Windshifts is a personal passage of survival. Initially a reluctant participant in her husband’s dream of sailing to South America from their home port of Chicago, Jane Grossman agrees to the plan and takes us along for the adventure.

Journey with her into the realm of a live-aboard cruiser and discover the reality of life contained in a floating vessel 34 feet long and 11 feet wide. (“What do you DO all day?” her friends asked) We experience the couple’s immersion in a wild environment, their vulnerability at sea, the thrill of being totally self sufficient and their curiosity of foreign cultures.

Three years into their travels, Jane suddenly joins the staggering statistics of women diagnosed with breast cancer. The news knocks the wind out of her sails and leaves her adrift. Drawing upon the self-confidence gained from facing fears and challenges at sea Jane assesses the situation with the help and support of her husband, a doctor of clinical hypnotherapy, and charts her course of action to beat the disease and continues to sail through life.

Windshifts is a true-life account of one suburban middle-aged wife/mother/artist/photographer/cancer survivor, who hopes to inspire other women to find their own inner strength and empower them to embrace life with all its struggles and triumphs.