Bio for Lisa Borre

A web log of the sailing vessel "Gyatso"

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Lisa is taking "time-out" from a 20-year career in environmental management, most recently as vice president and co-founder of LakeNet, a world lakes network. A native of the Great Lakes Region of the U.S., Lisa led efforts to protect and restore the health of lakes and wetlands around the world. From 1990 to 1997, she was the coordinator of the Lake Champlain Basin Program in Vermont and facilitated the development of a comprehensive plan which is now considered a model of integrated water resources management. She has a B.A. in geology from the University of Vermont and a Master's Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University. She has visited more than 40 countries for her work and various travel adventures.

Lisa began cruising at an early age when her family of five took their 23' Slickcraft power boat to the North Channel in Lake Huron for two three-week trips when she was just four and five years old. Along with her older sister and brother, she has fond memories of rowing their orange, Sportyak dinghy ashore; wearing a Stearn's life vest and Converse tennis shoes for swimming outings from the boat; and watching the landing on the moon on a portable TV while anchored in The Pool at Baie Fine (pronounced "bay finn"). While growing up in Michigan, Lisa spent a great deal of her time either on or in the water. Whether vacationing with her family on Beaver Island, Michigan, first in rental cabins and later in their own cottage, visiting her grandmother and great aunt at their cottages in Grand Haven, Michigan, or fishing and boating on Lake Michigan, she always enjoyed being on the water. Lisa trained as a competitive swimmer through high school and played ice hockey in college. She has found both sports relevant in preparing her for long-distance sailing.

Lisa's interest in sailing began as a child when her parents purchased a Laser sailboat to use at their cottage on Beaver Island. Having had sailing lessons at summer camp, she and her siblings taught each other how to sail in St. James Harbor. Lisa purchased her first boat, a Windsurfer, with summer earnings while in college. She subsequently took-up sea kayaking, and by the time she met David Barker, her entire fleet of boats -- two sailboards, a classic Penguin sailboat and a kayak -- were all 12' or less. Other than a memorable overnight sail on Lake Michigan aboard a family friend's boat as a child, a day sail with a friend on Lake Champlain in Vermont, and two one-week trips chartering with friends in the Caribbean as an adult, Lisa had no experience with cruising sailboats before meeting David. The couple met while working together in Indonesia in 1996, and they were married in 1998.

David introduced Lisa to big-boat sailing aboard their previous boat, About Time, a 32' shoal-draft sloop which they kept on the Chesapeake Bay. After moving to Annapolis, Maryland from Vermont in 1997, Lisa took her first extended cruise with David: a three-week trip down the Intracoastal Waterway to Beaufort, South Carolina in November which included her first overnight passage on the open ocean. Even though they had engine trouble while negotiating a harbor entrance, both were hooked on the cruising lifestyle and anxious to resume their sailing adventures the following year when they made the return trip to Annapolis.

The final trip they took aboard About Time was to the five North American Great Lakes. The latter was a homecoming trip of sorts for Lisa, "It was a real thrill to visit the North Channel again after so many years, and I will never forget how great it felt to sail into St. James Harbor on Beaver Island to attend a family reunion."

David and Lisa's sailing adventures continue as co-owners of Gyatso, a 37' Tayana cutter. To learn more about their current voyage, browse this website or you can follow us on Facebook:

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