Applestar Publishing

Each year, more than 211,000 American women learn they have breast cancer. Sailing the Pink Sea delivers insights into the very private battles that women and those who love them fight each and every day against this very public disease.

In Sailing the Pink Sea readers join Huntsman as she navigates through the cancer world, sails Bliss on Arizona desert lakes of breathtaking starkness, and travels beyond the horizon to the serene beauty of the Bitter End Yacht Club.

“I am impressed with the straight-forward, no-nonsense style in which Huntsman writes. Her story is a gripping one — true and extremely important. Readers are taken into her life and begin to understand and relate to this challenging, traumatic disease — from the first diagnosis, through the huge range of emotions, and beyond. This book is REAL! Thank you, Debbie, for your contribution to our awareness of cancer and the people who live through it."
Jim Allen, Arizona Boating and Watersports

"Life holds at least one inevitable consequence, in addition to death and taxes. The lives of every man, woman and child will be touched by cancer.
"We plan for taxes, and to some extent, death, but no one plans for cancer. When breast cancer crashed down upon Debbie Huntsman’s vital, active and healthy life, it seemed like a mistaken diagnosis. Cancer was something that happened to other people, people who didn’t exercise or eat right, people who hadn’t taken careful precautions to avoid illness. The reality of endless doctors’ appointments, chemotherapy, nausea, hair loss and all the painful burdens that challenge and overwhelm cancer patients, quickly changed that perception.
"Debbie Huntsman fought hard for her life. She found strength in a devoted husband and family, friends, a competent medical team and her favorite pastime, sailing.
"She kept a written record of her fight against the malicious disease and how her sailing experiences past, present and, most importantly, those that lay ahead brought her comfort at a time when she needed all the comfort she could get. That record became her book, Sailing the Pink Sea.
"Readers who bear witness to Debbie Huntsman’s triumph over her diagnosis will embark on a rewarding journey and share all the highs and lows that come with a hard-fought victory. Along the way, they’ll learn a lot about sailing, sailboats and how people like Debbie who have embraced the sailing lifestyle get so much more from it than the occasional passage on tranquil waters."
Harry Munns, Cruising Fundamentals
Founder of American Sailing Association

Debbie Huntsman is a mother, an athlete and a breast cancer advocate. When not sailing, she works from her studio in the desert as an illustrator and a graphic designer. She lives with her husband Ed near Lake Pleasant, Arizona.

Huntsman is a life-long swimmer. After maintaining a vigorous schedule during her cancer treatments, she has competed in an Iron Man distance swim along with several other open water swims on Lake Pleasant and at Tempe Town Lakes.