Author Bio

Kim Petersen

was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but her family moved to Denver, Colorado shortly after her birth, and it was here that she spent the remainder of her childhood. Both her parents were teachers and encouraged her to read and write. Kim attended Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada where she majored in psychology and wrote in her spare time.

Married at twenty years old to Mike Petersen, the couple homeschooled their two children, started a construction company, built three custom homes themselves, attended Regent Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada, built a life in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, before deciding to build the interior of an empty 65 foot power catamaran hull they found in a farmer’s field in New Zealand. Although lacking in boating and boat building experience, they moved aboard full time as a family in 2005 and have been cruising ever since. Despite her great fear of the water, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 2007. A strong believer in travel as education, Kim has been fortunate to satisfy her wanderlust, journeying to over 25 countries.

Kim has been published in Living Aboard and Southern Boating and will be appearing on Lifetime Television’s The Balancing Act. She has kept a consistent and well visited blog for the six years since her family began their travels.  She is a speaker and a Certified Professional Life Coach, helping others move beyond fear to accomplish their dreams. Her memoir Charting the Unknown: Family, Fear, and One Long Boat Ride is set to be released through Behler Publications in July 2010.

Kim still lives aboard Chrysalis in Florida along with her husband, son, and Cavalier Spaniel, Skipper. She is working on a second book about their pilgrimage as a family through the Mediterranean including  the Azores, Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Israel.