Don Casey credits the around-the-world voyage of Robin Lee Graham, featured in National Geographic in the late 1960s, with opening his eyes to the world beyond the shoreline. After graduation from the University of Texas he moved to south Florida, where he began to spend virtually all his leisure time messing about in boats.

In 1983 he abandoned a career in banking to devote more time to cruising and writing. His work combining these two passions soon began to appear in many popular sailing and boating magazines. In 1986 he co-authored Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach, an immediate best-seller and the book responsible for pushing many would-be cruisers over the horizon. He is also author of This Old Boat, a universally praised guide that has led thousands of boatowners through the process of turning a rundown production boat into a first-class yacht, and of Sailboat Refinishing, Sailboat Hull & Deck Repair, Canvaswork & Sail Repair, and Inspecting the Aging Sailboat, all part of the International Marine Sailboat Library. He continues to evaluate old and new products and methods, often trying them on his own 30-year-old, much-modified, Allied Seawind.

When not writing or off cruising, he can be found sailing on Florida's Biscayne Bay.