My Rite of Passage During the Summer of '76

H. Downing Lane has been a retired educator, tutoring business owner, private high school teacher, sailing coach and school administrator. Born and raised on Maryland's Eastern Shore, H. Downing taught sailing on Long Island Sound, raced competitively on the Chesapeake Bay, crewed transatlantic to Norway, crewed on numerous races to Bermuda, voyaged much of Maine's coast, cruised the Caribbean, Belize, Dalmatian Coast and the Bahamas. In 2008 he purchased Mystique, a 40' Leopard catamaran, then sailed it from St. Maarten to Florida. Then spent years cruising the Bahamas' Exumas and Eleuthera. Maintaining his blog, www.bluewatermystique .com, about sailing and its lessons, he is presently writing a number of books about his personal exploits, insights and observations about sailing and the sea.  In 2016 he sailed solo for 51 days from Florida to the Exumas Islands round trip describing his exploits in his book Sailing Bluewater Mystique Solo. And then with Lainie Wrightson, he sailed to paradise in Surviving Bluewater Mystique - An Adventure in the Bahamas. And as a young sailor he sailed across the Atlantic; he recorded his adventures in My Rite of Passage in the Summer of '76.