Pamela at sea

Pam's famous Mickey Mouse imitation, new Year's Eve, Puerto Vallarta 2004/2005

Working with Tu on Palmerston Island

Checking out the Sydney Opera House

Pamela on her rock on Rarotonga Island

Securing the dinghy at sea

Harry - A woman's best friend

The cleaning fiend!

Looking for shells on Niue Island

General Overview

I am currently forty-six years old.  I was born in Bar Harbor, Maine on Mount Desert Island.  I moved to San Francisco in 1985 where I lived and worked up until leaving on this adventure.  I grew up in a family of five, consisting of my parents, an older brother and a sister who is eleven months younger.  My father sadly passed away in 2000, but the rest of my immediate family still live on and near the island where I grew up

Sailing Background

Growing up on an island that is a national park (Acadia National Park) was like living in paradise.  I spent all of my time either near or on the water.  As a teenager I often went sailing with friends in Southwest or Bar Harbor and loved it.  At the time I didn’t have the confidence to try to sail the boat, therefore I was always a willing passenger.  I could often be found walking on the rocky beaches or lying on the sandy beach.  Though I knew I didn’t want to live there for the rest of my life, I knew that I would always have to be near the ocean.  Between growing up on an island, coming from a family of lobster fisherman and boat builders I believe the love and respect for the sea is in my blood.

After moving to California I didn’t know anyone with a sailboat until Scott invited me to go sailing on San Francisco Bay in 2003.   In March of 2003 Scott and I ventured into a tentative relationship.  He had his plan to leave in eighteen months to sail around the world solo.  Shortly after we started seeing one another he asked me if I would be interested in joining him, “we could be the first visually impaired couple to sail around the world and provide an example of independence for children and others with disabilities.”. 

In 1998 I had visited my childhood friend David in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and spent many hours asking him questions about his jobs on the boats he had worked on as an engineer.  I came back home overflowing with the idea of living and working on a sailboat in the Caribbean.  I told anyone who would listen and was even close to looking into an opportunity through a friend.  However, as life goes I ended up on another path and the idea of spending significant time on a boat and at sea, undertaking a life adventure (although not my original thoughts) was pulled back to the forefront of my mind with Scott’s invitation. 

We spent the next year discussing the possibility, taking sailing classes, sailing almost every weekend on San Francisco Bay and preparing the boat.  I finally made the decision to go in May 2004 and began to organize my life for the voyage.  I quit my job of sixteen years and decided what to do with my belongings.  On October 11, 2004 after only one four day trip up the coast of California, Scott Duncan and I sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge to start our adventure, attempting to become the first legally blind people to sail around the world without sighted assistance. 

Vision Loss

At the age of one I was diagnosed with congenital cataracts in both eyes.  The Ophthalmologist told my parents he would not operate until I was four or five years old when the cataracts were more mature.  Our pediatrician Dr. William Bromley suggested my parents seek a second opinion and they were referred to Dr. William Hill in Waterville, Maine.  Heeding this advice they made the three hour trip and the same diagnosis was confirmed, but he said he would operate when I was two and a half years old.  He informed my parents if the cataracts had matured beyond that point I would have been totally blind in my right eye and almost blind in my left.  Thankfully, the surgeries began at the age of two and a half and were completed by the time I was six years old.  It was later described to me that my vision in the beginning of my life was like looking through a waterfall or through your fingers as you hold your hand to your face.  My mother said I would walk straight toward the door frame and then swerve and walk right through the door just before impact.  I have no memory of how I could see before the surgeries.

I wear aphakic pediatric contact lenses. With best correction, my distance visual acuity is equivalent to 20/300 in my right eye and 20/200 in my left eye.  I have a constant right eye turn and nystagmus.  My eyes are under developed and my pupils are misshapen and non-reactive.  I also have diminished peripheral vision, which I did not know until I read it in a letter my Ophthalmologist wrote describing my vision to another eye doctor when I was in my twenties.  It was a lesson in confirming that it is true you can’t miss something you don’t know you don’t have.  I had learned how to compensate by turning my head whenever I need to see something out of my field of vision, that is unless I discover it by running into it first.  I also wear glasses with my contact lenses for reading and utilize a hand-held magnifying glass and closed circuit TV for reading some print. 

My biggest visual challenges are distance vision, depth perception and focusing my eyes.  I have discovered on this trip the coping mechanisms I learned on land have not transferred easily to being on the water.  I had never driven or parked anything before learning to drive and park the boat.  I quickly learned that due to my lack of depth perception I am not a good judge of distance, yet I am in the position of giving Scott this crucial information whenever we park the boat.  I have been working on building my confidence in my lack of depth perception along the way.  Parking is still very challenging, we are in constant communication as I stand on the side of the boat wearing a headset giving Scott information with as much conviction as possible.

I attended a public elementary, high school and University, with no access to services, itinerant teachers or visual aids.  To this day I am in awe of how I learned anything.  I never saw one single thing that was written on the blackboard, struggled to read the blue mimeographed worksheets that dominated my elementary school years and read every textbook held at the end of my nose at least twice cover to cover in an effort to comprehend the written word. 

My vision loss was never given any special consideration, until my sophomore year in High School I met a counselor from the Department of Rehabilitation who mostly took an interest in directing me to a University and a major.  I was given a monocular at the time that I was too vain to use and a large print algebra book that I only used at home.  I copied other people’s notes throughout the years and studied constantly to succeed.  I didn’t meet another visually impaired person until I attended college.  I believe the lack of attention to my visual disability instilled upon me an inner drive to succeed.  I struggled with a lack of confidence related to my vision, but at the same time when I decided I was ready to do something I went for it.  I even thought I would be able to drive, that was a huge and probably unnecessary disappointment.  I further believe if I had access to adaptive aids, large print and interaction with other visually impaired children beginning at an early age my educational experience would have been much more positive and comfortable.  It is only as an adult that I openly identify myself as someone with a visual disability.  However, I believe my vision loss has been the driving force for all of my choices and successes in my life and I honestly wouldn’t wish for it to be any different.

Professional and Educational Background

I graduated from the University of Farmington, Maine in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.  I spent the next year after graduation pounding the pavement for a teaching job.  After I poured my heart and soul into the educational system for most of my teenage years as a volunteer in classrooms and my degree I was instantly faced with discrimination.  In interviews I was asked questions such as, “how would you monitor children on a playground?”  I was actually asked by one perspective employer why I didn’t pursue a Special Education degree so the number of children in the classroom would be much smaller. 

I worked for one year as a teacher’s Aid in the Kindergarten class at the same school where I attended elementary school.  I moved to California the next year and found my credential was not reciprocal.  I could have taken the exams and one more year of school required for a California credential, but I decided teaching in the city schools was not for me.  After working for a toy store in the Haight Ashbury district and a financial planning firm I was hired as the Volunteer Coordinator at the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco in 1988.  I managed the volunteer program for nine years as I also climbed the management ladder.  I resigned from the position of Assistant Director of Administration after 16 years of amazing opportunities for personal and professional growth.

To feed the cruising kitty in 2006 I worked in the sales department at Backroads, Inc. in Berkeley, California for six months.  In December, 2007 (during cyclone season) I was hired for a five month contract as the very first Volunteer Coordinator for Northcott Disability Services in Sydney, Australia to develop a formal Volunteer Program.       

Spotlightponsor

Atomic Concept Group