SETTING SAIL FOR THE THRILL OF A LIFETIME; WOMAN TAKES ONE YEAR OFF TO EXPLORE PACIFIC COAST.

Byline: Don Holland Staff Writer

Karin Anderson isn't out to break any sailing records.

And her itinerary is as flexible and changeable as the winds that for the next year will push her 35-foot sailboat up and down the California Coast and deep into Mexican waters.

But Anderson's destination is less important than the journey - an exploration of the soul and spirit as much as it is an adventure into the world.

``The message I want to get out to people is to follow your heart, live your dream,'' said Anderson, who set sail from Marina del Rey on June 26 - her 39th birthday - for a one-year, solo voyage. ``You really have to follow your heart, no matter how crazy it seems to people, which is kind of what this trip has been about.''

Between now and next June, Anderson will sail from port to port along the Pacific Coast and explore the towns on her bicycle. Since June, she has been sailing off the Southern California coast. Today she plans to set sail from Ventura for Santa Barbara. By November she plans to set a course for Mexico, with stops in Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

``A lot of people have said, gosh, you're not going very far. But as I told a friend, I'm the Charles Kuralt of sailing,'' said Anderson, a former script writer. ``I want to go to towns, like Ventura, that I've never seen before. I want to explore and observe. I want to feel that I got to know these towns.''

The allure of travel and the camaraderie in the sailing community fueled her dream to do the yearlong solo voyage. But the dream was sparked in 1991 when Anderson, a script coordinator, read ``Maiden Voyage,'' the biography of Tania Aebi, an 18-year-old American woman who in the 1980s sailed around the world alone.

Although raised in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Anderson didn't come from a family of sailors and had little interest in the sea until she moved to Southern California eight years ago. It took another three years for the idea to solidify into a goal. Then she went to work, step by step, to achieve her dream of spending a year at sea.

In 1994 she took sailing lessons and started crewing in sailboat races. She lived frugally and saved to buy Easily Amused, the 35-foot sailboat where she has lived for the past three years. Though she never saw herself as a do-it-yourselfer, Anderson rewired the boat's electrical system and learned how to do basic engine repairs. She's also learned how to navigate and track the weather - skills that further boosted her self-esteem.

``Really, for about the last five years, everything I have done has been with this trip in mind,'' Anderson said aboard her boat docked at Ventura Harbor. ``I often say ignorance is bliss. I think the more I find out about this journey, I might not have done it if I knew a lot about sailing, especially sailing single-handed. But how else do you learn?''

Anderson, who has her own script coordinating company, said setting a date was crucial. It's easy to never commit to a dream or to put it off forever.

``The worst thing is to say, I'll do it when I have the time or the money, because that will never happen,'' Anderson said. ``You have to realize it will never be a good time; you'll never have enough money. But you have to just pick a time and go do it.

``This trip started out as something very private - just something I was going to do,'' she continued. ``And then I found other people, especially women, became very inspired by it. Not just women who wanted to get into sailing, but women who thought they were too old to pursue their dream.''

The journey has not been without fears. She worries less about getting caught in a storm than returning to Los Angeles on her 40th birthday without a dime to her name. But she has learned to turn her fears into concrete plans and positive action to allay her concerns.

When she returns, Anderson hopes to organize a nonprofit organization to link boaters with young women in crisis. Sailing, she said, has increased her confidence and enabled her to do things she otherwise would have never dreamed of.

``There is a quote my father used to say all the time: Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,'' she said. ``And it turns out he was right.''

More information on Anderson's voyage is available on the Internet at www.cruisingtowards40.com.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1 -- Color in Simi and Conejo only) Karin Anderson has taken a year off to sail up and down the Pacific Coast in her 35-foot sailboat, pictured here at the Ventura Isle Marina.

(2 -- Ran in Simi and Conejo only) Karin Anderson, who has been sailing up and down the California Coast in her 35-foot sailboat, charts the next day's course.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer