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Sail Loot Podcast 008: Leave of Absence for Sailing Sabbaticals with Lisa Dorenfest

By on December 11, 2014

Lisa Dorenfest has always been attracted to the water and grew up on Lake Michigan sailing lasers and Hobie Cats. It wasn’t until 2007-2008 when Lisa started to get serious about taking action on her dream to circumnavigate the world by sailboat.

Lisa’s best friend, Mary Davenport Cook, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Lisa decided to live Mary’s bucket list with her. That bucket list included a lot of sailboat charters.

During those times Mary taught Lisa to stop, look around, and enjoy those moments while she still had her health and was able to follow her dreams. Finally Lisa roused the courage to say to herself, “Just Do It!”

The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it. – Jordan Belfort

Since then, Lisa has honed her sailing skills with the Manhattan Sailing Club, completed an offshore passage with John Kretschmer, became a Yachtmaster with British Offshore Sailing School, sailed across the Atlantic by participating in the Atlatic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), and joined The Captain on Amandla to sail across the Pacific.

During all of her sailing adventures Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Lisa has taken measures to rid herself of cancer and continue on with her circumnavigation dream.

None of these adventures would have been possible without a wonderful job at Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse allowed Lisa to take a leave of absence so that she could cross the Atlantic, and provided support, if only financially (which probably helps some mentally as well), to obtain the medical treatments necessary to rid herself of breast cancer and continue on with her sailing dreams.

I feel like maybe I’ve said too much already. So now, I’ll let you hit the play button below, listen to the podcast on iTunes, or use the download button to save the audio file for a later date. I hope you enjoy Lisa’s story!

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A Few Things You’ll Learn About In This Episode:

  • Lisa’s attraction to the water and growing up sailing lasers on Lake Michigan.
  • Living Mary Davenport Cook’s bucket list after Mary was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.
  • Being a Project Manager in New York City for Credit Suisse
  • Preparing for her adventure of sailing around the world with more sailing lessons and beer can sailing races in New York Harbor
  • Sailing with the Manhattan Sailing Club
  • Her offshore passage with John Kretschmer from Annapolis to Nova Scotia
  • Her decision to sail around the world on other people’s boats.
  • Credit Suisse offering Lisa a Leave of Absence to pursue her sailing dreams.
  • Lisa’s 18 week offshore Yachtmaster program with British Offshore Sailing School.
  • Sailing from Galicia, Spain to the Canary Islands.
  • Lisa’s battle with breast cancer.
  • Sailing on Amandla with The Captain.
  • How they work out the expenses aboard Amandla.
  • Lisa and Amandla’s future sailing plans.
  • How far Lisa has to go to complete her dream of sailing around the world.
  • The limits that being a U.S. citizen can place on travelers.
  • And much more!

Links and Resources From This Episode:

THANK YOU!

Thank you very much for listening to the show! If you enjoyed listening and it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons that you see on the page. You can also head on over to the Sail Loot Facebook page, hit the like button, and leave comments and questions over there! We’d love to chat!

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TeddyJ

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About Teddy

I am a 37 year old that just wants to find a way to make a remote income, gather some Sail Loot and cruise the world! I have been sailing for a couple of years now, but mostly on 10 day trips as vacationing crew. I just recently took sailing to the next level by completing my Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising, and Bareboat Cruising Certifications! I am also Vice President of a Medical Consulting Company, have a Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, and have taken several Coding, Computing, and Online Business courses. It's time to share what I have learned!

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