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 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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Tag: Family Circumnavigation

The Escher family — two parents and four children from Ottawa, Canada — spent over a decade circumnavigating the world aboard SV Aphrodite, a St Francis 50 catamaran. These are the posts from that voyage: crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific, cruising the Caribbean, the Bahamas, the Galapagos, French Polynesia, Fiji, Vanuatu and Southeast Asia, homeschooling four kids at sea, refitting and repairing the boat in remote anchorages, and raising a family aboard across more than 40 countries. Written from the boat, as it happened.

April 1, 2015July 3, 2026Lorraine Escher

Our Move Date: 13 Weeks to Pack Up and Move Aboard

Our catamaran SV Aphrodite with the team from St Francis Marine in South Africa.
March 27, 2015September 5, 2026Lorraine Escher

SV Aphrodite: The Family Catamaran with a History of Adventure

March 19, 2015July 3, 2026Lorraine Escher

Living on a Boat vs Living on Land: A 9-Year-Old’s View

March 15, 2015July 3, 2026Lorraine Escher

First Days With Our St Francis 50: Repairs and Reality

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

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 3, 2015September 9, 2026Lorraine Escher

Outsourcing Household Chores So I Could Learn to Sail

January 9, 2015August 23, 2026Lorraine Escher

Planning to Sail Away Before We Even Owned a Boat

Food allergies on a sailboat
January 8, 2015August 23, 2026Lorraine Escher

Food Allergies on a Sailboat: Planning for a Child at Sea

Sailing around the World With Kids | Hello World | The Journey Starts HEre with this first blog post.
December 30, 2014August 2, 2026Lorraine Escher

Sailing Around the World with Kids: Where Our Dream Began

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On This Day

  • 9 years ago todayTrinidad Oil Spill: Our Boat in Chaguaramas Harbour

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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