Newborn saftey

[double u]

...having done this be assured:
"singlehanding is for whimps! sailing with a newborn/baby - this is the stuff to test your mettle!" to quote fellow-with-baby-cruisers.
...the memory is FRESH, even though bubele is 27 by now...

[double u]

"You need to put the child's safety before your own personal ambitions."

...for "normal"-on-shore-living-parents this could also be interpreted as:
no travelling by car
no cooking at home
no electricity at home
no swimminpool
no pets
home-schooling
no chairs
no table
no plasticbags
no kids on farms
...

[catsketcher]

I tend to agree with much here - we didnlt even go to Townsville the year we heard about Ross River and Dengue fever with our, then little baby.

Kirren was 6 weeks old when we did our first cruise. He had a little berth up the front of our trimaran, netted off from the rest of the boat. I tended to singlehand and Deb looked after him when sailing. We always knew where he was. On coming back to land it was pretty amazing to realise that we could leave him to play (he was 2 by then) and we didn't have to know where he was every instant of the day. We would say "Where is Kirren!" and then realise he was in his room playing with Duplo.

Your husband and you should ensure you are good at singlehanding the boat. You will be stressed enough having kids on the boat without also worrying about your skills. Get really good at sailing before you put kids on. I never totally over the worry and never made it offshore. All our 5 years on boats (as a family) were pretty much coastal, although Australia has a great East coast for cruising.

I treasure the time I spent with our kids. Dads often don't get to spend enough time with their children. I would row Kirren round the bay as a baby and he would be a great conversation starter with the other boaters, we took them (when we had a second boy) hiking up islands, snorkelling in the coral, playing in the mud, making new games on the beach, having fires when the rangers weren't looking - fabulous times.

I can sail pretty well and singlehand both our boats easily. That is really important. Cruising with kids is really singlehanding in company, so get the systems right and do heaps of practise, anchoring, reefing, tacking, etc before you head off. Oh yeah, and put nets on your lifelines. It lets other kid boats know you have some little ones on board. We once saw a boat with nets come into the anchorage, stopped leaving and found some new friends we spent weeks with.

cheers

Phil

[indiana_ct]

Originally Posted by mrktstrtmyhm

Hey Congrats on the first child!

I'm still dreaming about my future family sailing around the world. I can't think of a better way to raise a family.

I can't think of a better way to raise young world citizens either.

[double u]

"I treasure the time I spent with our kid(s). Dads often don't get to spend enough time with their child(ren)."

exactly!
only when you'r "back" (muhaha!!!) & the kid finally has to go to some "real" school (where the effort/result-ratio is inverse to on-board-schooling) one realizes what 9-5-parents miss. there is so much input into the child's life that one is not part of that we had the feeling of him of "slipping away" from us

& btw: don't necessarily expect thanks from your child for raising him/her on the boat...