The voyage of Carina is the real-life story of the Schrader family''s three-year exploring adventure while living aboard a 40-foot sailboat. Father, mother, and four daughters travel from Alaska to Florida where they buy a sailboat with the intention of sailing it around the world. They begin as six family members, but learn to work together as Carina''s crew--a team that can handle anything that comes their way--violent storms, days of boredom, sleepless nights spent putting up and taking down sails, long ocean crossings, relentless rain, sailing mishaps, triumphs, a little romance, and assorted creatures of the sea such as sharks and whales. Carina is the book for explorers who dream of sailing the seven seas.Patty tells the story from her viewpoint as one of the crew of Carina. As a teenager, she learned about herself and how she responded to the uncertainties of life, gaining confidence in her own ability, and learning to be the person she wanted to become.

Patty (Schrader) Kilson was born in Anchorage, Alaska and has lived there most of her life. Time away from Alaska included the three years her family spent living on a sailboat; traveling from Florida to the Bahamas, Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of Central America, Mexico and the United States to end their journey back in Alaska in the little town of Whittier. She has also spent a few winters in Missouri where she attended Ozark Bible College. Patty enjoys art in all forms and spends her free time drawing, painting with watercolors, and writing. Carina is her second book, her first is a children's book entitled Song of the Raven, an illustrated story about the circle of life in Alaska.