SPECIAL REPORT
Would you take your preschooler cruising? Or are toddlers and yachts a recipe for stress, sleep deprivation and restricted sailing?
While going on a bluewater adventure with your family is a popular dream, the advantages of having a child that can understand instructions, occupy themselves with a book, and have mastered at least the basics of swimming, keep many families ashore until school age. But cruising, and even liveaboard bluewater sailing, can be done with babies and preschoolers. Four families cruising and living aboard with young children share their tips on how to manage – and enjoy – sailing with very small crew.
There are many reasons for setting off with under-fives. For some families it is simply a case of not waiting – especially where older siblings want to rejoin formal education before their senior school years. Casting off sooner may enable you to sail for longer, even if taking it easy for the early stages. Going when children are younger may also negate the need to move up a size of yacht to increase the number of cabins.
For many families the ability to go sailing without having to factor in ‘boat school’ is a huge draw. “I found home schooling for pre-school and early primary school aged children was very easy and stress-free,” recalls Carolyn Simpson, mother of four boys aged four to nine.
She and her husband have lived aboard their 47ft Herreshoff ketch Moon River since their youngest son was born, cruising the Pacific when he was two and his brothers four, six and seven years old.
“We really just wanted to ensure that the boys weren't behind in reading and letter formation. Basic maths, alphabet etc can be learned as games and during day-to-day activities, and the lifestyle itself is an education.”
Friendships are less critical at the preschool stage, which takes the pressure off finding other ‘kid boats’ – though maintaining relationships with wider family members, such as grandparents and cousins, can be harder with small children if relying on video calls or similar.
The slow, simple life on board can suit a very young family, as Carolyn recalls: “For us all to be together as a family 24/7 for extended periods of cruising, it [was] lovely having a newborn and not having a schedule. My memories of breastfeeding on board, relaxing on beaches, playing in the shallows, and sleeping in hammocks under trees are dreamy.”
But there are obvious hurdles to overcome. Sleep deprivation is a huge factor during the early parenting years. Add in night watches, anchor monitoring, the challenges of getting proper rest while under way, of trying to sleep undisturbed in a small space – and a tropical climate – and it's easy to see why many sailing parents baulk at the idea. Factor in essential boat maintenance, the domestic workload, and possibly income generating work, and creating enough time for sleep can be challenging. For many families this means taking things very slowly. For others it means bringing in additional hands – extended family, an au pair, or deck crew.
The health and safety concerns can seem daunting. All the usual hazards – falls, choking, burns – become amplified on board. With very young children who simply can’t be relied on to follow key instructions, ‘man-marking’ becomes a full-time job. If one parent is looking after the boat, the other will need to be looking after the child(ren). Preventing man overboards, falls off jetties and pontoons, and safely transferring to and from a dinghy etc requires careful planning and constant vigilance (see overleaf).
There is also the question of how taking young children will alter the experience of cruising itself. While diving coral reefs, or immersing oneself in different cultural experiences, are likely to be high on adult cruisers’ wish lists, for young children the best moments involve the simple things. Finding a shallow sandy beach may become your anchorage goal.
galley stressful
two car seats, a double stroller, and a high energy miniature poodle – running high on the adrenaline of love of being new parents!” Sarah recalls. “We were tied to the dock (and laundry machine) for those first few months.”
Sarah and Will adapted different ‘safe zones’ in their boat as the boys grew. “‘The Pit’ was a custom lee cloth across our main saloon dropped-down table to create a baby rumble room,” she explains.
“‘The Cage’ is our full cockpit enclosure. This was imperative for the toddler phase and made the cockpit 100% secure. We used Phifertex material, which is ideal for the tropics in that it provides sun protection, but you can see through it. It’s also durable enough to contain two toddlers throwing their bodies against it.
“One of my most useful purchases was two portable pop‘n’sit chairs. We secure them in the cockpit so the twins can be strapped in safely when needed. They have eaten many meals in these chairs on board and out at restaurants.”
Having dedicated places for children to go during mooring or a manoeuvre is a strategy many parents recommend. Carolyn Simpson adds: “Introducing ‘safety seats’ was one of our most important safety tactics. If Richie or I said 'safety seats' all four boys would go to (or be put into) dedicated berths/carseats/seats which separated them and kept them safe while we dealt with anything thrown at us. We prepared snack bags for during busy times like anchoring and docking to keep all four quiet.
“We still use the same code-word today, but things have changed as the boys have gotten older. Jackson and Tasman might be asked to come up and help with things like docking, but otherwise they all remain in their seats until told it is safe to leave.”
Having strict rules that are stuck to consistently is key. “The boys all wear lifejackets and are tethered at all times when on-deck under way, these were the rules from day one and in all conditions so everyone knew the drill when we headed offshore,” recalls Carolyn.
“When we are on passage the boys don't leave the cockpit; this rule also applies to adult crew as much as possible! At anchor/marina the boys weren't allowed to wander around the topsides without a lifejacket until they could confidently swim four laps of Moon River.”
“Nobody is allowed in the cockpit without a lifejacket and an adult. Period,” adds Lane.
Simplifying systems and sail handling so one adult can manage the boat is vital. “Everything is rigged on Kaiquest so she can be sailed solo. One of us tends to the twins, the other sails the boat. Sailing is the easy job,” says Susan Curry. “The Hydrovane rudder takes over steering, which means Kaiquest’s main rudder and two wheels are locked off. I now fully appreciate this safety feature for sailing with kids: there is no erratic movement of the wheels, and no chance of fingers or arms getting caught.”
“I wish we'd known that, when you live aboard a sailboat with kids, only about 5% of your time is spent actually sailing,” recalls Emily Lane.
“The other 95% is spent in the day-to-day mundane details of living: feeding the kids, getting them to pick up their toys, making sure they're going down for nap, getting them on and off the dock safely, arranging for grocery deliveries, tracking down playgrounds and laundromats... the list goes on.
“But we're all doing it together in a (relatively) tiny little boat, all within a few feet of each other. The kids love being close to us, and we love being close to them. And in the end, that's really what makes living aboard worth it.”
Follow the families on Instagram @hydrovane, @chasingmoonriver, @resolutely_sailing @finedayforsailing and on their blogs at svkaiquest.com, chasingmoonrivernz.com, finedayforsailing.com
With limited stowage onboard, large plastic toy sets won’t be an option. Popular recommendations include: Lego/duplo. Giant drawstring play mat/storage bags keep the pieces contained and out of the bilges.
Tool kits. Child-appropriate versions of a ‘real’ toolbox are universally popular with liveaboard kids. “We take these ashore and can sit back and relax while they create,” says Simpson.
A ‘survival kit’ has similar appeal: add a flint and steel, whittling knife, whistle, walkie-talkies and a hammock/den kit. Magnatiles for mess-free creativity (just be careful where you store them on board as they are magnetic) Journals. Even during ‘no-school’ days on passage many parents get kids to draw or write a few words each day. Stationary rolls/craft boxes. Glue guns, lollipops and pipe cleaners, paint, paper, and modelling clay – although these often only come out at anchor. Fancy dress. Popular with little ones and easy to store. Also makes it easier to keep an eye on your child ashore if they're dressed as a cartoon character! Water toys. SUPS, kayaks, water pistols. Don’t forget swim goggles. Tablets. Particularly invaluable on long passages, explains Emily Lane. “We treat it the same way you'd treat a longhaul flight with toddlers. Routine goes out the window, there are lots of snacks involved, lots of time on the ipad.” Kindle Kids tablets have a no-quibble replacement policy for devices that may take some knocks and spills on board.
The Birdyfish is a dinghy that aims to make foiling accessible to sailors of all levels. François Tregouet took it for a test sail to see if it really does bring foiling within reach
Based on an engineering school graduation project, three young Frenchmen have created the Birdyfish, a dinghy that aims to make foiling accessible to everyone. Birdyfish is the story of a sailing startup, something western France does well. Near Nantes, Jean-baptiste Morin, Pierre Rhimbault and Alban Satgé were not yet 25 years old when they started out to create a new class of boat.
Foiling designs fascinated them, from the Mini Transat small yachts to 60ft IMOCAS, but they wanted to make flying on the water easier.
Ambitious but realistic, the trio focused on the business and management of the project, and turned to specialists for key areas. Naval architect Etienne Bertrand, well known for his work on the Mini, was commissioned to design the Birdyfish, whose beamy bow is reminiscent of the 6.5m Mini ocean crossing scows. With their personal savings and a €10,000 grant from a foundation for young entrepreneurs, they built a prototype. Three years later they're on the verge of finalising a €250,000 fundraising operation and moving to 600m² premises to scale up to mass production. While the hulls are subcontracted a few kilometres south, the foils are built in Nantes, in-house, a key factor in controlling the quality of these essential parts.
Foil design was entrusted to a master of the art, Jean Baptiste Behm. With their J-shape, the foils create maximum lift when fully deployed but remain quite simple to retract. The carbon foils weigh 10kg each and are symmetrical, so can be used on either side of the boat. This simplifies production and after sales service.
Also with simplicity in mind, the position of the foils is fixed, without any adjustment. Rudder rake can be adjusted but to enable good control of the helm the rudder profile is not extreme. A
longer rudder chord means a little more drag but also more tolerance, and less risk of losing control. Sailing at low speeds with a smaller rudder surface area would give no feel to the tiller, making it much more difficult for beginners. The development of the Birdyfish, and refining that balance, took more than two years. is limited to three sails to keep it simple. There's no trapeze either, the righting moment being entrusted to the foils. This is also a safety choice because, at high speed, any fall could be dangerous. Two crewmembers sit on the gunwale, or move slightly outboard upwind with their feet in the straps.
A major evolution in the development of the Birdyfish means there is also no longer a daggerboard. The first boats sold played their part as pioneers, but it turns out that the foils, although symmetrical, generate more antileeway effect than expected. Removal of the daggerboard and its box made the Birdyfish's cockpit even simpler. Officially, the Birdyfish will fly in upwards of 12 knots of wind. But with a trained crew, the boat can take off from 8 knots. Finding the right angle, producing just the right amount of power at the right time to get the hull out of the water will show the difference between a novice crew and one that already has a few hours of flying experience.
Rusty from decades of cruising on non-foiling boats (and having long forgotten my 420 and
Mini years), for me trying the Birdyfish felt like a good test of its genuine accessibility to all. I returned to the shore reassured about my
I quickly learned that to remain foiling requires being very sensitive to movement. Rudder correction angles must be as small as possible. There's no question of moving the whole tiller, instead Jean-baptiste advised I keep my tiller hand close to my body and only make small movements using just the span of my fingers. Course deviations must also be very limited. I estimate that the maximum allowed is more or less 2° around the true wind direction without trimming the sails. The penalty for overdoing it is immediate: the Birdyfish touches down, either softly or more brutally.
Tacking and gybing are not difficult, but it takes a little more experience to complete them in ‘flight’ mode. To demonstrate, Jeanbaptiste retook control of the boat for a series of foiling gybes. Crouching at the front of the cockpit, my role was limited to managing the Solent sheet and above all to hold on, as the rate of turn is brutal, a reminder of the extraordinary performance achieved.
Only twice have I reached 18 knots at the helm of a sailing boat on my first try, and those were on a Gunboat 68 and an 80ft
Ultim trimaran – very different budgets to the €18,840 standard Birdyfish. Three essential options do raise the bill to €21,200 – it's difficult to do without the jib furler for manoeuvres, a Code 0 with furler offers light airs performance, and a launching trailer is essential for the 135kg (297lb) whole package – but if you want to go foiling for a reasonable budget and with little experience, the Birdyfish rocket hits the target.
Moving heavy sails is also challenging. Rather than brick them, which makes them really dense and awkward to handle, leave them in a long flake with plenty of sail ties on. These can be used as handles so that multiple people can help lift and drag it to where you need it.
When reefing, it’s not advisable to let the mainsail flog to depower it: the sail and boom might have a combined weight of a quarter of a tonne. Traditional sailing techniques offer today’s skipper seamanship techniques to draw from and scandalising the main for reefing is one example.
Good winch and line handling technique is essential on larger yachts. Unfortunately degloving injuries are not uncommon and even experienced sailors have lost fingers in a moment’s inattention.
Emily Bower also pointed out how dangerous power winches can be if they fail. “I was putting someone up a mast one day and when I took my finger off the button the winch kept turning,” she recalls. “I had to ease the line continually to prevent the person being winched into the block while someone else went below to isolate the batteries.”
WINCH HANDLING SKILLS:
• Load the winch fully with four or five turns
before grinding on: use the whole drum • Keep hands a safe distance from the winch by sliding your hand down the line as you load the drum, and work at winch level – holding hands too high can cause