Pat Henry began sailing in 1976 in the San Francisco Bay Area when a friend invited her to join a voyage to Mexico over the Christmas holidays. It was instant love for the sea from the moment the boat sailed under the Golden Gate bridge. She went on to crew for 40,000 miles on various boats, primarily as navigator. She bought her own first sailboat in 1985. Now she has crossed close to 40,000 solo miles on Southern Cross," her Southern Cross 31. The trip began on May 4, 1989, from Acapulco, Mexico. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1941, Henry grew up in Draper, South Dakota, and Bloomington-Normal, Illinois...not locations known for turning out long distance sailors. Her quest for adventure began early when at the age of 3 she left home to search on her own for the "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." Stories of her grandmother's trip alone on horseback across the plains to Draper, South Dakota, in 1908, fueled Henry's daring spirit. Graduating from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1970, she sampled her first taste of adventurous travel crossing the USA alone by motorcycle. By 1972, she received her architect's license in both Illinois and California and practiced architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Interior Design program at San Jose State University came under her direction as an Associate Professor in 1974, until she left for her first blue water sailing adventure in 1978. Henry was president and founder of an import company specializing in home fashion and industrial textiles from 1981 - 1988. Her two daughters and four grandchildren live in California and Illinois. In Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 1989, Henry began painting watercolors to finance her travels. Art seemed a compatible occupation with life on board a sailboat...portable and not in conflict with immigration regulations in most countries. It also brought great pleasure as she absorbed the details of life and culture in the forty countries she visited. The scale, complexity, and richness of color in her paintings grew over the course of her travels. In 1990 she began offering small runs of prints from her work, and in 1992 she staged her first one-woman exhibition. Pat Henry Watercolors now hang in collections all around the world.
Pat Henry