bernadette.jpg
Before going cruising, Bernadette was the Editor In Chief of Cruising World for 10 years (1990 to 2000), and the Editorial Director of Cruising World and Sailing World magazines (1997 to 2000). During her tenure, Cruising World became the most popular and respected magazine in the world for cruising sailors, and won national Folio and Ozzie awards from the publishing industry for editorial and design excellence, as well as Boating Writers Of America awards for technical writing and editing.
Bernadette founded the Cruising World Safety At Sea Institute, which organizes with US Sailing a dozen day-long safety seminars around the country each year. She also developed Cruising World Adventure Charters which has sent more than 3,000 readers to far-flung destinations around the world.
In the 80s, she worked for a Washington-based economic consulting firm, where she was in charge of attitude surveys; and spent two years with VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America, our domestic Peace Corps) as a community organizer working on grassroots political issues in inner cities throughout the East Coast. She co-authored Maiden Voyage, the book about Tania Aebis solo circumnavigation, which was published by Simon and Schuster in seven countries, spent three weeks on The London Times bestseller list, and was selected in 1998 as a Best Book For Young Adults by the American Library Association.
She began sailing in college, took a beginning sailing course at Offshore Sailing School in Florida, bought a laser and then raced J/24s and Shields. Since then shes had 15,000 miles of worldwide sailing and cruising experience. In addition to her column for Cruising World, she remains an Editor At Large for Cruising World, and writes features for the magazine.
Bernadette and Douglas Bernon have been married since 1990. Before selling everything and going cruising on their Shearwater 39, Ithaka, in 2000, they lived in Newport, Rhode Island. Cruising World is following their journey by publishing this interactive weekly column, written and filed by the Bernons every Friday from their boat.
