We have four
children and we sailed with all four of them since our youngest was 18 months. We started sailing with them on a 25 foot
Hunter on a lake in Illinois. My husband and I had sailed before we had
children. We wanted to teach the kids about nature and most importantly how to
work together and value each others input. The kids became great sailors! We spend most of our free time on the
boat and they grew in confidence and found their own paths. The time on the to the
water allowed them to dream. We moved back to the
east coast and bought a bigger boat, and them a boat for Mom and Dad to go cruising, our
current boat.
When my daughter wanted to introduce us to her
current husband, she brought him to the boat. Of course the
captain made him hoist the main by himself. Oh dads and daughters.
Our son was hit by a drunk driver last year. He
lost lots of blood and had his left leg amputated. When he woke up four days and 6 surgery's later the first thing he said was...how soon before I can come to the boat? We brought him over to the boat in his wheelchair and hoisted him on the boat with the bosuns seat. He spend three days on the boat. His attitude improved, he said he felt he was complete when he was on the boat. He is back to
work now as a personal trainer, walks with a prosthetic and still drives his car with a manual
transmission.
Our youngest daughter comes over to the boat to 'recharge'. Our youngest son is a
chef. He spent a year
cooking in Antarctica. He said after living on the boat, his spot on the ice seemed spacious.
In my opinion, there is nothing better than to introduce your children to sailing. We feel fortunate that we get to have another generation of sailors. Our grandson just turned 3 and Mom said we could take him sailing for a few days.
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