Becoming a Sailor

Becoming a Sailor

More Than a Decade Afloat • Raising Sailors • Stories from SV Aphrodite

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  • Our story in six chapters, in the order we sailed it.

    See the story-map →See our entire route →

    Before We Moved Aboard

    • From House to Sailboat: How a Road Trip Changed Us
    • Buying Our St Francis 50 Catamaran
    • Learning to Sail From Scratch
    • Our Family Camping Gap Month
    • Browse all 113 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Florida and the Bahamas

    • Living on a Sailboat With Kids: Freedom or Confinement?
    • Crossing the Gulf Stream
    • Off the Beaten Track Bahamas
    • Bahamas Long Reads: Exumas Stories
    • Browse all 43 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    The Caribbean

    • Luperón Long Reads: Boat Kids Go Local
    • Dominica Travel: If Outside Magazine Visited
    • Rough Offshore Sailing in a Gale
    • Long Reads Grenada: 6 Stories From Our Sailboat
    • Browse all 66 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Panama and the Pacific

    • Crossing the Panama Canal
    • Shellback Ceremony at the Equator
    • Long Reads: Galápagos
    • Sleep Deprivation at Sea
    • Browse all 11 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Melanesia

    • Heavy Weather Sailing: NZ to Fiji
    • Sevusevu Ceremony in Fiji
    • Land Diving on Pentecost Island
    • Shallow Water Blackout
    • Browse all 19 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Micronesia to Southeast Asia

    • Lagoon to Table: Subsistence Fishing
    • Losing an Anchor in Thailand
    • 322 Days in a Malaysian Boatyard
    • Bangla Road Phuket
    • Browse all 26 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    By Topic

    • Learning to Sail
    • Downsizing & Moving Aboard
    • Sailing With Kids & Homeschooling
    • Boat Projects & Gear
    • Health & Safety at Sea
    • Food & Provisioning
    • Family, Crew & Guests
    • Writing & Creative
    • Browse all 291 posts →
  • About the CrewMeet our family of six from OttawaSt Francis 50 Catamaran Specs: SV Aphrodite, a Bluewater CatSV Aphrodite, our St Francis 50 catamaran
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Author: Lorraine Escher

Canadian writer and sailor. Honours BA in English Literature (Carleton University) and a decade as a senior technical and marketing writer at Nortel Networks and Alcatel. Since 2015 Lorraine has lived aboard the St Francis 50 catamaran SV Aphrodite, homeschooling four children while cruising the Caribbean, crossing the Pacific, and working toward a circumnavigation. Her cruising writing has appeared in SAIL Magazine, All At Sea, and Caribbean Compass.
Passage plan: Fort Lauderdale to Bradenton
March 5, 2015July 3, 2026Lorraine Escher

Outfitting a Boat: Our Checklist Before the First Passage

Transferring Boat Ownership
March 4, 2015August 30, 2026Lorraine Escher

Transferring Boat Ownership With a Documentation Specialist

Sailing Poetry: Donne and Coleridge
March 3, 2015August 25, 2026Lorraine Escher

Sailing Poetry: Did John Donne Know More Than Coleridge?

Buying a St Francis 50 catamaran: Aphrodite, St Francis 50 catamaran
February 28, 2015September 16, 2026Lorraine Escher

Buying a St Francis 50 Catamaran: Why We Chose SV Aphrodite

February 25, 2015July 3, 2026Lorraine Escher

In Transit or In Range: Trail Markers of the Sea

Front cover of Canadian Circumnavigator Diane Steumer's Book, The Voyage of Northern Magic.
February 16, 2015August 1, 2026Lorraine Escher

Diane Stuemer: Sailed 6 Times, Then Went Around the World

February 14, 2015August 16, 2026Lorraine Escher

RYA Day Skipper Anchoring —Navigating Namely Harbour Safely

Sailing Terms for Beginners: Line drawing by Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
February 13, 2015October 15, 2026Lorraine Escher

Sailing Terms for Beginners: Shrouds, Reefing and Twiddly Bits

Sailing hair: Barbie as model
February 7, 2015August 25, 2026Lorraine Escher

Sailing Hair, Don’t Care: Going Short and Ditching the Dye

Homeschooling or Boatschooling feature image
February 5, 2015August 9, 2026Lorraine Escher

Homeschooling or Boatschooling: Can It Lead to University?

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This Week in Years Past

  • 1 year ago this weekBoat Woodwork Refit in Malaysia: A Full-On Transformation
  • 1 year ago this weekGrade 6 Essay Sample: Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat
  • 3 years ago this weekMedical Mission in Papua New Guinea: Betty, 17, Volunteers
  • 10 years ago this weekLuperón, Dominican Republic: School Days and an Orange Wagon

Worth Reading

Managing Food Allergies at Sea
Checklist for the Big Move

From the Archives

  • Boat Projects
  • Homeschooling Four Kids
  • Early Years of Cruising
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