Will Sailing ever be the same?

As a father of a six month old, my experience to date has been that I have definitely got in less sailing time than last season, baby has joined us on a few occasions but as suggested one parent is pretty well occupied with child minding. What has happened in our situation is that I tend to go out with the older kids or solo. A third adult on board would definitely be welcome if space will allow. Babies sleep a lot on board but as is true with many other things sailing, pick your day nice breeze and weather, and see how you do on a short sail. It may be best to crew on a friends boat when opportunity allows for the first while. Must say it is lovely to pop down to the boat for some peace and quiet now and again!
To maintain the non boaty theme could i recommend a great song for the occasion "the voyage" by Johnny Duhan. Congratulations and enjoy!
 
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Most people seem to be missing Richard's point - it's not about taking a baby to sea, or toddler and a new baby, - it's about taking THREE new babies all at the same time !!


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Not in the least. That is why I suggested taking along an extra adult. In my experience, one parent is more than capable of looking after one baby, but a second adult is probably a must for three. Not just on the boat, but at all times! So, whilst sailing, an extra pair of hands is almost a necessity, thereby leaving one of you to do the sailing bit.

Whilst afloat you need somewhere safe to put down a little one who is content and wanting to sleep, and that is where my little cot is ideal.
 
I have one daughter and thats enough!!

Buy a trimran! one hull for each child amd Mum can run between them!!




Bonne chance!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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Most people seem to be missing Richard's point - it's not about taking a baby to sea, or toddler and a new baby, - it's about taking THREE new babies all at the same time !!

My guess it is not like 3 times the amount of hassle, but cubed !

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As granddad to twins (now aged 6) Moodynick has hit the nail on the head. You will not know whether you have been punched, bored or countersunk for at least 2 years. I have not managed to get daughter to bring kids to baot yet (despite her & my son being introduced when about 6 & 2 respectively)

Your wife will need help while you are at work - it will not seem too bad for the first few months as they sleep a lot, but it steadily gets harder until they are old enough to feed & dress themselves.

Join TAMBA (Twins & MultipleBirths Association) the mutual help and access to used gear is invaluable, you will also find people in the same boat who will share their experiences.

You will need to treat the boat like a caravan, stopping in harbour or popping over to the nearest beach - a fin keeler is a bit of a problem for beach trips. Just the volume of food & nappies etc will be a problem.
 
rb_strech.
Congrats!
Nice piccie!
Brilliant stuff.

However back to the Question ref boating.
Searush has made a few relevant comments.
So have Others fair play.
My experience fwiw.

OK , We did not have triplets.
But as close as you can, or She could get!

3 in as short as possible notice.

Had a 16ft Dory with a cuddy at the time.

3 carry cots and we went afloat!!!

On the odd occasion You will be able to escape the Wonderfull Triplets.
You will NEED Your boat!

So will swmbo.
Just start organising occasional relief/ sitters .
A.S.A.P /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Congratulations.

My £0.02

Keep the (very nice) boat you've got.
You don't even know if the latest additions to your family will like sailing. For all you know they might be horribly seasick and never tag along.
The wife will stay ashore to look after them and instead of a bigger boat you might want a smaller one to sail singlehanded.

Keep what you've got, and see how it works out over time.
 
You think you've got problems:

nat3.jpg


It'll be a lot easier when they get to about 6 years old, and can look after themselves. Doesn't particularly matter what boat you have in the meantime (IMHO). Gets worse again when they get to 10/11 and start getting stroppy, and friends tell me this is as nothing compared to the teen years /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Congratulations and good luck /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Andy
 
Firstly congratulations to all of you.

To add my 2p.

We sailed a lot before the birth of the first of our two daughters now 3 and 1 but have not tried it since and will probably be 2 years before we can even think of buying again.

Some thoughts that we had that may / may not be appropriate to you.

1) Finance - Nursery / childminder will cost more than several years marina fees each year. If your wife didn;t work before then obviously no change for you but if she did then you wil eitehr have to cut your cloth to accomodate her giving up work or paying for child care. With us - paying £20k a year to the nursery basically takes all the what would otherwise be boat money.

2) Why do you sail? If it's for relaxing & enjoyment then be prepared for a far less relaxing & enjoyable time as at least 1 of you will need to be on child duty. Once they get older 2 (ish) they will probably entertain themselves really nicely so will need less adult input freeing you to sail. As others have said - you will need to change the style. no more bracing sails to a nice restaurant - think F2 anchored off a nice sandy beach

3) Can you cope with the paraphanalia? Will be easier if your wife can breast feed - sterilising bottles = not fun on a boat. Will be ok next summer when they don't need them sterilised anda lot of the other stuff that you "have" to buy you soon realise that you don't need. Also nappies. When they need to be changed they need to be changed - A baby is easy enough but a single 1 year old that doesn't wan't a clean nappy is harder. 3 on a boat that's moving would be worth putting on you tube

In your position - i think i'd try something really easy to start with and not expect too much -

For this summer i think you'll do really well to maybe do some gentle day sailing to a nice beach - then back either to marina or home if it's drivable. If it goes well then try sleeping on board for one night but with everything prepared in advance. i.e bottles sterilised. plenty of changes of clothes etc.

Once you've tried that you can then judge for yourself.

So if you anafford it - keep the boat and start them young and slow.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Most people seem to be missing Richard's point - it's not about taking a baby to sea, or toddler and a new baby, - it's about taking THREE new babies all at the same time !!

My guess it is not like 3 times the amount of hassle, but cubed !

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Nick, you are right, but this applies to all the other things in their life too! The OP asked whether to sell and buy bigger, or just sell... most of the answers here are

1) answer the question: why do you sail?

2) your sailing will change (i.e. no, it will not be the same) - but you can still do it if you want... and that means BOTH of you.
 
Firstly many thanks for everyones best wishes.

Big Nick hit it on the head with the challenge. There are an interesting span of very interesting and helpful opinions.

jac - I think you have already picked up on the practical issues. With 3 you cannot breastfeed alone, so bottles and everything else is needed. Fortunately we already live frugally, as SWMBO gave up work a few years ago to really help with conception. I think I can just about afford to keep the boat, but it will definitely impact other areas of our lives and maybe that isn't a great compromise.

Kawasaki - your note gives me hope! A mobo seems easier as there is less setup and less dangerous things for kids. Maybe I should go to the other side for a while (the thought has crossed my mind, as I just love the water)

Searush - I think we are starting to see your description of the first two years /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

tiggertoo - still very happy with the RM. If I wasn't then I would have gone for the sell option without a doubt. RMs are very difficult to get hold of second hand, hence my reluctance to part with it, even though I suspect I may not be using it very much.

I will definitely keep the boat for this season, as SWMBO sat out (lied down for a lot of it!) her pregnancy at mother-in-laws who lives abroad. The girls will be staying there whilst our house is extended (another major cost). They won't be coming home until November. Fortunately work has given me 4 weeks off now and another 5 weeks of holiday till the end of the year.
 
Congratulations.

I have absolutely no experience of taking children sailing but plenty at bringing up children. I would say keep sailing as long as you can (although the prospect of feeding, changing and playing with three babies all at an angle would daunt me) because there will come a day when they will want to pursue their own interests and talents. If you are lucky they will all want to be sailors but more likely you will become an unpaid taxi driver. And, of course, you will want to encourage their individual activities so will be spending most weekends applauding their efforts at football, swimming, ballet, music, horse riding or whatever. I make no mention of what will happen when hormones start raging!

Your life just changed irrevocably. It is now more about your children than about you. You may have to sacrifice a lot. We simply cannot mould our children into the shape we would wish and a lot of heartache and trouble comes when we try to do that. So enjoy your sailing while you can and pray that your daughters will enjoy it too.

Michael
 
Congratulations.

I agree that you will need help - to survive at all, let alone to sail. It really depends on how your wife feels about sailing. You could go out by yourself or with friends, leaving her with the babies (that's unlikely to be popular) but to go out sailing all together, she has got to really want to go. If she does (probably with help and for short trips to start with) then you'll find a way. If she's not keen, you'll probably find yourself selling the boat.

Good luck.

Are they identical? That's a relevant question - my experience is with twins rather than triplets - identical ones are easier, in that they tend to want the same things. Non-identical ones want different things (on principle) and fight more! Luckily they rely less on you to entertain them because they have a built-in companion.
 
Congratulations on the new arrivals.

Just a thought (and bearing in mind that I don't know what the inside of an RM880 looks like), but I have seem pictures where one yacht owner turn a saloon double berth (which was created using the drop down table) into an enormous play pen. Seemed to work for them, but I am fairly sure they did not have triplet trouble /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Regards,
Jeff.
 
Congratulations ³

You can get away with more than you think because young babies have an instinct to sleep if they are stressed, and the boat's motion ought to be enough to knock 'em out. When ours was a baby he fell asleep as soon as we started sailing, and then woke up again as soon as we moored.

I heard about a couple that used to race a wayfarer with young twins stuffed on top of the buoyancy chamber under the foredeck.
 
Hearty congratulations! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Keep the boat and see how it works out.

Being permanently tired is part of the deal of parenthood for the few months at least! You will recover eventually! Get them afloat as early as you can, they are less likely to develop seasickness and the rocking and water sounds seem to help them sleep.

Good luck to you all!
 
Fabulous.

You will need something like a Moody 36, 5 berths in three cabins and a decent place for Mum and Dad to sleep. Most importantly you have a clear cockpit and the mainsheet is behind the helmsman so you have complete control while Mum looks after the kids.
 
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Sold a Moody 44 two years ago, which would have been ideal!

However we were struggling to justify the running costs (I don't like skimping on maintenance etc to save costs), which is why I downsized to something more modest.
 
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