I was always tenacious, but COBS added a new discipline—patience. Getting over the mountain passes, rappelling, chopping footholds to get across the ice fields all took a lot of grit. But sitting out by a creek for 3 days with nothing, and I mean nothing, to eat, I learned an unforgettable lesson in patience. Patience could be called the feminine form of tenacity; the yin to tenacity’s yang, and it has been the key ingredient in my success — more so as I get older. From cranking the pedals one stroke at a time across two countries, to writing articles and books about my 25 years as a commercial fisherman and the future sustainability of seafood production; it has required more patience than anything to keep going. But it pays off: when I wore out one bicycle, Fuji USA gave me a new one so that I could keep riding, and at the end of my journey, I learned that I had won a Guggenheim Fellowship that would enable me to keep writing.
OB Alum examines the shark fishery in the Sea of Cortez