Memoir trilogy • Book 1 of 3
Out of the Fog! …A Story of Survival, Faith and Courage
The opening memoir in Sandra's trilogy, shaped by survival, hard choices, and the beginning of a profound transformation.
A real moment from Sandra's life at sea, where the Pacific could be beautiful, punishing, and unforgettable.
Memoir from the Pacific and beyond
Could you survive the Pacific mostly alone on a sailboat for 7 years and 4000 miles and come back alive, bolder than before?
Sandra CH Smith did. Her books trace a life shaped by storms, recovery, reinvention, faith, and fearless choices. This site introduces the sailing memoir trilogy, the story-filled cookbook that started it all, and a growing archive of Sandra's musings drawn from a life lived vividly.
At a glance
Four books, one remarkable life story
Books 1 through 3 form Sandra's sailing memoir trilogy from San Francisco to the Polynesian Triangle and back. A Cook’s Tour Of Epicuria …One Woman’s Adventures is her earlier cookbook and travel-inspired work.
Memoir trilogy • Book 2 of 3
Into The Light! …When All Else Fails, Follow The Fish!
The story continues with wit, perspective, and the kind of life lessons that only appear when the old chart has already blown overboard.
Memoir trilogy • Book 3 of 3
Navigating Life's Storms and Rainbows! …One Day at a Time
The final installment of the sailing memoir trilogy, brings the larger arc of Sandra's story to its full emotional harbor.
Coming soon
Read more ↓
Cookbook • Travel-inspired
A Cook’s Tour Of Epicuria …One Woman’s Adventures
The first book Sandra wrote. Not part of the sailing memoir trilogy, but filled with personal stories, original recipes, and the wider adventure of Sandra's travels.
Out of print
Read more ↓
About Sandra
A life of the Arts, enterprise, performance, and courageous reinvention
Sandra CH Smith's story is not confined to one role. She is an author, traveler, innkeeper, Arts Executive, performer, and a woman who has spent years turning experience into insight. Her books reflect endurance and reflection, but also humor, style, curiosity, and a refusal to shrink herself to fit smaller spaces.
Sandra embodies the spirit of hot-pink confidence, ocean energy, and the layered richness of a life that has touched sailing, hospitality, performance, and community.
Community, Culture, and Connection
Sandra has long loved meeting people and participating in cultural life. Whether through the arts council, public events, or the simple pleasure of conversation, she brings energy and warmth to the rooms she enters. Joe Biden visits Sandra's Springfield Regional Arts Council office where she was director. Soon after his visit, the Missouri governor named Springfield 'The most cultural city in Missouri' due to all Sandra's projects and efforts to bring the Arts to everyone! This part of her story matters because the memoirs are not just about surviving alone, but about what it means to return to community with deeper perspective.
Building Cliff Cottage B&B Inn
Adventure did not end at sea. After selling her boat in Puerto Vallarta, Sandra hitched a long ride with a friend to Eureka Springs, AR. After no work for 7 years and no credit history, she talked the bank into funding her new dream. She bought Cliff Cottage and four 19th Century houses along the block (Sandra loved playing Monopoly as a kid) which she restored with the help of a friend occasionally, creating a 5-star Inn shaping a haven of welcome and serenity. She got licensed to perform weddings in the Inn's great room, which she later turned into a commission-free art gallery for local artists. That chapter adds another layer to her story: not just endurance, but creation. She has repeatedly made room for beauty, hospitality, and possibility even while life demanded grit.
Performance, Opera, and Expressive Daring
Sandra's artistic life also includes years of performance and theatrical expression. From embodying Sarah Bernhardt to appearing in many operas, she has embraced the stage with the same courage that animates her memoir writing. The result is an author platform that feels lived-in and multi-dimensional, not manufactured.
Sandra's Musings
Notes, memories, and glimpses from the road and the water
Sandra… with breakfast, lunch, and dinner…with the Skipjack she caught on her little pole with chicken gizzards.
Every so often, Sandra is moved to jot down a thought — a memory from the boat, a reflection from her Inn, a stray observation worth keeping. They aren't a journal and they aren't social-media posts. They're her musings.
The full collection lives on one page, easy to browse at your leisure. Some include photos. Many don't.
Sandra's MusingsMain book section
Deeper looks at the books
Memoir trilogy • Book 1 of 3
Out of the Fog! …A Story of Survival, Faith and Courage
This first memoir volume introduces the conditions that shaped Sandra's recovery from alcoholism, resulting in her profound transformation. The emphasis is survival, faith, courage, and the painful decisions that often arrive before reinvention. With just $600 dollars in her pocket, Sandra quits her job as an award-winning journalist and leaves the emotionally abusive 16-year marriage replete with all the trappings of an upscale elegant suburban lifestyle. Knowing nothing about sailing, she buys a 36-foot sailboat, teaches herself to sail (often with eyes closed). With just a compass, a chart, and a prayer Sandra heads south from San Francisco. Book 1 sets the sails for the rest of the trilogy.
Where to buy
Amazon
BookBaby
Memoir trilogy • Book 2 of 3
Into The Light! …When All Else Fails, Follow The Fish!
The second volume continues her memoir arc with humor, intuition, and a determination not to follow conventional wisdom. Sandra’s rebellious teenaged daughter Sandi flies out from Philadelphia to San Diego to sail with her out into the Wild Blue. This is the first hint of a long-needed possible mother-daughter bonding. They head for the San Benito Islands, about 400 miles out to sea, to look for baby elephant seals. Aboard is their new ‘crew’, a chihuahua puppy a boater gave to them for ‘protection’. Surviving many harrowing storms and being followed by drug dealers for days, they arrive safely in Cabo San Lucas. Both enjoy a well-deserved ‘shore leave’, then Sandi flies home and Sandra continues on to Puerto Vallarta. After months of pondering her future, Sandra leaves her boat docked safely at the PV Marina, and heads off for the 7-10 day trip to Costa Rica as volunteer crew aboard a 28-foot sailboat. The simple journey turns into a nightmare when they are lost at sea for 5 weeks without charts and only crackers left to eat. If Book 1 is survival through storms, Book 2 is the navigation that comes after, when the light changes and the next direction finally becomes visible.
Where to buy
Amazon
BookBaby
Coming Soon
Book 3 of 3
Memoir trilogy • Final book
Navigating Life's Storms and Rainbows! …One Day at a Time
This final installment completes the sailing memoir trilogy. Book 3 finds Sandra flying from Costa Rica to Guatemala with her ‘Chihooahooa’ to heal from their near fatal experience at sea. Her daughter rejoins her to spend 6 months as landlubbers, exploring Guatemala and Honduras. They set up recovery meetings for women in Guatemala, and have unforgettable adventures in Honduras meeting many friendly indigenous people everywhere. The wildly fluctuating mother-daughter relationship ends on a completely unexpected note. This final installment of the sailing memoir anchors Sandra in waters not found on any chart.
Coming soon
Cookbook • Travel-inspired
A Cook’s Tour Of Epicuria …One Woman’s Adventures
Sandra's first book stands apart from the sailing memoir trilogy, yet it clearly belongs to the same adventurous life. The book is filled with lots of personal stories and her exquisite original recipes… based on her solo travels to Greece, France, Scotland, Mexico, and Latin America. Many of these gastronomic delights she created while building her hugely successful 5-star B&B Inn after selling her beloved boat and moving to the Victorian artist colony of Eureka Springs, AR.
Where to buy
This first book is out of print, but used paperback copies are still available on Amazon.
Amazon