# Looking for sailing partner parents



## turbulicity (Jan 24, 2011)

We are located in SF bay area (Redwood city). We have a 4 year old son and we live aboard a 50' sailboat.

We are new to boat ownership and sailing. I would love to meet other parents of young children who find it hard to get out sailing alone and who would like to have their child make little sailor friends. With my kid, either me or my wife would essentially be single handling. 

So, PM me or post here if you'd like to partner up and go out sailing together on the weekends.


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

What we've done in the past was invite our son's school friends for trips/weekends. It was kinda cool because we were able to introduce kids to sailing that would not likely have been, and the friend was a known entity as far as getting along with our son.

You have enough boat to invite your child's friends AND their parents if you wanted to.


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## turbulicity (Jan 24, 2011)

We thought about that and we definitely want to do it in the future. But for now, we don't have enough experience to take full responsibility of the boat without risking anything and anyone. So it would be nice to partner up with sailor parents.


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## Silvio (Nov 10, 2010)

Faster said:


> What we've done in the past was invite our son's school friends for trips/weekends. It was kinda cool because we were able to introduce kids to sailing that would not likely have been, and the friend was a known entity as far as getting along with our son.
> 
> You have enough boat to invite your child's friends AND their parents if you wanted to.


Now THAT is a good idea. I say go a step further and invite the whole class + teachers and call it an educational, hands-on, field trip. $$Bill$$ the school and finance your sailing plust get free crew, I see no reason why 4-5 year olds can't manage boat poles and dock lines :laugher

I bet you will be single handing her in no time quite comfortably and having a winderful time doing it. 
Enjoy your new boat!


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## groggy (Aug 18, 2011)

That is a beautiful boat. My son is only two yet, and I have some sailing training, but not enough experience to feel comfortable sailing with him yet. That said, if I knew more or had a slightly older kid, I would be onboard in a second.


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## imagine2frolic (Aug 7, 2008)

Maybe write to Lat38, or run an ad there?........*i2f*


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## imagine2frolic (Aug 7, 2008)

Oh yeah, and post on your bulletin board in the marina. If you're at Petes, post at the restaraunts too......*i2f*


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## turbulicity (Jan 24, 2011)

groggy said:


> That is a beautiful boat. My son is only two yet, and I have some sailing training, but not enough experience to feel comfortable sailing with him yet. That said, if I knew more or had a slightly older kid, I would be onboard in a second.


Thanks groggy. Our kid is actually getting used to sailing now but still we find that a small kid aboard basically takes one adult out of the crew count. So if I go with my wife and the kid, I am single handing the boat. We are at a point now to try just that. Hopefully by the next summer, we will be comfortable enough to invite non-crew guests. I will make sure to post here and invite you aboard.

imagine2frolic, thanks for the suggestions. We are in Pete's harbor. I didn't try to post on the bulletin board but I think we pretty much know everybody around. There could be some weekenders with the kids that we don't know about so posting is still a good suggestion.


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## Christian Winkler (Jul 14, 2011)

Hi Turbulicity,
we had sailing cruises with our 5 children every year (from age 3 up to 14), and you are right in your opinion: until reaching the age of 7 you need full time attention of a grown up responsible person. After some cruises we found out, that it was easy to find students to do this job. They can get into sailing while taking care of the small kids - they got some pocket money and were happy to join us.


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## GMC (Sep 14, 2009)

*Chekc this out.*

Check this site. This family is in SF bay and has been for a while with young children. Only downside is that their countdown clock on their site indicates that they are finally cutting the lines and going cruising in 1 hour. If nothing else, the site is informative for families living on board.
Forgeover -


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## rajesh51 (Sep 26, 2011)

*maritime jobs*

hi 
:laugher
We embarked on a program of learning to sail and then gaining family sailing experience.Our plan from the start has been for the "training" to culminate in a year-long sailing trip when Tim and Emily are 12 and 10 years old. We're still on track. :hothead


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## searigo (Jun 20, 2007)

Hi turbulicity! We have a 6 and 8 years old boys and we also live aboard here in Westpoint harbor. We try to go out whenever the weather and time is in our favor. We would like to get to know you guys and go sailing, so let us know when you are going out so maybe we can hookup and go sailing. 
PM usl if you are interested.


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## mtuckerb (Jan 15, 2010)

That is so funny. We were actually a few hours late getting off the dock, so they probably could have gotten ahold of us. Living aboard with kids was so awesome for us, but cruising with kids has been 100x better.

Live aboard parents or cruising parents, please reach out to us, we would love to broaden our community!



GMC said:


> Check this site. This family is in SF bay and has been for a while with young children. Only downside is that their countdown clock on their site indicates that they are finally cutting the lines and going cruising in 1 hour. If nothing else, the site is informative for families living on board.
> Forgeover -


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## naturalivin (Dec 21, 2011)

Hi, I love the thread. We are in a similar situation, minus our own boat. Luckily I volunteer for an organization that lets me take the family out on our program boats regularly. We have a few kids and are looking to live aboard for an extended cruise soon. My wife and I both have offshore sailing experience on sail training vessels. Too bad you're across the country. We'd love the chance to meet up and sail with other families. Best of luck getting on the water. It is a lot of work keeping the little ones put, but I'm hoping they will remember the experiences and love it when they are older.


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## Christian Winkler (Jul 14, 2011)

Hello naturalivin,
I´d rather send a private message to you but I´m afraid you won´t receive it because you need 20 posts until you are allowed to use this tool - therefore posting here is my only chance to contact you.
You said you are volunteering for an organization that lets you take out the family on their program boats. Our organization is trying to find partners for a children sailing project, we tried this in SailNet but we were not successful until now. I may invite you to have a look at our own thread. Maybe you can help us to make contacts to organization(s) with similar interests?
We have found some partners in Europe already, but only in german speaking areas.
So please have a look at:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/cruising-sailing-children/76307-children-sailing-project-invitation.html
Thank you -
and have a wonderful Christmas time with your kids and family!


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## naturalivin (Dec 21, 2011)

Christian, I will check that out.


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## naturalivin (Dec 21, 2011)

Turb, four is a great age to start hauling lines. One great thing about a sail boat is there is never a shortage of "jobs" to do. I had my 3 and 5 year old tacking the jib on our Hobie 18 this summer just to have them hauling on lines. Turned out by the end of summer little miss 5 yo was steering and tacking the boat herself. Just a reminder to keep the little ones involved. It will help them learn to love it. She knows it the "one day" plan and asks regularly when we can move into a boat. I think we've got her going in the right direction.


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## floatingcow (Aug 3, 2013)

I see that this is an old thread and I tried searching for recent action/posts from some of you but didn't find anything of relevance. Anyhoo.. My wife, 9 month old and I are in the process of moving into a liveaboard status in the SF Bay area and I'd love to read more on the specifics in this area. 
Our lease in Santa Rosa is up at the end of September and we're going to 'cruise' around in our Westy for as long as it takes for somebody to take an offer we put on a 33-39 ft sailboat.
Is anyone from this thread still active and living in the SF area? We're going to need to meet some sailing buddies!


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## groggy (Aug 18, 2011)

We are still here. I am now more experienced than I was two years ago, and my kid is 4 years old. I have just started taking him out on boats, with mixed results. He likes kayaks and rowboats, but fell asleep the one time I took him out on a hunter 31. message me if you want to co-charter a boat or need people to sail with.


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