Jan Mitchell was born in New Zealand where she trained as an English teacher and moved to Australia in 1970 to pursue post-graduate study. She married Ian Mitchell in 1971. They circumnavigated the world between 1974 and 1977, stopping for a year and a half in South Africa to replenish their coffers. Their first-born son, Jamie, was born in Durban. David, just over two years later, was born in Hornsby in NSW Australia. The Mitchells sold their 25' boat, 'Caprice', to put a deposit on a house. They both worked full time to afford a 32' cruising yacht, 'Realitas', in 1982. For the next fifteen years, they took their boys cruising as often as possible, sailing to Lord Howe Island, Tasmania, New Zealand and up and down the NSW coast. Both sons grew up to love sailing and bought their own yachts. This allowed Ian and Jan to buy their dream yacht, a Brolga 33 called 'Osprey A' in which they cruised around Tasmania, visiting the south-western World Heritage areas of Port Davey, Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River. They also cruised to New Caledonia, circumnavigating the main Island of the group, Grande Terre. Later, New Zealand became their destination. They entered at Nelson, sailed through Cook Strait and down the east coast as far as forty-seven degrees south - south of Oban, the only town on this island in the Southern Ocean. The return voyage took them up the North Island's east coast to Auckland and then on around the northernmost point, Cape Reinga and across the Tasman Sea to Newcastle. Jan's final voyage on Osprey A was a family trip back to Lord Howe Island, a favourite destination while their boys were growing up. Over the past six years, Jan has written and published her three-volume sailing memoir.
