Claudia Goudschaal captained her first boat at the age of nine, using a muslin shower curtain for a sail. She later purchased the first of many "real" boats with her husband, Bob, and since 1990 has sailed on schooners with the Inland Seas Education Association. She makes frequent public presentations about shipboard life on the Great Lakes, and is the author of "Destination Leelanau: Boats Sailing Leelanau Waters, 1835-1900."