David Treadway Ph.D. - Sailors for the Sea

David Treadway Ph.D.

David Treadway, Ph.D., a founding member of Sailors for the Sea, is a nationally known family and couples therapist, and the author of four books including his most recent written with his wife and two children, Home before Dark; A Family Portrait of Cancer and Healing. He has appeared on national media including “Good Morning America” and “Twenty/Twenty,” as well as hosting a show on family communication for public radio.

David has been an avid sailor his whole life and in the past 30 years has sailed his Luders 33 as far north as Newfoundland and Scotland, and as far south as Spain and the Caribbean. He’s crossed the Atlantic three times, including one solo voyage. He was also fortunate to round Cape Horn with the Around the Americas boat Ocean Watch. David passionately believes that all of us who love the sea must unite in sounding the alarm about the threat to our oceans.

What is your earliest memory of the ocean?

Sailing with my mother and grandfather in a small day sailor. I spent hours lying up on the bow (tied on, of course) leaning over the side of the boat utterly entranced by the spray and gurgle of the bow wave

What is the biggest threat to preserving the ocean and local waters for future generations?
Lack of awareness that preserving our oceans is essential to human life itself. A healthy ocean is not a luxury, it is a necessity

What has changed more dramatically in your life time, the sport of sailing or ocean health? The crisis of ocean health has really only become known in my lifetime. What we thought was an endless and renewable resource is disappearing before our eyes. Sailing is still sailing even in catamarans moving at 40 MPH.

Why did you choose to get involved with an organization focused on ocean conservation? It grew out of a conversation that David and I had about wanting to make a difference in ocean conservation because the oceans and sailing upon them have been such a core passion in our respective lives.