When I was in the planning stages of putting together our book, Women On Board Cruising, an acquaintance introduced me via email to Pat Erhman, a long-distance cruiser, along with her husband Rick on their boat, Sea Gator. I was so happy about the introduction because Pat and I corresponded quite a bit over the course of creating the book and I hoped someday our paths would cross on the water. Today it finally came to be. A friend, another contributor to the book, Ellen, ran into Pat in Marathon earlier in the season and told her we were also…