Author Description

As you sit dreaming, have you ever wondered what it would be like to drop out for couple of years, and sail merrily off for a grand adventure on a sailboat? If so, then you will find "Hurry Up!! Drop the Dinghy!!" completely, and irrevocably irresistible. But, even if such a fantasy has never occurred to you, the Journal will gleefully introduce you to the vagaries of long distance coastal cruising, enthusiastically whisking you away into the exciting world of life aboard the "Panacea" as it heads out to sea and then races to anchor near shore where it can hurry up and drop the dinghy. Heave to, Matey!<br> <br> Roberta Smith, homemaker, has successfully launched five children into the world, and with her husband Lee, is living the good life in Southern California. She is happily imbedded in the usual, ordinary things of life, except for their leisure times, when they are flirting with small adventures aboard the good ship "Panacea", their thirty-four foot sailboat. Many hours and days are spent having grand old times, sailing up and down the coast from Catalina to San Diego and San Francisco and dropping the dinghy for sorties ashore. Everything is smooth sailing and seems to be under control.<br> <br> And then, Roberta's husband Lee drops a bombshell on her domesticated, unsuspecting head. He has secretly harbored a dream, to drop out of their current life and sail away for a "Luxury Cruise". (Hah! Oh, really?), down the coast of Mexico and Central America to Panama and then to the Caribbean. His mind is made up. He will do it NOW!<br> <br> For Roberta, this is out of the realm of possibilities. She's happy where she is, but soon, realizes that the ship might leave without her, and she'd be left, standing on the dock, dabbing her eyes and waving goodbye with a soggy hanky! Oh, no! After much thrashing around in rebellion, she leaps up! She CAN do this! She CAN turn into an adventuress! Immediately, she is an enthusiastic whirlwind, making the necessary preparations