Flotilla holiday with a baby - silly idea?

[Appleyard]

Just to digress slightly,I saw a couple with 2 babies on a charter boat in Greece.The weather was hot,and sunny (what's new?) so they had shut the cockpit drains and filled it 6" deep with fresh water . The kids were having a ball!! Almost tempted to go in myself.

 

[samwise]

Our No1 son started sailing with us at four months old, fitted into a gimballed child car seat in the cockpit of a Broads cruiser. He is now a qualified Yachtmaster and has just completed a season as a flotilla skipper with Sailing Holidays in Greece. He says that SH has some adapted child car seats to secure the child in the cockpit or elsewhere in the boat and crews also rig netting on the guardwires. Months when temperatures are expected to be very high should be avoided.
My wife says that babies are easier than toddlers because they stay in one place!

 

[Donheist]

We took both our daughters sailing before they were 8 weeks old (booked the trips in advance and allowed for 2 weeks late term and 6 weeks c section recovery time which i thought covered all bases birthwise and allows time to register birth and order passports) and had no problems. Took a car seat with a detachable base which we strapped to the saloon seat. Helps with passing them on and off in the seat. Bought infant life jacket which has a handle on the top for carrying them in and out of the tender.

Much easier To take babies than taking inquisitvie toddlers but a life jacket with a d ring on the back and a short life line attached to the binnacle works well.

We left them in the car seat underway ( no difference to being in a car, although the motion is soporific), and while my wife tended to pop down below on any sort of cry I did draw the line while she was at the anchor - you wouldn't pull over on a motorway if the child was crying so don't leave me when I'm committed to the berth...

Changing a nappy or breastfeeding while beating is a bit more challenging and giving good notice of a tack is good for crew harmony. Good luck.

 

[Romagould3]

At that age not a problem. We have taken our son on our 34 footr round Ionian since he was 6 months. Get a good lifejacket though. I knew some people who brought a oneyear old out for two weeks with no lifejacket. i think plan was to strap him in pram (and attach adult lifejackets?)

 

[Seajet]

Now for a different point of view; if I'd paid good money for my holiday, I'd be pretty fed up if the boat next door - and along for every port - had a screaming baby, and in the unlikely event self and chums fancied a party, I wouldn't want to be walking on eggshells for fear of disturbing the little darling...

As others have said, the baby won't have a clue what's going on, wait a few years; just because you've had a baby doesn't mean the same restrictions for everyone else.

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

IMHO, do it bareboat.

With a bairn you'd want to be going where you want when you want.

 

[Babylon]

Now for a different point of view; if I'd paid good money for my holiday, I'd be pretty fed up if the boat next door - and along for every port - had a screaming baby, and in the unlikely event self and chums fancied a party, I wouldn't want to be walking on eggshells for fear of disturbing the little darling...

As others have said, the baby won't have a clue what's going on, wait a few years; just because you've had a baby doesn't mean the same restrictions for everyone else.

Seajet

Screaming? You must get out of the habit of scaring babies!

Babies have been accompanying their parents since Adam and Eve. If this fine couple wish to have a family holiday, then flotilla sailing is no different to a package jobbie to anywhere on land. No reason why they should have to put it off a few years because a few grown men wish to get uproaringly drunk and noisy.

My own attitude to children changed dramatically when my son was a small toddler: I suddenly realised that he wasn't an as-yet incomplete individual on his way to becoming a complete grown-up, but an entirely valid person in his own right. Every day is his day, as much as it is our day.

 

[Flying Penguin]

IMHO, do it bareboat.

With a bairn you'd want to be going where you want when you want.

True, but some of the more noddy beginner flotilla routes do such short distances (you can be at the next port in 1-3 hours) that you are effectively doing whatever you want, with the benefits of flotilla support.

 

[Seajet]

Seajet

Screaming? You must get out of the habit of scaring babies!

Babies have been accompanying their parents since Adam and Eve. If this fine couple wish to have a family holiday, then flotilla sailing is no different to a package jobbie to anywhere on land. No reason why they should have to put it off a few years because a few grown men wish to get uproaringly drunk and noisy.

My own attitude to children changed dramatically when my son was a small toddler: I suddenly realised that he wasn't an as-yet incomplete individual on his way to becoming a complete grown-up, but an entirely valid person in his own right. Every day is his day, as much as it is our day.

No 'wish to get uproaringly drunk and noisey'; if an adult were to come along and scream & bawl they'd soon be very unpopular - you've reminded me why I never go on package holidays of any kind...