The Tender Life: 20 Years of Commercial Fish Tendering in Alaska Paperback – November 21, 2024

In The Tender Life, writer Anne Winters tells stories from her 20 years of working and living aboard two classic wooden boats with her husband Ron as they worked the Alaska fisheries from south of Ketchikan to way north of Nome. They filled their holds with seine fish and gillnet fish, salmon, halibut, black cod and even abalone. They visited big towns and native villages. They suffered a fire and a near total loss of everything they owned. But they worked together, lived a dream, re-built after tragedy and made life long friends. Winters’ stories are told in an easy-to-read familiar style with humor and insight and a true feeling of the love she feels for Alaska, the ocean and beautiful old wooden boats.Anne has a degree in Journalism from Syracuse University. She’s been an advertising copywriter, owned her own secretarial service, run a travel agency, sold many free-lance articles to various Alaska publications and holds a USCG 100-ton license She has lived in Alaska since 1968.Here is the real thing! A lot of what Anne writes about I have been witness to – one way or another. Factual, exciting and riveting! It’s the Alaskan experience so many (even Alaskans) will never have. But these pages will transport you to the time and places she and Ron lived. –Al Crane, Bush pilot, SE Alaska boat operator, Iditarod organizer and musherRon & Anne put the BERING to work for Copper River Seafoods out of Cordova for several years. They packed millions of pounds of fish for us during those years. They ran a professional, safe, dependable, friendly tendering operation and all of our fishermen enjoyed working with them. –Pip Fillingham, Former owner/Copper River SeafoodsI’ve known my old friend Anne Winters for over 50 years. We first met when we both worked at Graphics West, an advertising agency in Anchorage. Anne was the chief copywriter for all our important clients. Several years later we both worked on our award-winning anthology, Iditarod: The First Ten Years. Knowing Anne’s sense of humor and unique way of storytelling, I know you’ll thoroughly enjoy reading of her escapades aboard the jolly good ships MUTUAL and BERING, as she and husband Ron plied the waters of Alaska. –Jon Van Zyle, Official artist of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Read more