a yacht-delivery skipper.
Since marrying Capt. John E. Rains (U.S. Coast Guard 3,000 Ton Master Upon Oceans), she has logged more than 100,000 n.m. skippering a variety of yachts (sail & power) up and down both coasts of Mexico and Central America. She has transited the Panama Canal more than 30 times, each time skippering a different boat. She worked as a bridge officer on a research vessel for the U.S. Navy. Capt. Pat has crossed the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Atlantic – not on cruise ships!
Since retiring from yacht delivery in 2005, Capt. Pat Rains now goes cruising for pleasure with friends and former clients, constantly updating her nautical guidebooks – “Mexico Boating Guide,” and “Cruising Ports: the Central American Route,” and “MexWX: Mexico Weather for Boaters.”
Her daily, weekly and monthly columns in nautical publications include “Under Way” and “El Reporte” in The Log Newspapers, “Mexico Report” in SEA Magazine, and frequent articles in “Cruising World,” “Power Cruising” and other national publications.
Nancy Cann is president of Crusader Yacht Sales in Annapolis, MD. She started Crusader Yachts in 1982. Nancy has been boating for over 40 years, lived aboard a sailboat for 10 years, and has sailed in many beautiful places around the world. She also enjoys offshore and coastal fishing and has fished in a long list of exotic places. 
Dave is a degreed naval architect and marine engineer with experience in commercial, military, and civil vessel design, construction, operation, and service-life extension. A good deal of his experience has addressed communication issues ranging from very low bandwidth links to integration of off-board sensors over very fast connections.
Dr. Julie Teetsov has taught Celestial Navigation for various maritime institutions and yacht clubs including the National Women’s Sailing Association, SSCA, Annapolis School of Seamanship, and West Marine. She is currently cruising with her husband, Larry Shaffer, aboard s/v Miss Kathleen in Panama. Julie worked for many years as a scientist for General Electric’s Nanotechnology program before deciding to leave the corporate.
Ronald C. Trossbach. Safety at Sea has been a life long responsibility for Ron Trossbach. From his assignment as Safety Officer at the Forward Replenishment Station of his first destroyer in 1959 to his beloved yacht SUNNESHINE today he has considered safety as the number one item in preparing for and conducting on-the-water events.
During a sabbatical, Steven and his wife sailed on their 43' Young Sun from San Diego through Central America to Panama. The wind then took them to the Galapagos, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Tonga and to New Zealand for cyclone season. During the following South Pacific sailing season they cruised Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia. After selling their boat in Australia they returned to land bound life in San Diego. AIS equipment is at the top of the list of must haves on their next boat.