Babies on Board

[Guest]

Has anybody got advice and / or experience of taking babies or toddlers on board a yacht?

We are really keen to continue sailing with a young baby (and onwards!) and wanted some practical advice on whether it is practical / safe.

 

[cynthia]

Libby Purvis wrote a good book on exactly this a few years ago, but the advice is still good. Friends of ours have a happy, smiley, 8 month old, who has a car seat on the washboard and they're planning a paddling pool in the cockpit next season. The baby bouncer hangs from the boom! Loads more good advice in the book as I remember.

Good luck!

 

[billmacfarlane]

Your toddler will be safer in a boat than in a car Andrea. Of course it's safe. My 2 were both sailing before they were born and both survived to tell the tale. We found that we could only do short sails during the day as there is an obvious boredom threshold. Long passages were done overnight. Amusements in ports could be a problem though a fishing and crab net works wonders when they're a little older. The LP book was called "One Summers Grace" by the way.It's an excellent read though Libby did seem to have a penchant to drag her offspring off to museums.

 

[Guest]

My Brother and his wife quite often take the tots with them when I invite them out sailing. The tots seem to quite enjoy it. I must confess, I'm not a great expert on baby/tot technicalities, but here a few things that we came accross:

- When the tots are asleep my brother rigged up a couple of ropes down below to hold the car seat in. Strap tot in car seat, strap car seat in boat - and off you go. Prevents tots flying all over the saloon when you tack!

- The tots always seem to sleep in the car. Therefore, sometimes when they're in 10db mode it helps to put the engine on. It seems to combination of movement and noise subdues the little rascals.

- Make sure you have enough people on board to do tot duty and look after the boat. When they're up and about they can be a full time job. One thing they did help was that I set up the double bed in the saloon, chucked a duvet on it and they played for ages. Of course, watch out if you're sailing as it doesn't take a lot to send them for a burton!

- You can buy some natty little like jackets for them - always get a good "ooooh - look at da liddle baby" from the lock watchers at Shotley.

- Don't let them play with the instruments!! My mother let one tot play with the echo sounder relay. Flashing things, bright buttons - all the ingredients of a good toy. I remember commenting that it was uncommonly deep for the area we were in. Unfortunately, we were all in Sunday morning brains off mode. The little rascal had changed the reading from meters to feet. Doh!!!!.

Anyway, when it transpired that to get my brother out sailing, the tots had to come along I was initially a little concerned. However, it seems to work out fine as long as you think ahead, keep them entertained and don't do anything too hairy!!

Oh, and always make sure there's some essential sail trimming that needs doing when it comes to nappy changing time!!!!!!

MRM

 

[Mirelle]

A rule of thumb, quoted to me by Moray McPhail of Classic Marine, is one quarter of an hour's sailing for each year of age!

Our six year old is no trouble, now, but we are about to have a new one so we are very interested in replies to this question. One thing that we noticed last time is that mother is no longer an effective crew member, as she is 100% distracted, unless relieved by father (who becomes 100% distracted) so effectively you are singlehanding.

Marina showers assume an exceptional importance!

 

[charles_reed]

Have a look on www.setsail.com at the Martins - they've brought up three on their boat(s).

You could probably e-mail them direct through the board.

Mine only started when they were nine, five and three - and I'd agree about the attention span problem.

It's great if you have quarter berths for them to retire into.

 

[Bergman]

My daughter (now 12) was afloat at 3 months and appeared to love it.

Useful to have a car seat fixed both inside and out.

We baracaded the stern cabin for her to crawl about in as she grew older.

She really loved sitting in her chair in the cockpit and developed a regal wave to passers by.

Main problem we had was the amount of junk that we had to carry about to support her, toys, clothes etc etc etc.

As a toddler she took a strong fancy to rope work and knotting, the boat became positively dangerous as bits of rope were tird all over the place - great fun

One thing I can guarantee, its more fun with babies and toddlers than it is with teenagers.

 

[Avocet]

We had the same worries a few years ago when our first arrived. To our surprise, it was very easy to go sailing with her for the first year. She couldn't move independently so there was no problem keeping an eye on her. She slept for long periods in her car seat on the cabin sole and seemed to actually like the noisy harsh single cylinder diesel inboard! Out in the cockpit the car seat was just the thing too and could be lashed anywhere convenient. We had a parasol clipped to it. Sunburn is always a problem on the water and babies are especially vulnerable.

Later we had a baby bouncer from the boom (you can even bath them on anything downwind of a beam reach)!

The biggest problem was carting all the stuff babies need down to the boat each time. As far as feeding is concerned (and all the preparation that goes with it) breast is most definitely best! (but then, I'm a bloke so anything that gets me off the hook...)

As she got older things got worse. She's 3 now and we've not done much sailing this year. She's not nimble enough to move about in her kiddie life jacket and harness on a pitching deck and just gets tangled up all the time. Being in the cabin is OK for short periods but she usually needs entertaining and both my wife and I suffer from "mal de mer" below decks. We'd go out and buy a personal DVD player tomorrow if we could afford one!

Make sure either one of you can single handedly sail the boat AT ANY TIME. The little cherubs always want the potty or something else urgent just as you're about the enter a lock or put in a tack or a reef or something important!

Anything that makes single-handing easier is money well spent - roller reefing, lazyjacks, autohelm, self-tailing winches, all controls lead aft etc.

Some people we know who have sailed with kids say the kids have grown to love it. Others have told us their kids never want to go near a boat again and vote with their feet when they get to their teens. I guess it all depends on too many factors for there to be a general rule -different kids, different parents / boats / cruising grounds...

We're going to try a season on Windermere next year. Pretty boring sailing but no waves or tides or passages longer than an hour and lots to do ashore (we hope). Plus, if she does go over the side, we stand a chance of finding her!

Good luck!

 

[rogerroger]

Now she's 12 - is she keen on sailing or do you think as she enters her teens she'll completely snub it ??

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[Bergman]

I hope not

She still seems to enjoy it, and as well as a good degree of competance she has the priceles gift of being able to sleep soundly in any conditions.

Time will tell

 

[Guest]

No personal experience whatsoever to relate here, I'm afraid, (dare I say it, thankfully...) but there's a book by Lesley Black called "Must I Go Down To The Sea Again" where she details her own experiences quite extensively.

Her top tips seemed to include a bottle of gin for Mum and a canvas baby hammock which allows tot to be gimballed in the face of strong seas and to sleep peacefully while its parents are on deck fighting to stay afloat.

Oh, and I think she says she got into awful bother through drying terry nappies, somehow managing to jam the rudder with them.

Anyway, I thought this was a smashing read, and her kids went right up to teens by the end of it. She recounts a horrible feeling of deja vu when, on seeing her son sailing around in his Mirror dinghy, she realises she's raised a copy of his nautical dad.