A "pathfinder" is a tool that libraries often prepare to help searchers find sources of information in their particular field of study. They can be narrow or wide in scope depending on the topic and desired depth of information. In many cases, as with this particular pathfinder, they are used to gather bibliographic information together to get the search started.

This pathfinder is intended to help people living in the Seattle, Washington area research how to prepare for a sailing trip around the world. These are by no means the only sources available. This particular list of sources has been collected in order to get someone started on their journey by connecting them with materials that they can learn from as they prepare for the biggest adventure of their life.

Each of the entries in this pathfinder is annotated in order to familiarize the searcher with resources from the internet, the Seattle community, and two local libraries in Seattle. The resources are organized by subject rather than by type of material.

The sources collected include maps, navigation software, weather websites, health and safely precautions, sailing club info, educational videos, some basics on how to buy a boat, as well as a fiction/non-fiction stories about other people's successful and not-so-successful stories of adventures on the high seas.

Hopefully this list of resources will ease much of the burden of readying one's self ahead of time in order to avoid as many last-minute changes and stresses (and potential life-threatening oversights) as possible. In moving through the resources in this pathfinder, a searcher will be able to answer the following questions:

How should I prepare?
What "stuff" should I learn and acquire?
How will I find my way?
Who else has attempted this and other similar types of trips and travels?

This sources included in this pathfinder are divided into the following 6 areas:

1. Where Water Meets the Sky: Reference Materials for Getting Started
2. Jig in the Rig: Learning to Sail
3. Sloops, Yawls, Cutters, and Ketches: Selecting a Boat
4. Live to Tell: Health and Safety at Sea
5. Finding Your Way: Ocean Maps and Celestial Navigation
6. Be Inspired, Be Warned: True Tales and Other Ocearnic Adventurers

Each section consists of a mix of all types of mediums (electronic, print, video, audio, and community groups).

All of the sources listed in this pathfinder can be found in at least one of the following places:

The following search tools were used to locate the sources in this pathfinder:

Start your search by entering valid LC (Library of Congress) search terms. The Library of Congress is responsible for coming up with the most comprehensive and widely used subject headings. These subject headings are how people search for info in library catalogs. The system (http://www.loc.gov/cds/lcsh.html) acts as a controlled vocabulary for representing subjects and forms of books and serials in the Library of Congress collection.

Here's the running list of LC subject headings I've been searching under for this pathfinder on How to Sail Around the World and Live to Tell the Tale of Your Adventures: