Attaching a 2 year old to my sailboat...

[michigander]

Looking at a safety harness for my grandson. For anyone with experience in this where are you attaching the tether while they are in the cockpit?
Thanks!

[psk125]

If there aren't any padeyes, a genoa cleat or stanchion base might be sufficient. You don't want it too close to the water, however. What boat?

[Orin]

On our boat we are just now looking into this for our new walker. Our current thinking is taking the tether to a line run from the dodger to the davit crossbar with a clip on the line so he can go for and aft while the line is held over anything it would get tangled on.

We can put a stopper on the run so he can’t go over the stern. Kind of like a dog run I guess.

[michigander]

Thanks for the responses!
pks125- the boat is an O’day 28. Thanks for your input!
Orin- running a short line to attach to is a good idea, thanks! ( and lol at the “kinda like a dog” comment!).

[Cheechako]

I had a big SS "bow eye" mounted in the cockpit floor for safety harnesses. That allows movement in all directions if located well.

https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-Bowi...a-517049411954

[PaulvR]

I used a child car seat in the cockpit, well secured of course, when containment or sleeping was required.
I used discipline to keep them away from winches and cleats.
I used all-round netting to contain them in clement conditions.

[Clivevon]

[QUOTE=PaulvR;3398695]I used a child car seat in the cockpit, well secured of course, when containment or sleeping was required.
I used discipline to keep them away from winches and cleats.
I used all-round netting to contain them in clement conditions.[/QUOTE]

I like this. Also fit proper (strongly bolted, not screwed) padeyes - do not make do. Do not use stanchion base or genoa cleats. Not a good idea at all.
The padeye(s) need to be on the centre line of the boat so the 2 year old cannot fall off the boat. They need to be nowhere near any moving parts....

Obviously the 2 year old will also be wearing a properly sized lifejacket with permanent flotation at ALL times when up out of the cabin. S**t happens.
The jacket also needs to have a lifting handle PLUS an adult properly equipped & prepared (as in, wearing a lifejacket themselves with a clip on lifeline) to instantly follow them overboard should the child ever go over the side.
Plus you will need crew remaining on board fully competent & rehearsed in man overboard procedures.

Having done all that, you can relax & enjoy your sailing..

[Hudson Force]

An added moving line attached to a child can be an added hazard in a busy cockpit. It might be a better choice to have a designated person tending the child. However you decide to set up your plan; keep in mind that falling down the companionway is often as great a risk as overboard.

[Marathon1150]

We run a jackline down the floor of the cockpit from the companionway to just aft of the pedestal. It is attached to folding, through bolted Wichard padeyes. We added a crotch strap to the PFDs (we have these on ours as well (Spinlock 6D)) and always wear them.

The child's tether from the PFD to the jackline is not long enough to allow egress from the cockpit. There are two grandkids (4 and 7), they are not allowed out of the cockpit if the boat is not at the dock or at anchor, and there can be issues with crossed tethers etc etc.

We did this differently with our kids when they were the same age. No tethers, no PFDs, no jacklines, no leaving the cockpit rule. I can't believe how lucky we, our children and their visiting friends were. I still recall the boom swinging across the companionway during a tack about 0.5 nanoseconds before a 5 year old visiting friend popped her head up. That was 30 years ago and the scene still plays in my mind like a movie. Fortunately, I have learned a lot about safety since then. Fortunately no one was ever injured or worse.

[hamburking]

I sailed with my kids when they were little. Often just me and two small kids. Lots of day sails, overnight trips, and even sailed from Toronto to Kingston...twice. Started when my daughter was 2. Took a break when my son arrived. Started again when my daughter was 5 and son was 3. We sailed thousands of miles together on Lake Ontario over the next decade.

For safety, I would often sail jib alone. I felt this made the cockpit safer, and I never had to leave the safety of the cockpit. So I would tether my kids to the main boom. It was central and high. They could move about without getting tangled, but could not fall out of the cockpit. On the days the main was up, they would be tethered to a cleat or sometimes the toe rail ON THE WEATHER SIDE. No one falls UP, so this meant they could not fall out of the boat. My kids understood that this was REAL, and they held on and took it seriously, while still having a ton of fun.

Sometimes I tethered them to ME, if we were moving around the decks.

We used full body climbing harnesses, from MEC, with home made tethers. I used a double 8 on their end, because a big metal caribbeaner is too much weight on a toddler.

As soon as they could speak, I taught them to use the VHF radio....how to make a MAYDAY call. If anything happened to me, that's a mayday! The VHF was always ON, on channel 16, so all they had to do was key the mic and talk. We practiced, pretending to make the call. They could read the coords off the GPS, say OVER, and we learned the phonetic alphabet together. One time our anchor got snagged on a cable, and I had to dive deep on it...it became very real for them, watching me leave the boat, watching me go down, down, not knowing if I would come back up. They were ready to make the MAYDAY call, but I survived, and got my anchor back too.

These REAL adventures made my kids very aware of the world, the weather, real dangers, and everything else. They did not think of themselves as passengers...they were active participants in our adventures. And those were the best times of our lives.

[Don C L]

When my son was 3 I had him in a harness clipped to a jackline if he was going to leave the cockpit, and even then he could not go alone. Like Hamburking I often opted for jib sailing when out with my daughter who was older, if things got too windy. (I left the 3 year old home if it was going to be windy.) The netting is a GREAT idea too. Kids get the hang of things pretty quickly though. The main problem I have had is that my daughter will do whatever I tell her to, my son, not so much!

[chrisr]

we have used a safety harness on little one frequently. just be sure you have shoulder and crutch straps. grandson (last on right) is wearing one @ 18 months old...hiking on the windward rail with other family members (son - grandson - granddaughter - wife - daughter - grandson)



find there is always something nearby to hook them on to. sub abt 4yo prefer not to hook them onto the jackstay as this allows them a bit too much freedom

nb : the harness goes over the lifejacket...not instead of !

cheers,

[hamburking]

...ALSO...

My kids had the vee berth. It was cozy and safe. In any real blow or storm or danger, they would hunker down in the vee. Their sleeping bags, pillows, and stuffies kept them safe. There was no where to fall or bump or sharp corners. It was the safe place. They loved it up there...like the best fort ever...until they got old enough that they started punching and kicking each other, and I had to buy a bigger boat. Having their own spot, with all their stuff, not in the way, gave them a head start into it being a fun sail or cruise. They didn't have to be on deck with me all the time. They were safe below. Note: my boat had no bridge deck, so I could easily see them from the cockpit, and there were only 3 steps up/down, not a cliff to climb like on some boats.

We live and sail from Kingston, mostly up into the islands. So it was easy to keep the sailing distances to a minimum. Often, I would get up at 5am (as old men do), pull up the anchor, and sail to a new place. By the time my kids woke up, we were safely under way, anchor stowed, sails set, autohelm set, course set, and I could give them some attention. IMHO, being in a hurry is when things go badly. I would try to be at a new anchorage or dock by early afternoon, so there would be plenty of time to swim and play and cook dinner. Being on a boat with your kids isn't just sailing like normal. I changed my habits to include them.

After 5 years of this, we were comfortable on longer trips. They had no fear of 20-25 knot winds. Double reefed main and working jib was our most common sail plan. It's windy here, and 3 metre waves are not uncommon. I don't think they were ever afraid, or at least didn't show it. During thunderstorms, they would pretend to be afraid when the wind shrieked, and the thunder boomed....and then they would laugh and laugh!!!

And finally, sailing with my kids when young gave us an incredibly strong bond. Their trust in me is absolute. Sailing with your kids is one of the best things you can do, IMHO. My daughter later had her own Laser, and then a Siren 17, continuing the adventures. I look forward to the day when I sail with my grand-kids, if I should live so long, and be so lucky.

[psk125]

The question also becomes: when would a 2 year-old be on deck in a harness and lifejacket without an adult there to specifically watch him or her? The person at the helm helm is responsible for the boat and everyone aboard. He or she and cannot be expected to babysit (literally) anything else.They have enough on their plate already. The 2 year-old needs to have someone other than the helmsperson to make sure they stay aboard. If not, perhaps the baby doesn't go out that day.

[PerfectPirate]

Like Hamburking, when my daughters were young we had a C&C 25 Mk 1 which we sailed on Lake Ontario. Our habit then was to stitch a webbing loop to the back of their life jackets. To this loop we would attach a safety line that was fastened to an eye strap on a bulkhead in the cabin. The line gave them enough room to go anywhere in the cabin and come out into the cockpit. However, if they tried to climb out of the cockpit they would come up short and be held back by the line. Please note that we did not consider this to be equivalent to a full safety tether, it was simply a convenient method of limiting the range of movement of an active toddler. When they were babies, we would fasten their car seat securely onto one of the berths in the cabin, where we could keep an eye on them. They managed to sleep through a few storms that way.

Once they were old enough to accept some discipline and restraint, we taught them basic safety rules which they would follow rigorously, the first of which was to always wear a life jacket. If they wanted to leave the cockpit, they first had to request "permission to go forward" from the helmsperson. If they were on the foredeck and the helmsperson yelled "down!", they would immediately drop flat on deck so that the sail could safely pass over them as we tacked. We also practiced man overboard drills so that they understood what exactly would happen when someone actually did go over the side and how we would go about saving them. Both girls became excellent, self-reliant adults and sailors with whom I would cheerfully sail anywhere in the world. They learned to understand when things were important from a safety perspective and to respect that. Even now, in their thirties, they still follow the same safety rules on board.