Take Children on Your Cruising Vacation!

Sailing with youngsters aboard can add a whole new dimension of fun to your cruising vacation. It doesn’t matter whether you take your own children or borrow some, such as grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Seeing the world through their eyes will help you discover opportunities and have adventures that you will miss with adults only. A few thoughts might help you make the most of a trip with children aboard.

Just like Kipling’s elephant’s child, young humans come endowed with “‘satiable curiosity.” You know how it is: What’s that? How does this work? Where are we going? Can I try it? Just take children out of their electronics driven world and imagination bubbles up.

So, if you’re going to have children with you, charter a boat that doesn’t have TV. If the kids bring along gadgets that let them tune out on you and the world, put a strict limit on their use. Sailing during the day is not a good time for ipod in the cockpit, but during the cocktail hour or in the dark quiet of the evening, a chance to “chill out” could work just fine.

We always try to make sure that there are plenty of things to read. Some kids will want to relax with a book, and you will be amazed that even older children love to hear a good story read by a great storyteller – you. Don’t forget to bring playing cards and board games. On a sailing vacation, there’s time to do quiet things together.

Make sure that the children are part of the working crew. Give them titles and responsibilities that suit their abilities. On our boat, one of the first jobs is often Dinghy Mate and responsibilities include pulling the dinghy close enough to the boat that the dinghy painter can’t foul the prop and bailing the dinghy after a rainy time or a wet passage. Teach the Dinghy Mate how to tie up the dinghy to the boat or at a dock – but – always check that the job is done correctly. It won’t be your dinghy mate that has to chase down a runaway (“floataway”) dinghy. The jobs you can create are many and meaningful.

By the way, on our boat, cooking the evening meal rotates from day to day, and the people who cook don’t do clean up. Any child can, and should, be part of a cooking and cleanup crew.

A huge advantage to having children along is that they add spontaneity to your journey. Be sure to plan the most important stops first because it is almost certain that young minds will want to do things you forgot to imagine, so you want to have the flexibility to allow for their interests. Take your time. Whatever you don’t get to will be there for a return trip.

In our own experience, we have found that it is a big help if our young crew members are able to swim safely. They will want to be able to snorkel, jump off the boat, take a scrub swim in the sea and rinse with fresh water. By the way, even good young swimmers will sometimes want to wear a life jacket for water activities in strange waters. Sailboat cruising is not a time to be “macho.”

One last thought, get a “noodle” or two in a local shop. They may be the greatest simple invention in the history of kids and water.

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