Kim, Eddie, and Ed Mapes An offshore sunset from the cockpit The skipper drives Voyager in the Annapolis - Bermuda Race   Perhaps a victim of its own success, Voyager Ocean Passages and the offshore teaching program has come to a close.  Beginning with two passages each year, the enterprise rapidly expanded to include six offshore adventures yearly.  The scores of sailors taking the courses were able to experience the unique and challenging nature of the offshore environment, and to judge for themselves whether they were best served to pursue their own voyages. The months spent at sea however, away from wife Kim and son Eddie, proved to be a major disruption in the Mapes family.  In the end, the captain chose to swallow the anchor for now and give up his time on the water to stay closer to home.  He has, after a nine year leave, returned to the practice Veterinary medicine and resumed a career in that field.   Please see the adjoining page, Dr. Ed Mapes, to learn more about his return to the field of medicine.  In the past, Ed's hospital, ELM Animal Hospital became a center for advanced medicine and referral cases for complex soft tissue and orthopedic procedures.  He has renewed those skills, and is providing relief and comfort to his patients once again. Rest assured that Ed's passion for the water has not faded. He continues to share his knowledge and experience - and efforts to help sailors through his books, articles, and teaching.  The published books Ready to Sail and Further Offshore  are available through the publisher (Sheridan House), Amazon.com, and from the Nautical Library on this web site. A third book is in the works as well:

Safer Offshore A Voyager's Guide to Crisis Management and Emergency Repairs at Sea is currently in the hands of Paradise Cay publishers, and will be released in Fall of 2010 - it can now be ordered at Amazon.com.  Safer Offshore is a compendium of information for the offshore sailor - no other book available describes the techniques used by the most advanced offshore sailors for handling emergencies that can happen even to the best-prepared vessels.  These include fire, flooding, illness/injury, abandon ship, helicopter evacuation, surviving in the life raft, managing heavy weather, and jury rigging systems when they fail.  This book has already been endorsed by Tania Aebi, Hank Schmidt, and Herb McCormack. Ed continues as a regular contributor of articles to Sailing magazine, and has been named as Contributing Editor at the magazine.  As a faculty member at NauticEd.com, Ed continues to add courses at the on-line sail education site. They are available at  at www.NautiEd.com. Ed is also an instructor for the Seven Seas Cruising Association by way of their web-cast format and the live presentations at the Associations' meetings.   Visit the Seven Seas web site at: www.sevenseas.org to learn about the webcast schedule and live meeting presentations.

Our exciting new affilliation with NauticEd will allow our friends an easy way to further their sailing educations.  Click on the NauticEd banner below, and travel to this new e-school.  Take their on-line courses to gain knowledge and receive certificates when you've successfully passed each module's on-line test.  You are allowed to work at your own pace, even stopping for a while if necessary, and pick up where you left off at a later time.  This is real, current, and valuable information that makes everyone better sailors.  NauticEd has my endorsement, and I encourage our sailing friends to take advantage of this convenient method to learn more about sailing. Click on the NauticEd image below to be linked to their incredible on-line curriculum of nautical classes, and sign up to take Ed's courses!     Learn the theory of sailing NOW with NauticEd

Voyager Ocean Passages Email: captainmapes@offshorevoyager.com