Family Ties

Homeschooling Children at Sea, and Not Looking Back

- Bob Arrington

Most people who cruise even part-time aboard their boats are doing it in the later years of life, waiting until they have the time and means to make the lifestyle possible. But not everyone follows this script, and one exception is the family onboard Cortado.

Born and raised in Indiana, far from the smell of salt air, Lynne Rey will freely tell you that living aboard a boat was far from a dream of hers. So how does this artist and mother find herself schooling two children and managing family life aboard a classic power cruiser?

Tony Rey comes to this boating life a little more naturally, having grown up on Long Island Sound. Tony had an early start racing sailboats and going on summer cruises aboard his family’s boat. Tony took that love of sailing into a career and today races sailboats professionally. The life of a professional sailor requires considerable travel. Over the years, Lynne and their oldest daughter, Sydney, traveled with Tony during some of his races, and Lynne home-schooled Sydney during those trips. When their youngest two children, Sophia and Oliver, were 10 and 8, Tony and Lynne thought it would be good to expose them to a broader world, teaching them in what would become known as “adventure school.”

Racing sailboats didn’t give Tony the opportunity to make boating a family experience, so they decided to buy a boat and live part of each year on board. The opportunity would give Lynne, Sophia, and Oliver a small taste of Tony’s life at sea, and provide learning opportunities that couldn’t be matched in any classroom.