How old were your children the first time you took them sailing?

J

jbushkey

New Member
Is there a recommended age children should be before they go sailing with you? I know wearing a life vest and being able to swim would be important, but is there a typical age when they are ready to be on the Sunfish with you?
 
Ya gotta mind the store so to speak when sailing so it depends a bit on their attention span and your patience. Pick a day with just enough wind to let you coast along. In addition to life jackets, the children should enough time in the water so that they know how to float in water over their head without a life jacket and at least know how to dog paddle for 50 feet. This may take a summer worth of pool time to do but the last thing you need to contend with is a panicked child and a overturned sailboat at the same time. I took a whole summer to teach my 10 year old to float on his back, hold his breath and dog paddle. It will pay off big-time when they step into that hole in the swimming area.

You should also be aware of what to do if the boat is overturned and someone is under the sail or inside a upturned hull. Mostly not much of a problem if you and your junior sailors know what to do ahead of time, could turn bad if someone panics. As they say, "Your rescue begins before you ever leave the dock!" As the Captain, only you can decide when the preliminarily lessons have been mastered by everyone and it's safe to cast off.

P.S. If you have not learned how to right a overturned SF, now's the time to do it, (By yourself, with a support boat just incase, in not less than 15 feet of water, knowing that overturning in 10 feet or less may require the aid of a support boat)
 
My oldest daughter is six, and I'm taking her out during the Thursday night series at James Island Yach Club (Charleston). I agree with the previous post - make sure they can swim and are comfortable in the water.
 
My kid is 13 and has ADD, yesterday I let him work the tiller while I worked the sail. Seemed to do good keeping things on course. I've been taking him on on the lake in a 12' aluminum row boat for the last 3 years. He's getting 'water adapted' pretty well.

I think I was seven or eight years old when my father first took me sailing. Anyone remember those crappy red foam sailing boards? Impossible to tack upwind, and I don't mean hard, I mean impossible. Spent more time going backwards than forwards.

Yup, gotta get them swimming at a early age, things happen just being around the water. My brother fell off the dock when he was about six. Seemed to make good headway thrashing his way back to the dock. My father reached down and lifted him back onto the dock with one hand. Looked like he was pulling a wet cat out of the water.
 
My oldest son went for his first Sunfish sail when he was 3. My youngest son went when he was 1. Both days were warm water summer days with gentle breezes.

-Erik
 
I got my Sunfish 4 years ago and my son had 11 years old then. He started to go alone last year, so at 14. Before, he used to go with me, even in strong winds.

My daugther is more scary. She has 10 now and I took her for 10 minutes with little wind. Last year, I took her only 5 minutes. I don't force her. She goes with me only if she is willing to. She said to me last week: «I am scary, it goes too fast.» Then, the wind felt down, she said: «It's not fun anymore!». So I feel she will go more often with me this year.
 
For what it's worth, yacht clubs in our area have 7 or 8 as the minimum age for sailing camp. My nephew's first Sunfish experience was last year at age 6. He has grown up on powerboats and is a strong swimmer, but heeling in a little boat and the idea of flipping took getting used to. Last week and at the ripe old age of 7, he wanted me to heel as much as possible and desperately wanted to flip over!
 
Boy scout camp use to be they made you swim 100 yards in water over your head. Any way you could cover the distance was OK. No swim meant not boating activities. They had a small lake and a Sunfish along with some Sunflower sailboats. The Sunflower took a larger area to turn around so it was always, "Sail downwind, get stuck in the weeds, come back upwind and call it a day."

Let the Vietnamese kids I use to sponsor use the SF. Told them to let the sail out if the boat healed over too much. Something was lost in translation because as soon as they set out, they got in a argument whether to pull in or let out the Sail to stop the boat from heeling over. They stuck the mast in the mud and that was the end of their sailing adventures.
 
My daughter was 9. Now she is 10, and sails her SF by herself. ALWAYS with a PFD, and ALWAYS with a 2 way radio on board.
 
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