Al Golden

Al Golden was born January 31, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland.  When he reached the age of three his parents bought a summer place on the Severn River, and that’s where he spent his summers until he was nineteen.

His Dad always had some kind of small boat, both power and sail, and as he grew he spent more and more time on the water.  As a teenager he’d pack his Old Town Knockabout (a 14' lapstrake sloop) with camping gear and food and take off on sailing/camping trips around the northern Chesapeake .

Barbara Theisen

Barbara Theisen is a fulltime editor, writer and photographer with over twenty years of freelance experience and with writing credits in such top national publications as Reader's Digest, Family Fun and Family Circle. She’s been published in nearly every national sailing magazine including Cruising World, Sail, Latitudes & Attitudes, Good Old Boat and Mad Mariner. She also enjoyed many years as a columnist for Coastal Boating, Coastal Cruising and Home Education Magazine and was the Contributing Live Aboard Editor at Northern Breezes. She’s had over 300 articles published and has written and edited press releases, brochures, newsletters, and web copy for a variety of companies and individuals. Barbara’s work has been published in over 30 regional and specialty magazines including Sea, Heartland Boating, Boating for Women, Children’s Digest and Chickadee, as well as in a variety of newspapers across the country.  The Associated Press has picked up her articles for national distribution and her writing is featured in Disney's Family Fun Crafts Book.

Beth Leonard

Beth Leonard and her husband, Evans Starzinger, have completed two circumnavigations and logged more than 110,000 nautical miles. Between 1992 and 1995, they sailed westabout by way of the Panama Canal, Torres Straits and the Cape of Good Hope aboard their Shannon 37, Silk. They spent four years ashore building their 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt Samoa sloop, Hawk, before leaving again in 1999. They have just completed a ten-year, eastabout circumnavigation by way of all of the Great Capes that took them as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Cape Horn. Beth and Evans both write for the sailing magazines and have recently had articles appear in Cruising World, Practical Sailor, Good Old Boat and Yachting World. Beth is the author of three books: The Voyager’s Handbook, Following Seas and the award-winning Blue Horizons. Downloads of selected articles and extensive information on offshore sailing can be found at their website: www.bethandevans.com.

Captain Ed Mapes

Ed Mapes describes himself as a sailor who began his nautical career “when Moby Dick was a minnow”.  It may not actually be that long, but after 97,000 miles on the water, it has spanned four decades.  Beginning as a cruiser and then avid racer in the Great Lakes, Ed’s first offshore passage was in 1987, and he’s been “salty’ ever since. A licensed US Coast Guard Master Mariner since 1985, Ed is now the author of three books and has contributed magazine articles to several national publications. He is a Contributing Editor at Sailing Magazine.