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What to expect when you're expecting at sea - three liveaboard mothers ...
We caught up with three liveaboard cruisers starting their families afloat to find out what happens when motherhood meets marine adventure ‘I’m just baby wrangling,’ Sara Kulins laughs over the phone as her daughter coos in the background. ‘She’s trying to chime in the conversation.’ For Kulins, the nursery isn’t a painted room in a suburban cul-de-sac; it’s the 40ft yacht where she and her partner have been simultaneously building a vessel and a family. Kulins is a vanguard of a new Starlink Generation. With the help of high-speed remote internet, the post-pandemic shift toward remote work, and a booming YouTube ‘sailvlog’ culture, this new wave of young families is ditching the mortgage for a life at sea. The SV Devos family have a popular YouTube channel where they share their liveaboard lifestyle. Photo: SV Devos But while the Instagram reels show golden hour sunsets, the reality of a positive pregnancy test in the middle of the ocean is far more complex. What happens when morning sickness meets 10-foot swells? How do you navigate a high-risk third trimester when the nearest OBGYN is a three-day sail away? We spoke to the women living at the intersection of marine adventure and motherhood to find out what to expect when you’re expecting at sea. The rise of the liveaboard Vivian Vuong and her partner Nathan onboard in 2021. Photo by Vivian Vuong While younger liveaboards and families may not be an entirely new part of sailing life, they’re newly widespread. ‘Since the pandemic and with YouTube, remote work, and Starlink available, we’re seeing a lot more young people being part of the cruising communities,’ reflects Vivian Vuong, who runs an offshore cruising sailing business with her husband of twelve years. Before purchasing their Compass 47 Ultima they worked as delivery skippers, crewed on superyachts, and managed a sail charter company in the Caribbean. Burk and her husband Brian. Credit: Kirsten Burk Lifelong sailor Kirsten Burk and her husband Brian were part of that pandemic liveaboard boom. ‘We sold everything – our condo, our car, a lot of our stuff – packed up the rest of it into storage, and took off,’ says Kirsten, adding they had purchased their Morgan 382 off an older couple who had sailed with their children. ‘There were a lot of people buying boats then,’ she recalls. ‘There was definitely a shift. Sailing became cool again.’ Burk’s mother, who passed away in 2017, had dreamt of being a liveaboard herself. ‘She had her captain’s license...
What survivors of a hard upbringing often carry beneath the surface
They don’t always talk about it. You wouldn’t necessarily know from the outside. They might be the ones who make others feel safe, who stay calm in chaos, who listen without judgment. But underneath all that grace is a hidden story—a past that wasn’t soft, a childhood that asked too much too soon. I’m talking about people who’ve grown up in tough environments: homes where love was conditional, where safety was uncertain, where voices were raised more often than arms for comfort. These people walk among us not as victims, but as quiet warriors of resilience. And while everyone’s story is unique, I’ve noticed something remarkably consistent in those who’ve done the inner work to grow beyond that pain. They carry with them certain traits—not because life was easy, but because it wasn’t. The paradox of pain: what hardship leaves behind In much of Western psychology, we tend to link trauma only with dysfunction. Yet researchers now recognize that hardship can also give rise to post‑traumatic growth (PTG)—positive psychological change such as deeper appreciation of life, richer relationships, and a stronger sense of self. Of course, trauma can wound us in ways that take years to understand. But for those who’ve faced their past with honesty—and paired it with healing—something remarkable often emerges. They become unusually grounded. They develop emotional intelligence that textbooks can’t teach. They learn to sit with discomfort without being overwhelmed by it. As I’ve come to understand, these people are not defined by what happened to them—but by how they chose to meet it. And perhaps most importantly: how they chose to meet themselves. A tough beginning doesn’t always show on the outside One of the most humbling things I’ve learned is that you can’t always spot someone’s struggle just by looking. The woman who seems like an overachiever? Maybe she learned early on that approval was earned, not given. The man who’s overly independent? Perhaps he grew up without anyone to lean on. The friend who checks in on everyone but shares little? He might’ve grown up feeling that his needs were too much. There’s a quiet code to people who’ve navigated hard beginnings. Their survival strategies often look like strengths—until you realize they were built from necessity. But when those same people start turning inward—not just surviving, but healing—they begin to transform. And the traits that formed under pressure become something more than coping mechanisms. They become...
The incredible story of four daughters who were raised at sea.
On the 28th February 2026, Troubador Publishing will be releasing the incredible memoir of Geraldine Griffin, who tells the unique story of herself and her three sisters, growing up afloat, and crewing around the south coast of the UK, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. It is fully illustrated with images from childhood to adulthood on the boat. Defying the disbelief of friends and ...
Mothers and others - by Irena Smith - Personal Statements
The essays are seductive and serious, lyrical and joyful, and the best kind of smart, by which I mean that they weave a deep love of literature with reflections on what fictional mothers can teach us about public and private selves, desire, attachment, gender, and friendship.
