Summer cruise with a two year old (are we mad?)

Kelpie

Kelpie

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I've been wading through various posts on here and in the blogosphere on the every popular subject of cruising with kids. Lots of differing experiences, as you would expect, but also lots of info related to sailing in busy places like the Solent, or for full time liveaboards.

We've taken the boy sailing before, a couple of day sails last year and a short cruise when he was only six months old. Not really sure what to expect this time, since he's used to a much more stimulating life doing crafty things at nursery, and generally messing around having fun in a way that is going to be hard to replicate on the boat.

Our cruising ground is great, but requires some long sails (20-30nm minimum) and lots of time at anchor. Our favourite haunt is Uist, where deserted anchorages are to be found everywhere. We're not really the types to seek out marinas or even bother too much with visiting town/villages/pubs, mainly because there hardly are any. We do have some great beaches though.

I'll be setting the boat up for singlehanded sailing this season, including fitting the wind vane. This opens up the possibility of doing our long legs overnight, and then we can spend more of the daytime finding fun stuff to do ashore.

It would be interesting to hear what has worked for other people in a similar situation (other than chartering somewhere exotic!)
 
I don't know your area, but cruising with the young can be both rewarding and frustrating. Ours were aged 2 & 5 when we started on a 22' boat. There is quite a lot written about the subject, and not a few threads here. The main thing to realise is that their attention span won't last a whole passage, and putting them down below to rest may be the best option. Just like dogs, they need a run ashore regularly, and it may be that the only way you can get the beast to sleep is to run it into the ground. I don't really remember being aged two, since it was 3/4 of a century ago, but I think that quite a lot of reassurance is needed.

To hell with all that. They are kids and have to put up with things; it's your other half you need to mollycoddle.
 
The most important point is that you both have to be good with kids and you both have to be good with boats!
Al
 
We took our son sailing for two weeks when he was four, two years later there was also our daughter, then one year old. From then on, every summer holiday was spent on board, until five years later we bought our first boat, and it was not just the summer holiday, but nearly every weekend in season as well.
My experience is that when the kids are small, it does not really matter where they are or how long you sail, as long as they are properly fed and get enough sleep. They will entertain themselves building camps inside, playing with Lego, or using their imagination with whatever they can find.
When they are twelve or so, their preferences will have to be taken into account rather more, and the time will come when they feel they have more interesting things to do than go sailing with their parents.
Still, we must have done something right, as we infected them with the sailing bug, both of them going on to be sailing instructors, and my son sailing catamarans at a serious level, currently vice world champion F18.
So my advice is: do not worry too much, your kid loves to be where his parents are having a good time.
 
We sailed with a boat who had a young girl on board, Rosie, who had her first birthday on the day we left the Canaries to cross the Atlantic. We saw young kids everywhere in the Caribbean of many nationalities. They would play games even though they spoke different languages and they were the best educated and friendly children we have ever met. We used to baby sit her when her parents were diving and she was very friendly and chatty. Try to get him to meet as many others cruisers as you can. Although exotic kids don't change wherever they are.
 
KellysEye said:
We sailed with a boat who had a young girl on board, Rosie, who had her first birthday on the day we left the Canaries to cross the Atlantic. We saw young kids everywhere in the Caribbean of many nationalities. They would play games even though they spoke different languages and they were the best educated and friendly children we have ever met. We used to baby sit her when her parents were diving and she was very friendly and chatty. Try to get him to meet as many others cruisers as you can. Although exotic kids don't change wherever they are.
Click to expand...

+1 :encouragement:

We sailed to the Caribbean and the Med with no kids for what we thought would be a year, and came home 8 years later with two kids!

Brilliant time. We took time off to come home and have them but they were back on the boat at 6 months.

Wouldn't have missed it for the world.
 
Thanks for the above posts- very encouraging for our longer term aspirations of becoming liveaboards.
My immediate worry, though, is the short term cruising over the next couple of summers. Probably just doing the usual parent thing of overthinking and worrying too much, but I'm struggling to see what he will get out of two weeks aboard a boat sat an anchor in the middle of nowhere.

Pre-child, we used to love nothing better than a leisurely walk to the top of an unnamed hill to sit and watch the birds fly by, and contemplate the meaning of life. Glass of wine, simple food, good books, and a few choice films on the laptop to while away the evenings. We almost never see another boat, and those that we do see are exclusively crewed by pensioners.

Maybe we just need to sail to the Caribbean :D
 
We started our 2nd and 3rd fairly young, strapping them into their car seat, itself strapped onto a cockpit seat under the spray hood. It clearly did no harm - the 2nd is now a professional yachtsman with many ocean crossings on his CV.
We cruised Normandy and Brittany, usually aiming to be moored for a restaurant meal in the evening, and typically alternating a day ashore with a day at sea.
There were plenty of books aboard, and travel versions of lots of games. It's good to give them jobs to do, like helming, as soon as reasonable.
Not all children and families are the same, so inching your way to a satisfactory milieu is the way.
 
We had a bumpy crossing from Brittany to the Îles of Scilly when ours was just 13 months.

At one particularly rough moment I looked below and she was standing on the backrest holding on to a shelf and as happy as Larry.

She naturally knew to hold on in all her movements and was never hurt through a fall.
 
We've spent the last 10 years sailing with kids, not long term but every possible weekend and school holidays. Highs and lows as you would expect. Both have spent time in a car seat attache'd in different locations and we all seem to enjoy it. We've also cruised without them which is great for 2 days and then we tend to missh them. We've now added a dog to the crew list so our boat is pretty much full on but time away from work / home is great for everyone
 
Enjoy. We had our 2 on board from the first one being 3 month for many weekends and at least 2 weeks a year for the last 15 years either side and accross the Channel, it's now more difficult to persuade the teenagers to come away with us. Many super memories and few exciting moments. They can soon amuse themselves on the longer passages, however we did try and do more of the passages in the early hours or over night while they were asleep. Books read allowed and these days tablets computers etc all make the passage times pretty easy to manage. Exploring new beaches, shores side etc. all really great for kids IMHO.
 
We too managed well enough ona 22 footer with two groing smalls. Its difficult to escape a 2 year old's tantrum on a 22 footer! But we survived and so did they. Our recipe was short passages wherever possible (desirable in a short handed 22footer anyway). Plenty of interesting things to do when ashore and an average ratio of 1.5 days ashore to every 6 hours sailing usually appeased the junior crew!

As they get older and more ambitious it gets a bit scary. Once when the decision to turn back was made with worsening weather, there was a lot of pressure from them below to keep going so they could see the really big waves!

Safety: on passage no one allowed out of the cabin without a clipped on harness and LJ, and LJ's ALWAYS when on deck wherever we were. Also, as you have spotted you MUST be prepared to handle the boat completely on your own. Mum needs to be able to give full attention to the crew, and you can not expect her to do anything else, particularly if the going gets tough. Their safety is almost on a par with that of the boat even in a life and death situation, and as skipper you must plan for that at every stage.

But it can be immense fun and deeply rewarding having small kids aboard even if it does limit your sailing quite a lot. Just because you and SWMBO did long rough passages in the past, they are for the next few years off the radar until the kids are old enough to understand what is going on.

And never compromise on safety, even if it makes you look a fool: with adventurous 5 and 7 year old aboard we tackled the Portland race for the first time with them. Careful stowage of toys, computers and everything. Everyone in LJS even below decks, harnbesses ready to clip on, and admonishment to hold on tight when it gets rough.... when we got there it was a flat calm, and there was an old bloke swanning around in a rowing boat lifting his pots. But DAD..... where's the big waves!
 
Kelpie said:
Thanks for the above posts- very encouraging for our longer term aspirations of becoming liveaboards.
My immediate worry, though, is the short term cruising over the next couple of summers. Probably just doing the usual parent thing of overthinking and worrying too much, but I'm struggling to see what he will get out of two weeks aboard a boat sat an anchor in the middle of nowhere.
Click to expand...

I did day sails with a two-year old and extended (multi-week) trips from four onwards, just the two of us. I agree that contemplating it can be worrying, but in practice I think it's pretty straightforward. Toddlers don't have a huge range of operation, so to them a boat at anchor in the middle of nowhere is just the same sort of space as their room at home. It's not as if they could jump on a motorbike and head off to visit friends as an alternative. As long as you have lots of suitable entertainment they are fine anywhere.

Same goes when they get older - bring along entertainment for when sailing gets dull and all will be well. Overall I think the opportunity to interact with parents without much interruption is so nice for children than the restrictions of a boat don't matter - can even be an advantage.
 
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