Se’renta, Sandra Smith’s home for seven years, at anchor in the Sea of Cortez
Sandra CH Smith, a Quail Creek resident, details her adventurous life in a fascinating memoir, Out of the Fog! Presenting portions of her life story to the QC Writers and Poets Club on May 16, Smith proved to be the embodiment of a true Capricorn. According to one astrologer, “The Sea Goat recognizes that life is short, there is much to be accomplished and achieved in this lifetime, and slowing down is simply not an option.”
Growing up in Beatnik-era San Francisco, as a teenager, Smith became close friends with, and mascot for, a group of Beat writers, including Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Thirty years later, while Smith was living aboard her 36-foot sailboat “Se’renta,” docked at Pier 39, Ferlinghetti became regular crew as the two sailed around San Francisco Bay.
Sandra studied foreign affairs/economics at the University of Oregon. By invitation of Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, she transferred to George Washington University in order to work part time in his D.C. office. (Her main duty, wearing a pretty dress and a huge smile, was to walk his prize bulls in front of judges at local fairs!) Next, she obtained a graduate degree in French literature at the University of Grenoble, France. Smith’s ability to speak five languages was handy as she skied the Alps and traveled solo around Europe. Alone, and the only American aboard, she took the final and terrifying trip of the original Orient Express from Greece through the Soviet Balkans to Italy.
Smith met her first husband on the Canary Islands. A year later, they settled in the suburbs of his hometown Philadelphia where she became a newspaper reporter and editor. Suffering from long-term retrograde amnesia from a head-on collision, she fell into alcohol dependency and depression. After a contentious divorce resulting in shared custody of their two teenagers, and with only $600 in her pocket, Sandra started a new life in downtown Philly as an urban guerilla. With her longtime interest in the performing arts, she soon appeared with major opera companies and held leading roles in many theater productions. After a few years of blissful poverty, she transitioned smoothly into new careers as fundraiser and lobbyist for nonprofits and director of arts councils for several large cities.
At 43, with eight years of sobriety tucked into her lifejacket, Smith bought “Se’renta,” gave away radar and fancy navigating equipment (she’s not a techie!), and taught herself to sail. Navigating by the ancient mariners’ system of dead-reckoning, Smith experienced horrendous storms and evaded drug dealers and pirates, sailing 4,000-plus miles alone with her chihuahua and sometimes her rebellious teenage daughter. Using just a compass, a chart, and a prayer, the author embarked on a seven-year Spiritual Odyssey, bringing self-discovery and healing to both her and her daughter. Out of the Fog!, available on Amazon, covers sailing from San Francisco to the Baja. Watch for Smith’s sequel, Into the Light!, which continues her sea-going adventures beyond the Baja.