Hi! My name is Isla Birnie. I have lived on a boat for the past four years, a third of my life. In this post, I intend to explain how all this came to be.

My dad has been into sailing for a really long time. Before Covid, my parents were already starting to think about boatlife. We chartered a boat in Grenada when I was 6 and we all really enjoyed it. My little brother turned one on that boat! Unfortunately, my parents just didn’t feel ready yet to move onto a boat. After all, my brother was so small, and he couldn’t swim yet. And then Covid hit. My dad began working from home, getting to experience more of our homeschooling life. He really enjoyed getting to see us all day, every day. The dream had re-awakened. Being 7 at the time, I wasn’t part of the conversations between this period, and actually buying the boat, but I do remember going to my best friend’s house for a weekend sleepover. We’d had sleepovers before, but never for a full weekend. My parents went off on their own to look at boats in Los Angeles. That’s when they met Nike.

Nike is a beautiful, 50 year old, Maple Leaf 48. She was originally built in Canada, before sailing down to Los Angeles, California where she sat waiting for us. The previous owners had done a complete re-fit, intending to take her to the South Pacific. Unfortunately, life prevented them from taking this trip, so they sold Nike to us. She is our home, part of our family, and holds so many of our experiences as memories in her wood.

My parents fell in love with Nike. My mom said she could “see us doing our homework at that table.” The evening they got back, we all sat down in the backyard. My parents told us that they had bought a boat over the weekend, and asked us what we thought. We all looked at each other for a moment, unsure. I thought about it, weighing the consequences as much as I could in my little eight year old brain. I loved the idea. So, it was settled. We began packing our stuff, saying goodbye to old friends, and making new ones on Social Media. My dad studied his nautical term flashcards with sudden intensity, and I worked to remember whether the color green was supposed to symbolize right or left.

We moved onto our boat in the Spring of 2021. For about a year, we fixed all the problems that boats often have after sitting. We settled in, getting used to homeschooling on a boat, with limited space. The boat was ready just in time for the Baja Ha-ha that November, a cruisers rally heading down the coast of Baja California

I met so many friends along the way, and I had tons of fun that year. Thank you for reading, and I can’t wait to ‘see’ y’all next time!

-Isla