Yachting & Children

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ma99ing

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I was reading with envy an article in Aprils YM about Nicola Rodriguez and her husband, who left the rat race and sailed away with their two sons. Im delighted to know it is possible, as myself and my wife are expecting our first in October.

We spent our honeymoon on a sailing course, and we both loved it. It was my first time sailing in too many years away, and her first time ever.

Does any one have any advice on how to get a young family out on the water ? Ideally I'd like to buy a yacht, but have no idea where to start, what type of yacht is best for short / single handed sailing etc. Should we stick with flotilla holidays / bare boat charter for now ? Can you even have a toddler on a yacht safely ? I have images of a crib / hammock type gadget, but cant imagine the whole setup being very safe.

Any help much appreciated.

MM
 
See http://www.yachtmollymawk.com for an entire family that's grown up on a boat. The mother wrote a book some years ago called "Kids in the Cockpit" which covers a lot of the practicalities of young kids on board, which is applicable to local weekend / holiday sailing as well as setting off around the world. Everything from "50 ways to keep a toddler amused" to how to change a nappy at 45 degress of heel :)

Pete
 
Also, not sure if a 3-year-old counts as a toddler, but I had one on my boat last weekend and he absolutely loved it.

Pete
 
Welcome to YBW.

Having babies and toddlers aboard is not too tricky, as long as you make sure your passage is tailored to suit the weakest crew, usually the youngest. We started on our own boat with a 3 year old and have had no problems, a good friend has a 3 month old without dramas.

You will essentially be singlehanded, with the occasional help from your partner, I would just make sure you are confident at boat handling before taking the family.

You can then project your salty seadog wisdom, calmly and confidently - they will have a great time. Good luck!



Boat choice, need a budget and location to suggest something.
 
The first time I took my daughter (5 at the time) sailing was a real treat! - we chartered for the day, it was a bank holiday, but we told her she was going to school, - loaded her into the car, (she questioned why she wasn't in uniform, but was happy with the answer that it was "mufti day"). We drove down to Port Solent to pick the boat up, got her out of the car an gave her her new lifejacket to put on - to say she was excited was an understatement!

We only hopped over to the IOW, F2-3 so was perfect, motored up and moored near the folly for lunch - She thought we had discovered a whole new island! - After a gentle sail back, - her steering (with help!) for part of the way, we decided that we had to buy our own boat so we could enjoy more days like that! Both my kids are now hooked!
 
Be Warned

ma99ing said:
I was reading with envy an article in Aprils YM about Nicola Rodriguez and her husband, who left the rat race and sailed away with their two sons. Im delighted to know it is possible, as myself and my wife are expecting our first in October.

We spent our honeymoon on a sailing course, and we both loved it. It was my first time sailing in too many years away, and her first time ever.

Does any one have any advice on how to get a young family out on the water ? Ideally I'd like to buy a yacht, but have no idea where to start, what type of yacht is best for short / single handed sailing etc. Should we stick with flotilla holidays / bare boat charter for now ? Can you even have a toddler on a yacht safely ? I have images of a crib / hammock type gadget, but cant imagine the whole setup being very safe.

Any help much appreciated.

MM
Click to expand...

Take your nippers sailing and they may love it!!! I was lucky enough to be on a family 9m Catalac in my early teens, no school was a real bonus!!!! I got home tuition but the thing was i met so many different people, and of course they were alot older thatn me but it helped me grow up. I matured at a very young age and had the shock of my life when i went to do my exams at an east london school.

I could not wait for the exams to finish and signed up for the Royal Navy, 18 months down the line i left and then went into the Royal Fleet Auxillary where i still am today.

I have never owned anything on dry land, had my first boat at 20 (a rock solid Centaur) and now i live on a 38 footer.

In simple terms i got converted at a young age, i feel safer at sea than i do on land.

So yes, do take your kids on the open sea, be sensible about it and you will love it. Its a life experiance, it really is
 
ma99ing said:
I was reading with envy an article in Aprils YM about Nicola Rodriguez and her husband, who left the rat race and sailed away with their two sons. Im delighted to know it is possible, as myself and my wife are expecting our first in October.

We spent our honeymoon on a sailing course, and we both loved it. It was my first time sailing in too many years away, and her first time ever.

Does any one have any advice on how to get a young family out on the water ? Ideally I'd like to buy a yacht, but have no idea where to start, what type of yacht is best for short / single handed sailing etc. Should we stick with flotilla holidays / bare boat charter for now ? Can you even have a toddler on a yacht safely ? I have images of a crib / hammock type gadget, but cant imagine the whole setup being very safe.

Any help much appreciated.

MM
Click to expand...

I wonder who that could be ;)

In three days time it's exactly 10 years since we got married. Our wedding list was at the Marine Superstore Port Solent. We had a weeks honeymoon sailing on the Norfolk Broads and then set off a month later on our Westerly Corsair bound for the Caribbean......for a year or two. Totally clueless (well not totally). A chap from the forum had been reading our newbie posts and dropped a bottle of champagne off on the dock just before we left. I've never forgotten that.:)

I doubt we even had 500 miles experience between us at that point.

Little did we know it would become an eight year trip complete with hurricanes, children coming along en-route (one after a stop in Conception Island-Bahamas!:)) a change of boat to our beloved Moody 38 and the adventure of a lifetime.

Some of the early stuff is here

The kids both lived full time on the boat from eight months old.

We cruised the Caribbean with them, ate grapefruits and mangos straight from the trees, fed sharks, marveled at a sperm whale peacefully alongside, then took them to the USA, anchored of Canvaeral and watched a Space Shuttle launch, met Buzz Aldrin and his Apollo crew and sailed into New York and past the Statue of Liberty.

People used to say what about the kid's education? I used to just smile and say "we're on a hell of a field trip". :)

We all miss it desperately and when the time is right will do it again.

Its hard work with kids and you'll invent all sorts of interesting contraptions to keep them either contained or entertained, but the journey was like a window into another magical world. A total and utter privilege.

Just do it:cool:


....and a big thank you to all on here and the staff at Yachting Monthly who encouraged us to sail into the distance.

As Cap'n Jack says. "Now bring me that Horizon"
 
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My son was 2 yrs old when I bought the yacht and took the family sailing.

Had more problems with the now ex-Missus than I ever did with him!
 
Eldest was 3 when I started sailing again after a long break, she's horribly seasick even 9 years later but you can't prise her off the boat. Next one was 6 days old when she first stayed on board, at two years old when we crossed some nasty overalls off the Ore bar she shouted gleefully "bumpy mummy, bumpy!" Latest is a year old and boating is just something we all do so she mucks in. I think we've made loads of mistakes and settled on four golden rules:
1. Choose a good boat, we had a cramped tippy Macwester and changed it for a Heavenly Twins, that was a major step forward. The current boat is the most family friendly we've been on, never mind owned.
2. Never go to sea when there's a six forecast, rufty tufty sailing and young children don't mix - stupid decision off Belgium taught us that.
3. Always have one skipper and one child minder, never attempt anything that requires both of you unless the children are happy. Men can compartmentalise better than women but a crying child makes any boat experience sh*tty.
4. Everyone needs their own space that's theirs and not to be shared. It doesn't have to be a cabin, or even a whole bunk, but maybe half a bunk and a locker that's theirs and doesn't get used for anything else.

If I'm honest, I'd like a 25 foot fast monohull that goes to windward like witch, but I love sailing with my family so I bought a magic carpet that takes us all to great places. Slowish to windward, fast on a reach, huge inside, safe as houses, high bulwarks and dry in any weather because of all those golden rules, number one is the most important.
 
The Lazy Kipper said:
3. Always have one skipper and one child minder, never attempt anything that requires both of you unless the children are happy. Men can compartmentalise better than women but a crying child makes any boat experience sh*tty.
Click to expand...

I fully agree with that. We bought a 13 ton wooden motor sailer with very little experience and absolutely no training, and enjoyed a baptism of fire with a 3 year old and 1 year old twins (now 9 and 7 with a 'proper' sailing boat and with various RYA quals - parents that is, not children yet).

Our biggest issue was anchoring, picking up a mooring or going alongside when the children kicked off, so to speak. It's worrying enough going into a marina with no experience and 13 tons of fibreglass crushing boat without the distraction of children going bonkers.

Once you've established the grounds rules and you - and they - have enough experience under your belts, nothing beats it.

Good luck.
 
The first cruise with my son was at 4 months, we strapped the car seat in the cockpit.....and he loved it, happy as he could see anything, at night we put him in a travel cott in the saloon and the gentle rocking at anchor made him sleep very well. The holiday was hard work (babies are hard work anyway) but we had a magical time........Studland, Shipstill Point and we even managed to get to Newtown. Mind you the weather was nice.

He's now 15 (and many lifejackets later) and he's still keen to come.

I've really had so much pleasure introducing him to sailing, so my advice is crack on and enjoy yourselves. Good luck.
 
jonic said:
I wonder who that could be ;)

In three days time it's exactly 10 years since we got married. Our wedding list was at the Marine Superstore Port Solent. We had a weeks honeymoon sailing on the Norfolk Broads and then set off a month later on our Westerly Corsair bound for the Caribbean......for a year or two. Totally clueless (well not totally). A chap from the forum had been reading our newbie posts and dropped a bottle of champagne off on the dock just before we left. I've never forgotten that.:)

I doubt we even had 500 miles experience between us at that point.

Little did we know it would become an eight year trip complete with hurricanes, children coming along en-route (one after a stop in Conception Island-Bahamas!:)) a change of boat to our beloved Moody 38 and the adventure of a lifetime.

Some of the early stuff is here

The kids both lived full time on the boat from eight months old.

We cruised the Caribbean with them, ate grapefruits and mangos straight from the trees, fed sharks, marveled at a sperm whale peacefully alongside, then took them to the USA, anchored of Canvaeral and watched a Space Shuttle launch, met Buzz Aldrin and his Apollo crew and sailed into New York and past the Statue of Liberty.

People used to say what about the kid's education? I used to just smile and say "we're on a hell of a field trip". :)

We all miss it desperately and when the time is right will do it again.

Its hard work with kids and you'll invent all sorts of interesting contraptions to keep them either contained or entertained, but the journey was like a window into another magical world. A total and utter privilege.

Just do it:cool:


....and a big thank you to all on here and the staff at Yachting Monthly who encouraged us to sail into the distance.

As Cap'n Jack says. "Now bring me that Horizon"
Click to expand...

Well, if thats not an advert for going, i`m not sure what is!!! :D
 
I sailed over to the Iles of Scilly when my daughter was 13 months old. After one early tumble she learnt the adage "one had for the boat and one for one's self".

It was quite a bumpy crossing and at one stage I popped my head below: she was standing at an angle holding on to a shelf and her feet on the top of the backrest, happy as Larry.

I found that toddlers love it but at a later stage may develop a nervousness or just boredom as adolescents. However my two elder kids recently bought their own dinghies.
 
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