Child of the Sea

Child of the Sea is the true story of a young girl growing up aboard the family's 36-­-foot yacht while sailing more than 68,000 miles around the world and visiting 54 countries on the way. Unique among sailing memoirs, Child of the Sea expresses a child's point of view, and was written for children, including those who have no experience of sailing at all. From the age of 7 to 14 Doina Cornell, daughter of bluewater sailing guru Jimmy Cornell, enjoyed a childhood that most children couldn't imagine-swimming, diving, and playing the days away in deserted anchorages and visiting some of the most beautiful islands in the world. The book describes in vivid detail a sailing family's onboard life, from balmy trade wind ocean passages to heart-­stopping near-­misses with coral reefs and over-­friendly whales. This is also a tale of a girl's coming of age in the South Pacific, and the difficulties of growing up close to other cultures and values, away from regular contact with school and friends of the same age. Child of the Sea evokes a unique and appealing childhood spent at sea with undreamed-­-of freedom, at one with nature and far removed from a materialistic world-until the family's return home.