Out Of The Fog! A Story of Survival, Faith and Courage

Sandra CH Smith had everything...marriage, children, elegant home, exciting social life and a successful journalism career. But when a motorist hit her head on, she suffered for almost a year as a recluse with long-term retrograde amnesia. Cognac and French wine soon took insidious control. At 35, she fearfully opened the door of a 12-Step recovery program. Two years later, with a shared-custody arrangement in place, to protect and nourish her hard-won sobriety, Smith walked away with just $600 in her pocket to rebuild her life.

At eight years sober, with no knowledge of sailing, the author bought a 35-foot sailboat and taught herself to sail. Without electronics or radar, she embarked mostly alone, occasionally with her rebellious teenaged daughter, on the 2,555-day adventure with just a compass, a chart and a prayer. The 4,-000+ mile spiritual odyssey gave mother and daughter a chance to begin healing their fragile relationship. Smith's book offers a heart-warming, sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying testament to triumph over adversity.

"Out of the Fog!" provides painful but compelling insights into overcoming addiction as well as solving relationship issues. The book illustrates the power of hope, faith and courage in facing the difficulties of recovery and in healing relationships. It is an intimate narrative of how a woman tackled life-threatening challenges on land and at sea and emerged strong, fearless and independent.

Sandra CH Smith, an American-born child of immigrant parents, says adventuring is in her DNA. At age 11, she spent the school-year in Scotland, devoting free time to poking around dark and dank dungeons. Since then, she has lived in and explored many far-flung places, mostly alone, just because they were there. Smith spent her teenaged years in San Francisco's North Beach as a beatnik, hanging out with Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, and other Beat writers. (Thirty years later, Lawrence Ferlinghetti would be a regular guest/crew aboard Smith's hot pink sailboat.) After studying International Economics and Foreign Affairs at George Washington University, Smith earned a degree from Grenoble University, France. She has enjoyed a zillion careers from art school model, actor and chef, to Constituent Liaison for a U.S. Senator in DC, Arts administrator, realtor, lobbyist for the Arts, director of Santa Cruz CA and Springfield MO Arts Commissions, to newspaper reporter/feature writer, host of her own ocean-going radio show, and innkeeper.
Smith lives with her medievalist/opera-lover husband and their one-eyed 11-year old rescue doggie in Old Bisbee in Arizona's High Sonoran desert. In between RV escapades and other travels, she spends time writing about their non-stop adventures and creating exotic yummy recipes. Smith says her mantra today is, "I can't change the wind, but I can adjust my sails." (Jimmy Dean and/or Dolly Parton).