The Leukemia Cup Regatta
at Carlyle Lake

Photos of Tania Aebi on her recent odyssey with her two sons (photos: BoatU.S.)

April 17-Top of the Met

Tania Aebi to Be Our Kick-Off Headliner

First American Woman & Youngest Person to Sail Around The World

Put April 17 in your calendar and plan to attend this fabulous Kick-Off. Headlining our 2009 Regatta Kick-Off event will be Tania Aebi, adventurer, author and sailor. The specifics:

• Meet us at the Top of the Met on the 42nd floor of the Metropolitan Building
• Address: 211 North Broadway, St. Louis, MO.
• Social hour starts at 6:30 PM- the event is over at 10:00 PM
• Parking is free - enter from the Pine St. Kemolls entrance
• Includes hors d'oeuvers and an open bar
• Reservations $25 in advance or $30 at the door - $15 for juniors
• To reserve call The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (314) 878-0780 or (800) 264-2873. Or complete this linked form and send it in with your check to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

In May 1985, when Tania Aebi was only 18 years old, she cast off from the docks of South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan, and sailed 27,000 miles around the world, alone on a twenty-six foot sloop. Concerned about her lack of ambition, her father had offered her this dramatic opportunity as an alternative to a college education, and she took him up on it.

For the next two and a half years, with only her cat, Dinghy, for company, she and her boat, VARUNA, crossed the Caribbean, the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic, stopping in 23 countries along the way. Tania Aebi sailed through storms and calms, gathering stories, friendships, inspirational examples, and maturity along the way. She also learned a lot about setting a larger-than-life goal and being committed to following it through despite the hardships of weather, mechanical breakdowns, the death of her mother, loneliness, doubt, and fear.

In November 1987, just barely 21, Tania Aebi stepped back onto the cement shores of New York City, a solo-circumnavigator. She spent one year after her return reliving the trip in words, writing her bestselling book, MAIDEN VOYAGE, the personal account of a modern day odyssey and the childhood turbulence that led up to the undertaking.

The book is currently in its eleventh trade paperback printing, it has been translated into seven languages, and portions of it have been anthologized in many collections. As Walter Cronkite put it, MAIDEN VOYAGE is “an exciting tale of an extraordinarily brave and romantic adventure.”

Click this link to see Tania Aebi's web site.

To read more about Tanya click here and here. Read Tania's blog regarding her most recent adventure with her two sons.