Sailing with little kids

S

slatemen

New Member
I am new to this forum and new to owning a Sunfish. I am curious about experiences anyone has had sailing with small kids. I have a 5-year-old and a 3 1/2-year-old who are both excited to join me on the Chesapeake Bay this summer on our new 1980s-era Sunfish. Just a couple more weekends of painting and we'll be ready.

Obviously, PFDs and calm seas will be mandatory. Both kids can swim, but most of their swimming to date has been done in pools, not the Bay.

For those of you who don’t know the Bay, the average depth is 6 feet, and the water is generally calm, although the wind can be gusty.

As for me, I spent a couple of my early summer’s sailing on my dad's 29-foot King's Cruiser (folkboat) and later on 19' Lightning that my brother inherited. I was never the best sailor on the family, but I know the basics. That said, it's been a decade since I've sailed and always on bigger boats.

I've never sailed a sunfish or laser so I'll certainly make sure I am comfortable handling the boat, before bringing the kids on board.

I don't expect to have the kids out with me for more than two hours or so, but any advice from others who have been out on water with small kids would be helpful. My two are pretty good and tend to follow instructions pretty well (but get restless after a couple of hours).

For what it's worth, I have a 1-year old son who is much too small for the Sunfish, but could be the perfect excuse to get a larger boat in two summers.
 
slatemen said:
I have a 5-year-old and a 3 1/2-year-old who are both excited to join me on the Chesapeake Bay this summer on our new 1980s-era Sunfish.
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Greetings,

I commend you wanting to get your kids involved with sailing at an early age.

My experience with youngsters in this age group is canoeing on quiet waters. Even with that, the arrangements for being watchful and prepared were planned and practiced carefully.

To familiarize the kids with being on the boat, you might want to first take them out on a protected lake where winds are likely to be more predictable. Shallow bays churn up quickly when the wind rises. Where as - small, tree lined lakes give you a better opportunity to turn toward home if the weather starts to change.

Swim with the kids around a capsized boat in the shallows and develop a drill for what everyone is going to do when the boat goes over. Practice this each time you go out to the lake, even if the kids don't accompany you sailing further out for awhile. It will give you added proficiency righting the craft and let you observe what you'll need to do in deeper water to keep everyone safe.

Then, when you get out on the bay to get your sea legs, before considering taking the kids along, return to the question, are they (and you) ready for more open waters as a crew.

.
 
At 6 feet depth turtling the boat will stick the gaff in the mud, by all means tie a empty Milk Jug to the gaff.

For starters I'd only take one child out at a time. Easier to teach that way, easier to provide assistance when you take a swim. Big saftey boost if you can have someone in a boat follow you around the first few times. Could be something as simple as someone in a 12 foot row boat.
 
Agree with both prior. I also have a 3 1/2 year old that has been canoing with us since he was 1 1/2. Last weekend was the first time we were able to "relax" with him on the canoe since he can now kind of understand how far to take things and that there are consequences for not following instructions, so yeah, I'll say go for it, but as it was said before protected waters and one at a time sound like a great advise for the first time. Our canoe is way more spacious and protected (in terms of confined sitting space) than our SF. And just like you I'm finishing painting my SF to to take the little one out sailing this summer, but we feel more comfortable doing so in local lakes. Of course every child and comfort level around waters is different, so as long as you feel they are ready, heck yeah!
BTW, if you don't mind me asking, What part of the Chesapeake is this? We go sailing often with friends on the NE side (near Delaware) and for most of our trips depth averages in the mid-20s. Would love to go sailing with the SF on your neck of the woods!
 
Thanks for all of tips everybody. For now, I think the plan will be to simply spend some time in the boat, close to shore with the sails down. We'll practice what to do if the boat capsizes and make sure everyone is comfortable with the water. Depending on how that goes, we'll see about finding a nearby lake to test.

I like the canoe idea. In fact, we had a choice between a canoe and a SF, but only enough cash for one or the other. We picked the sailboat.

I am close to Annapolis, which is about 1/2 way up the Chesapeake in Maryland. You are dead right about the depth - I believe the average depth is around 20 feet including the tributaries and I think it goes well over 150 feet close to the center where the commercial traffic moves. At our beach, at low tide, I've walked about 1/3 mile out without getting my face wet, so it's pretty good place to swim and test out the boat with the kids.
 
Here is a thinkabout: The worst case scenario is that both kids fall out of the boat at the same time. With their PFDs on (that's a given I assume) do you currently have the skill to sail the boat well enough to pick them up one at a time without running them over with the hull or capsizing the boat in the attempt? If you can't honestly answer this question "yes" I would opt for two adults and one child in the boat at a time until (a) you get more confident and (b) the kids get more trustworthy in the boat. Hate to be a buzz kill, but in questions like this, you have to think of the worst circumstances and act accordingly. It is not the big crisis that gets you - it's the combination of the little crises that put you in jeopardy.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
I sail with a little kid, and race others that do as well - David Loring, current world champion, being one of those people. We both do the same thing, sail with one daughter at a time (wearing life jackets) and leave the other on shore (David does this, My little one isn't quite two yet). David will go into the dock, his wife will meet him, and he "swaps out" his girls. I'm attaching a video, b/c it shows how much fun sailing with little kids can be, and also, pay attention to where Maggie sits - it's a good place for a small child. We started out in 8 knots of wind speed, and has her comfort grew, we have gone out in as much as fifteen, but I don't think I'll take her out in any more than that. Maggie turned six two months before the video was shot.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ratchetblockmedia#p/a/u/0/oMGQXktuYfI
 
chucktowncolie,
I absolutely love your video with maggie, and my 2-yr old son loves to watch it with me, too!

I've sailed a few times with my now 9-yr old son, but haven't tried to take my 5-yr old or 2-yr old sons out yet, as neither can swim well enough yet for me to try it. I have sailed a few other times with young nephews, too.

cheers,
tag
 
Before you know it you will have them sailing all over with you stuck on the beach. Expect to buy an additional Fish in a few years.
 
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