Deb Cantrell
Keynote Presentation
Deb Cantrell is a half-time cruiser, full-time adventurer, writer, and professional consultant to the social services sector in Canada. Deb embarked upon an ambivalent love affair with boats 28 years ago when, out of the blue, her husband Jim announced that he’d like to ‘sell everything and sail away.’ At the time, neither had sailed a day in their lives.
The very idea of getting on a boat terrified Deb, in no small part because she was frightened of everything in and above the water. And because she loved everything about her land life, including her profession. Fortunately, Jim’s dream coincided with her doctoral studies that focused on change and, particularly, how couples cope when one partner desires a change that the other does not.
Deb’s bestselling book, Changing Course - A Woman’s Guide to the Cruising Life, chronicles her personal change journey as well as those of more than a hundred other women who, like Deb, chose to find ways to make living afloat joyful and fulfilling.
Today, Deb and Jim and their four-legged companion continue to spend half the year in the Mediterranean, aboard their ketch-rigged motor sailor, Beedahbun. Deb has written articles for a number of cruising publications and is currently working on another book, Still On Course and Loving It!
The very idea of getting on a boat terrified Deb, in no small part because she was frightened of everything in and above the water. And because she loved everything about her land life, including her profession. Fortunately, Jim’s dream coincided with her doctoral studies that focused on change and, particularly, how couples cope when one partner desires a change that the other does not.
Deb’s bestselling book, Changing Course - A Woman’s Guide to the Cruising Life, chronicles her personal change journey as well as those of more than a hundred other women who, like Deb, chose to find ways to make living afloat joyful and fulfilling.
Today, Deb and Jim and their four-legged companion continue to spend half the year in the Mediterranean, aboard their ketch-rigged motor sailor, Beedahbun. Deb has written articles for a number of cruising publications and is currently working on another book, Still On Course and Loving It!