5 kids on a boat?

[imagine2frolic]

I was just rereading this, and was about to suggest a custom boat. It takes very little rearrangement to make it fit your family. I would think a large cockpit will be a priority with 8 aboard. That's where we spend most of our time when cruising. Although Imagine is 46ft. she was built for 2, and the occassional guests of 4 more. I would love to hear about your interior plans. I am sure you can find many suggestions here too for making space...........i2f

[robbieneuro]

Hi there - Mr. Merrymailer here - anyone done a crossing of any of the larger bodies of water with kids under 14? Just currious as to this groups exposure to kids on long stretches at sea "underway".

...of course that presumes we don't lose them all overboard

Robbie

[Octopus]

Originally Posted by merrymailer

hi everyone. i'm brand new here, posting for the first time today.

we have 5 kids and want to begin living aboard once husband sells his business and we can pull it together... our kids are currently 10,9,3,2, and 11 months. we want to set sail within 2 years time and will be doing as much sailing together as a family as possible.
... question: do any of you have very large families? is there anything you can tell me to help get us started? we're considering a 65' cat which seems huge to me, until i consider we're living on it, not just vacationing. any thoughts?

thanks in advance!
catherine, robbie and the crew

Hi Catherine, Robbie and Co

In July, we completed a sailing sabbatical Atlantic circuit with six kids on a Lagoon 420 catamaran. Everything went according to plan and the 420 was the ideal boat for the trip.

The Lagoon 420 has plenty of room and is easy to handle short-handed. With five kids, you will always be short-handed, even if you have a crew; kids take up so much time, attention and energy. We think you will find a 65' cat is too big to handle short-handed. A big cat will be quicker on the long passages, but your family might be more comfortable sailing at a slower pace.

If I were you, I would wait at least two years. The optimum age for cruising kids is from age five to about fourteen, depending on the kids involved. Below five they are not really old enough to participate and remember the experience. Older than thirteen or fourteen and their hormones start flying about. Our six kids were aged six to twelve during our sailing sabbatical, which was ideal.

Sailing with a large family is great, because the kids can entertain each other and you don't have the same pressure to find other kid boats. On our trip, we met fewer kid boats than we had expected. Each of our children had their own laptops, so they could independently watch DVDs, play computer games and listen to audio books when they needed time alone. We also took plenty of books.

We spent less time home-schooling than we expected. Just living takes up a lot of time and energy. After a year away from school the children settled back into school really well.

Our kids really enjoyed their year away and they matured a lot in the time, but none of them would choose to go again. We think it did them a lot of good and was worth the expense and the effort.

Check out our blog at Octopus and our other postings on this forum


Chris and Beth

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Octopus

Cruising with 5 kids is fine - we did it with 6 ...

Thanks for the chuckle, Chris and Beth.
Sometimes the most innocent of remarks can carry unintended messages ...

[Octopus]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Thanks for the chuckle, Chris and Beth.
Sometimes the most innocent of remarks can carry unintended messages ...

Glad to brighten up your day, Gord

Chris and Beth

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by isbolick

When they count heads right before they have their daily knife juggling practice...duh.

I wonder how many more kids are killed in car wrecks every day than fall off sailboats and drown? Even if you measured it as a percentage of kids who sail vs. kids who ride in cars, I would be willing to bet that riding in cars is more dangerous than sailing. And yet, nobody questions sticking your kid in a car multiple times a day, every day.

Putting kids into cars isn't an option. Taking then into the ocean is. Therfore the potential for quilt, heaven forbid, anything tragic occurs, is greatly increased.

[robbieneuro]

Thanks for the info Chris and Beth - and I have completely read your blog -nicely done.

The one item that sounds like it is not being taken into account in the boat size discussions for the moment is that we are not talking about cruising, we are talking about living - so while I completely admire your choice of a 42 for all of you (including crew...amazing!), I am guessing we might be lokoing for something slightly larger - though perhaps not al the way to 60+ .

We are decidedly not purists of the sailing fundementalism, minimalist, or extremists - but we all have a love of sailing, a deep love of the water, and a deeper still need to head that direction. My guess is there will be no crossings of any sizeable bodies of water for several (5+ years), and we have lots of friendly crew to assist on those portions of the voyage.

A final funny note to Chris and Beth - looks like we will be 8 as well (via addoption) when we head out ! See if we can just wait another 4-5 years we will have a decent slave labor crew...lol.

Best,

Robbie

[zeppelin]

We have friends with 3 kids who have lived aboard in our marina for over 15 years, every one of the kids was born while living aboard and have only lived on the water. They left Vancouver, B.C. last September aboard their 46' steel mono and are currently in New Zealand. By all accounts it has been a fantastic experience for the entire family, here is their blog if you would like to see their experiences, both positive and negative:
S/V ORCA III.

Probably one of the most interesting things is how their kids have made friends with other kids sailing on boats from all over the world in every port, as well as with local families.

Wayne

[Little Otter]

Hi all, In my experiance with younger kids and sailboats although they do like to touch every thing and ask alot of questions I have found that 90% of those that try it like it and 80% have more fun than the adults do.Merrymailer thanks for the little thing about alarms, we had PT in ROTC today andthat little section in your post made me smile, although it doesn't make me overly happy I must admit that some of my peers (myself included) should have an alarm on their bed 99.99% of the time

[biker6977]

So all these years later how is it going? Where are you in your plans?

[ssanzone]

Originally Posted by eyschulman

So how are you going to know when one falls overboard? reality check!!!

DUH! bubble wrap and duct tape.

after a few weeks aboard you may be throwing 1 or 2 of them over board anyway. well... mine is just a smaller version of me (which makes him an enormous pain in the butt) so... mine would certainly be fed to the sharks at around the 300 mile mark!

this sounds like a great adventure and, personally, think your success will come from your positive attitude and willingness to no coddle the kids.

if you add 3 or 4 dogs to the mix, i'll sign up as a crew member.

i recall some research that indicates having a dedicated 'school' area while home schooling makes a big difference (work can be left out overnight / fewer distractions etc) . i cant seem to find a reference to it at the moment but that might be a check in the pro column for a larger boat.

-steve

[Babs T]

I lived on board with my 5 children - on a 45' ketch . i found as long as hey has their own bunk and a space for their treasures of their own they didn't mind being cramped . The hardest times where school work with one son who was 16 and doing an important exam school year being annoyed by his youngest brother reading aloud when making a tape (shows how long ago that was ! ) to send to his school teacher . Yes I found it hard work but it was in a house too but I look back and think it is most wonerful thing I have done with my children . They have all grown up to weel adjusted adults who love sailing and are now passing that enjoyment of that and life in general to their own children -so go for it and enjoy .I would say though that a yacht of that size will be a handfull and hard to find berths for ! Ours was big enough .

[maytrix]

For those that didn't notice, conversation ended in 2008. Latest post was to see where they stand now.. Great question - hopefully we'll get a response!

[WDandFam]

Hi guys, We are Wandering Dolphin, we set sail almost 10 years ago with our 5 kids. Our youngest had just turned 3 at the time. Our boat has been our only home for this entire time. If you wanna chat go to our FB page Wandering Dolphin, we'd love to be an encouragement to you on this new lifestyle choice!


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, WDandFam.