Authors

Capt. Patricia Miller Rains

(U.S. Coast Guard 100 Ton Master) cruised her 28-foot trimaran and a 44-foot Peterson around the Sea of Cortez for 5 years while working as a freelance writer and photographer, later as a yacht-delivery skipper after 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 38 times, each time skippering a different boat. She also 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, Capt. Pat Rains and husband John now cruise for pleasure with friends and former clients, and Pat is constantly updating her nautical guidebooks – “Mexico Boating Guide,” and “Cruising Ports: the Central American Route,” and “MexWX: Mexico Weather for Boaters.”  She writes articles for The Log Newspapers, BoatUS, Passagemaker, SEA Magazine, and other national publications. Look for Capt. Pat’s popular cruising seminars at Trawler Fest, Strictly Sail, the San Diego Boat Show and West Coast yacht clubs.

Capt. Jim Elfers

author of “The Baja Bash II”   Capt. Jim has skippered or crewed on everything from Tall Ships to racing multihulls, engineless sailboats to mega sportfishers. After first single-handing in Mexican waters, he returned stateside and obtained his US Coast Guard License and began his main career – delivering yachts on his favorite routes between San Francisco and Acapulco – also running Strider Yachts in Ventura, California. He ran Marina Puerto Los Cabos and Coast Chandlery in the Los Cabos area and he’s currently delivering and surveying yachts at Mandalay Marine (650-834-6780) in the SF Bay Area.  Jim also wrote “Bluewater Sailing.”

Reanne Hemingway Douglass

author of  “Baja California Map” – Reanne is a plucky sailor and adventurous spirit in all she does. Besides this Baja Map, mariners should know her from her autobiographical classic, “Cape Horn: One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare” – thrilling reading for when you’re safely anchored in one of the pleasant ports you’ll find on her Baja Map. But don’t read it during rough weather at sea or when needing patience with your own Capt. Blye!  Reanne is a dear friend and one of my real life heroines. She and her late hubby Don Douglass wrote Pacific North West cruising guides.

Kathy Parsons

author of “Spanish for Cruisers” newest edition. Kathy has been a sailor, teacher, corporate trainer and served with the Peace Corp in Nicaragua.  She has an MBA from Harvard University and travels worldwide. Her Spanish for Cruisers is considered standard equipment aboard cruising boats in Mexico and Central America, so it’s often used as the text book for impromptu Spanish classes that cruisers put together in marinas and cruising ports along this route.