Jan Mitchell was born in New Zealand in 1946. She moved to Australia in 1970, marrying Ian Mitchell in 1971. In 1974, they set out to sail around the world, returning in 1977. Their two sons, Jamie (born 1975) and David (born 1978) grew up with sailing holidays and are now also avid cruising sailors.After a career of high school teacing English and later training in natural therapies, Jan is now a writer. She is very active in the Lake Macquarie branch of The Australian Fellowsip of Australian Writers and she has had many articles published in magazines. This is her second published book.