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She hoists their sails

She had traveled the world when work brought her here. Her real estate agent stole her heart, and Tampa became her home.

PARKLAND ESTATES - By the time Ingrid Kohlstadt met Ellis Richman, she had treated altitude sickness in Antarctica, cleaned a snorkeler's sea lion bite in the Galapagos Islands and cared for Ethiopian refugees in the Sudan.

Richman, a Tampa real estate agent, didn't even have a passport.

Fascinated by her medical travelogues, he led the doctor on local expeditions when she moved to Tampa from Cheyenne, Wyo., in April 2003. In between helping her find a house, he took her to Yoko's Japanese Restaurant for sushi, kayaking in the gulf and movies at the Tampa Theatre.

"Kayaking was a creative way to look at waterfront homes," Richman quipped.

Soon, Kohlstadt said, she "was more interested in the Realtor than the real estate."

Six months later, she knew her travel bug was contagious when she invited him on a trip to Bali.

"I had two questions," Richman recalled. "Where's Bali and when do we leave?"

Last summer, Richman proposed to Kohlstadt in a hot air balloon named Independence in New Tampa. With a CD player cranked to the Fifth Dimension song Up, Up and Away, he flung rose petals into the air.

They married Jan. 22 - Richman's 49th birthday - during an action-packed weekend at their favorite places.

The Rev. John Lescow and Rabbi Steve Weiler of Shoresh David blended Christianity and Messianic Judaism in a waterfront ceremony at Fort De Soto Park. The bride and groom paddled away in a yellow kayak, then returned for a beach barbecue. That night, the celebration included a tango at the Don CeSar Beach Resort piano bar.

The party continued early the next morning at the Tampa Theatre when the newlyweds rose from beneath the stage as the organist played Here Comes the Bride. A vintage Charlie Chaplin film rolled on the big screen behind them.

The Bayside Girls' Choir sang for the guests and Kohlstadt tossed her bouquet from the balcony. Following her German family's tradition, the couple cut the cake, cheesecakes actually, with a bow saw.

"Like with marriage, you must push and pull together to cut through the challenges," said Kohlstadt, 37.

For their finale, the couple rode off in an old-fashioned horse and carriage.

After a 10-day honeymoon in Maui, they settled into Richman's Parkland Estates home where Kohlstadt runs her nutrition consulting company, INGRIDients, and writes Metabolism Matters, a monthly e-newsletter.

Kohlstadt and Richman grew up in the Baltimore area. While she was reading National Geographic magazines in elementary school in Annapolis, Richman was developing his sales skills at his dad's nearby drugstore, Richman's Pharmacy.

He intended to become an optician when he moved to Tampa in 1979 but switched to photography. With a degree in fine arts from the University of South Florida, he worked as a professional photographer until 1989, when he turned to real estate. He's a top agent for Prudential Tropical Realty in South Tampa, specializing in executive relocations.

Kohlstadt's parents immigrated from Germany after World War II. During her senior year at the University of Maryland, she lived in Tubingen, just months before the Berlin Wall came down.

She developed an interest in tropical medicine in Peru and Ecuador while earning a medical degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Research on the Inca peanut convinced her that "nutrition was the most powerful tool to prevent disease," she said.

Her healing missions continued as she earned a master's degree in public health and completed a residency in preventative medicine, both at Johns Hopkins. Her community health projects took her to Dillingham, Alaska, where she treated fish finger, a bacterial infection. She also spent six months helping refugees in the Sudan for the United Nations.

Next came stints with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and at Indian reservations in Montana, New Mexico and Washington.

In April 1998, Kohlstadt braved the Drake Passage, sailing from Cape Horn to the Antarctic Peninsula, to work for six months as medical director of the U.S. Antarctic Program at Palmer Station. Population: 21. Average temperature: 5 degrees.

She was daring enough to sign up for three more months near the South Pole, at McMurdo Station.

Then it was back to Baltimore for a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins in nutrition. She consulted for Relief International in Los Angeles and the Republic of Azerbaijan and evaluated nutrition strategies and tuberculosis treatment for Project Hope in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in central Asia.

After six months as the medical director of the Cheyenne, Wyo., health department, the Florida Orthopaedic Institute recruited her to develop a nutrition program to increase muscle mass in surgery patients.

Since January 2004, Kohlstadt has written a medical textbook, a weight loss guide and - more close to her heart - Knot for Marriage. It's a compilation of insights collected from friends and family.

The Sailor's Knot, one of nearly 40 knot analogies featured in the book, explains that Richman sells anchors - homes - while Kohlstadt hoists the sail for the next adventure.

"It's a powerful image," she says. "How exciting to be in the same boat, putting down anchor in Tampa."

To pass along tips to Amy Scherzer, reach her at 226-3332 or scherzer@sptimes.com.

To request a copy of the book, e-mail Knot@INGRIDients.com.

FRIDAY: Heartbeat Oriental Express cocktails and auction benefits Heartbeat International; 7 p.m.; Higgins Hall; $75 in advance, $100 at the door; 243-8769.

SUNDAY: Dine with the Devil Rays dinner auction benefits ALS Association of Florida and the Rays of Hope Foundation; 6:30 p.m.; St. Petersburg Yacht Club, 11 Central Ave.; $125; 888-6900, ext. 24.

AUG. 28: Brides Around the World benefits St. Joseph's Women's Hospital; high tea and bridal fashion show; 2-5 p.m.; Hyatt Regency Tampa; $35; 872-0979.

SEPT. 1: Centre for Women's 14th Gourmet Feastival; tastings from 40 restaurants; age 21 and up; Tampa Convention Center; 5:30-9 p.m.; $40 in advance, $50 at the door; 251-8437 ext. 225.

SEPT. 17: Vineyard of Oz fourth annual wine tasting benefit for Tampa Theatre; 711 N Franklin St.; $50 for Ruby patrons at 6 p.m.; $50 for Yellow patrons at 7 p.m. grand tasting; $5 discount for members; 274-8680.

SEPT. 17: Club 15 Black and White Gala benefits Children's Cancer Center and other charities; 7 p.m.; Hyatt Regency downtown Tampa; $80; 293-9316.