It is with real sadness that I bring the new that Pam Wall passed away on August 2. Pam and I had been friends for 30 years and had worked together providing cruising seminars for the cruising community for years at the Blue Water Sailing sponsored events at all of the NMMA’s sailing shows. She was always one of the main attractions and developed a huge following as America’s Cruising Guru. She was a ray of sunshine and a positive force in many sailor’s lives.
Pam and her husband Andy, with their two children Jaimie and Samantha, sailed around the world in the late 80s, returning in 1991. This fulfilled Pam’s long held dream and set her on her next career path as a cruising consultant, first under the West Marine banner then under her own.
Over the years, Pam and I, often with Andy and Sammy, had many happy breakfasts and dinners together and shared wonderful friends in the cruising community. Despite her petite size, she had an enormous appetite and truly enjoyed fine dining, as long as it was accompanied by friends and good conversation.
Above all, Pam loved the cruising life style and sharing that joy with anyone who wanted to go sailing, whether across a bay or around the world. The cruising community is made smaller by her passing. Like thousands of her friends and followers, I will miss her.
Read her biography here.
Read a tribute from the Ocean Cruising Club, of which Pam was a port office for many years, here.
