Beating the Blowfish: A Candid Account of a Young Yacht Skipper's Battle with Breast Cancer

At age 32 and tired of her banking job, adventurous Emma Pontin completed her first ocean crossing. She then joined Sir Chay Blyth's Challenge Business as a professional sailor, racing and touring Europe and the Caribbean. It was all smooth sailing.

Four years later, while heading to the start of another transatlantic yacht race, Emma received a phone call that stopped her in her tracks; she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She returned home for a life-saving mastectomy but continued to skipper, race and instruct throughout an arduous and soul-destroying chemo- and radiotherapy treatment.

Beating the Blowfish is Emma's inspirational and candid account of her experience fighting breast cancer, and the understanding and strength she gained from sailing.

With six years sailing experience and 70,000 nautical miles under her belt—including 15 transatlantic crossings, the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, the Newport to Bermuda yacht race and the infamous Fastnet Race—Emma's next big challenge is a full circumnavigation with a novice sailing team made up of breast cancer survivors.