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Callahan, Steve (1952 - )

Genre: Non-Fiction

Steve Callahan was born in Needham, MA. He summered many years on the coast of Maine and later moved to Lamoine ME in 1977. In high school in the latter 1960s, Steve taught himself celestial navigation and the principles of boat design, began singlehanded sailing, and helped build a 40-foot trimaran. He earned a degree in philosophy and psychology at Syracuse University in 1974 and an associates degree in small craft naval architecture from Yacht Design Institute schools in Blue Hill, ME. After university he spent more than five years boat building and repairing all kinds of boats, from traditional wood boats to composite multihulls. For a decade beginning in the latter 1970s he turned to designing boats. At Delta Marine group, he aided Bob Wallstrom designing a number of boats to 45 feet, and built a small portfolio of his own designs. He also taught design at Yacht Design Institute (YDI) where he was lead instructor and helped update and illustrate design texts, authoring one about multihulls. At YDI, he helped to build both correspondence and residential schools into accredited programs, which were later incorporated into Westlawn Institute?s design curriculum. As an author, he is best known for his book Adrift, chronicling his adventure adrift in a life raft for 76 days, but has written for several journals, including Sail, Sailing, Sailor, Small Boat Journal, Yachting World, WoodenBoat, Professional Boatbuilder and Cruising World.