Torries

january/february 2017

cruisingworld.com

38

W

e were motoring

into a turquoise

French Polynesian

lagoon when a 1966 Cal 40,

already at anchor, caught my

eye. Dropping our hook 50

yards away, we were close

enough to read the wavy

liquid typeface on the stern

quarter: Swell.

“I know that boat,” I said to

my wife and two girls. A dinghy

tugged at its painter behind the

Cal, but nobody was topside.

My youngest daughter and I

jumped in and swam over.

A tanned, smiling face

popped up from the compan-

ion way, framed in long, curly

blond hair. “Hi!”

I was face to face with the

owner of the Cal, and she

didn’t know me from Adam.

But far away, bathed in fl uo-

rescent light and surrounded

by the vanilla-colored walls of

a Washington, D.C., offi ce, I’d

started rooting for Liz Clark

upon discovering her blog in

2004. That was a year before
      she broke free.
      At 25 years old, Liz sailed
      away from a Southern
      California marina, and she’s
      been exploring the world ever
      since. Parts of her story have
      been told in newspapers, mag-
      azines, on her blog and, lately,
      via social media. It’s a story
      she’s keen to share.
      “I want people to know that
      I am not some superwoman

to whom destiny opened the

door to a perfect sailing dream

life. Looking back through

my diaries and logbooks, I

am amazed to see just how

far I have come,” Liz told my

daughter and me as we chatted

in her cockpit. “I now see how

all the diffi culties appeared so

perfectly along my path for my

personal growth.”

The challenges Liz faced to

get where she is today were

both physical and emotional.

She overcame them through

determination, perseverance

and a sweet dose of serendipity.

In her early 20s, Liz was a

bartender fi nishing a degree

in environmental science. Up

to that point in her life, she’d

followed the path, jumped

through the hoops. All she

could then see on the horizon

was convention: career,

marriage, house, family, retire-

ment. But she wasn’t after

convention. She harbored an

unconventional dream.

Liz grew up in a sailing

family. As a young teen she’d

read Tania Aebi’s Maiden

Voyage and decided she also

wanted to sail alone around

At 25 years old, Liz Clark sailed away from a Southern California marina, and she’s

been exploring the world ever since.

BY MICHAEL ROBERTSON

STILL RIDING the SWELL

Sailor Profile

Liz Clark’s journey has been

as much about surfi ng as sail-

ing (she’s the surfer tucked in

the curl, with her boat’s mast

visible behind her).

COURTESY OF LIZ CLARK

CRW0217_PRO_SP_map2.indd 38 11/21/16 11:15 AM