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Anyone with sailing kids?

NateHanson

Sustaining Member
Anyone else here have cruising kiddies? I'd love to here from others what's worked for you and what hasn't.

Lilja is 3 this month, and we've had her sailing a few times each of the past three seasons. The first summer we strapped her carseat in the cockpit for a couple daysails, or carried her in a snuggly at the helm.

Second season she got a harness and chilled out on the cockpit seats - she loved napping below while we sailed. :) At the end of that summer we took her for her first mini-cruise. She and my wife drove up to Maine and I brought the boat up. That worked great, and she mostly wore a harness, and sometimes a foam PFD. She liked the exploring, some short daysails, and a few nights aboard. (we split our time between the boat and my parents home, which prevented the boat from being too restrictive to Lily.)

This year I've only had her out on a Rhodes 19 so far, but she's got a new Sospenders foam/inflatable combo for the more mobile times ahead, and she continues to always be excited about sailing.

So any other little ones on the water here? Got tips? Stories?
 

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ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
I have a 3 year old son I cant keep off the Ericson. I also have an 8 month old daughter. We started cruising with my sone when he was 1 month old. Weekending on my colmbia 28. It got tough when he was walking as that boat had a horrible cockpit. One of the main reasons we bought the 38 was because of the kids. AS for advice I would say bring the kid as much as possible. Try not to bring too many toys and get them interested in what there is to do on the boat. I carved a wood block into a small boat for my son to tow behind. Between that and learning to trim the sails he is entertained for hours. HE also loves sitting in the dinghy. I stressed the pfd at all times above deck, even when at the marina on the pier or in the parking lot. It was tough at first but now he accepts it as the norm and even knows to get it. My 8 month old was born in august and we took her on a week cruise the next week. Last summer we did 5 cruises over 4-6 day stretches, 3 with just my son and very pregnant wife, then 2 with th e whole bunch. We bring an etch a sketch for Max and a few books. He naps in the v berth and sleeps the night there as well with a bed guard to keep him in place. We use another bed guard on the starbd bench/bunk to keep Anya on place. Lee cloths would work too but I already had the bed guards. More questions?Sorry about all of the pics but this is why I own an Ericson...
 

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windjunkee

Member III
I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 year old. I've taken them out but it requires my wife to spend full time keeping track of the kids and me full time to sail and trim the boat (now's a good time to have roller furling).

I have a harness and two tweety bird life vests and plan to take them out more often. We've been over to Catalina Island for the weekend and a few day sails.

Need more swimming lessons before I take them out on longer trips.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134
 

Ed Valente

Member II
Great Pics. Ted, what do you use for bed guards ? We have a one y/o son who we plan to do some cruising with this summer. Sailing was easy last summer as he was contained in his car seat. We have a pfd and harness for him and were contemplating adding netting for the cockpit. It would be nice to create an arrangement where the netting could be easily removed for occasional racing. Any thoughts about netting (pros / cons / ideas for easy removal) ?

Ed.
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Hey Ed!

Long time, no noise from you!! Is the boat in yet? What are your plasn for the season? I would love to do a Wed. night with you....
Over....
S
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
We dont go offshore. Only in the chesapeake. We dont use the netting. I couldn't stand the stuff personally. No harness either, just pfd. He stays mostly in the cockpit, but does go fwd when its not too rough. I figure we keep pretty close tabs on him and if does fall overboard its going to be a good learning experience for him... As for bed guards we use the kind that work on regular home matress beds. They are not used as lee cloths say when the boat is heeled, just when motoring, at anchor or whne not heeled over. If I had more time on my hands I would take some sunbrella and make up a few lee cloths as they would be much more practical.
 

Ed Valente

Member II
From an asthetic point, Im not a big fan of the netting either. But it sure beats fishing the kid out of the water and dealing with the after math from the captain (in the best case scenario). Seth, Wed beer cans are definitly in the plans and it would be great to have you on board. We will be in the water in three weeks. Had to get a portion of the vang repaired and the guy who was suppose to do the work dissapeared with it. Thanks to local law enforcement connections the part is now back and servicable. Still can't give any recomendations for a reputable machine shop in the Lake Michigan area. But can recommend who to stay away from. (but I digress).

Ed.
 

ref_123

Member III
Netting answer - and gates question

There is a good source for Plastimo netting - www.marisafe.com; it's way cheaper then Johnson's.

As for the bed guards - questions to the collective experience. We are planning to use the V-berth as a baby pen. I looked long and hard how to prevent our girl from getting out from there (she is 15 months old today, so the climbing abilities do not match her reasoning yet).

Most of those standard bed rails are really low, so I can easily envision my girl climbing over it and then falling down from aggregated 5 feet of height (V-berth+guard)... As for the large gates, they are way too big and I'd have to drill a lot of holes in the woodwork. Any thoughts/experiences? I am not really eager to sew a full-size mesh barrier to cover the whole V-berth opening, but if it comes to that - well... "babies gotta do what babies gotta do"...

Thanks,
Stanly
 
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NateHanson

Sustaining Member
For my cruising with Lily I made a canvas lee-cloth that covered an entire pilot berth. That way she was safe to sleep or play in there on all points of sail, and it also darkened the berth a bit so it was easier for her to nap.

Nate
 

CaptnNero

Accelerant
We don't have kids but we have taken plenty of friends' kids of various ages along on day sails. They seem to like to sit on the bow with legs over the side while getting splashed by the wake. Playing below is also popular. Just like adults, a few are naturals at the helm and some of the others are challenged.

We had a few jungle-gym syndrome incidents. One particular hyperactive 9 year old lowered himself under the lifelines to dangle off of the bow while underway. That came out ok. In his case, something like that was expected. Another 4 year old decided to swing from the open companionway hatch after being warned a few times. He got some strong restrictions after that.

We've had plenty of fun with the kids onboard but we plan for shorter sails as they tend to get bored sooner.

-- neal
 

jeff_mc

Member I
max

this is my first mate max.

we have been saililng our ericson since he was 9 (13 now)
bring herbal sea sick meds. he gets sick sometimes when the weather gets snotty. i teather my nephews in the cockpit. helps reduce the panic in my sisters face. when they fall asleep while underway, which is most of the time, put them on the floor, on a fluffy cloud of sleeping bags, bliss.
 

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Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Hey Nate -

Hope you don't mind*... You and your helmsman have been added to the rotation on the front page...

//sse

* If you do, let me know...
 

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