Patrick, a civil engineer, and Heather, a legal secretary, needed a change of lifestyle – so they built a 42-foot fibreglass sailboat in their backyard. They packed up their two children, Jeremy, 16, and Erica, 12, and headed out for a 14-month and 15,000-mile adventure around the Pacific. They harbor-hopped down the Californian and Mexican coasts, crossed the South Pacific, visiting the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu atolls, Tahiti and the Society Islands. Departing from Bora Bora they headed back north visiting the Hawaiian Islands. For a temperature change and, not the usual route home, they continued north to view tidewater glaciers in Alaska before returning to Vancouver.