# Sailing with kids



## raiol (Aug 11, 2017)

Good morning everyone, I never sailed. We are thinking of chartering a catamaran for 1 week at the Greek Islands. We have a 2 year old toddler. We are going to have a professional skipper. Do you think it's dangerous for the baby? Do you have any tips? Is it safe? Thank you very much for the help!!!


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

I'd buy the baby a good fitting, good quality life jacket and make them wear it pretty well all the time, except asleep at night. Take measures to make sure the baby can't wander at night.

Personal safety, especially where small children are involved is a pretty situational and personal thing.

My wife's biggest concern when sailing with the baby was always access to medical attention in the event of a mundane incident like a slip, fall, head bump, insect sting etc. When at home, you can generally expect to reach a hospital in about 20 minutes (at least for me). On a boat sailing in the Greek islands I would expect reaching a doctor might take several hours.

I am not sure if this was what you were asking, if you have specific concerns it might help to spell them out.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Babies at that age need a lot of attention and don't keep still. Nuff said.


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## 4arch (Jul 7, 2009)

As a parent with 40 years boating experience, I regularly take my infant and 2 year old children out sailing. There’s nothing inherently unsafe about doing so, although there certainly can be unsafe decisions, and inexperience is often a major contributing factor to such decisions. If I were the OP, I’d really want to build more experience before jumping into a week-long, probably non-refundable charter – particularly in the Greek isles where winds are known to blow 25+ knots for several days at a time. 

Whether it’s finding a kind Sailnet member closer to home to take the family out for a daysail, finding daysail charters closer to home, or going to a land-based resort where it’s possible to do daysailing excursions, it’s imperative to get a feeling for how much you like sailing, how much the child likes sailing, and how much both parents like managing a small child on a boat (it’s not always fun). I’d also absolutely insist on finding a captain who is comfortable around and likes small children and who has taken families with similar age children on charters of comparable length and itinerary in the past. 

That said, my question to the OP is: Why – especially with zero sailing experience – do you want to charter instead of island hopping by ferry?


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## PerryRight (Nov 6, 2017)

As long as the child has a lifejacket, medicines, enough space to play, and does not suffer sea-sickness, you should be ok... my kids love the sea and they have been in boats since always but not more than one day...


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## BlackBart (Jan 7, 2018)

Arcb said:


> I'd buy the baby a good fitting, good quality life jacket and make them wear it pretty well all the time, except asleep at night. Take measures to make sure the baby can't wander at night.


Fully agree with previous comments about life jackets. We have always tested them in the pool beforehand as well with our three kids. Found out that one of them did not fit properly and the face was not above water enough. Even though it worked perfectly on our other kids. Needlessly to say we used another lifejacket.

I would more recommend to bring fun stuff to do on the boat such as a lot of paper and crayons, books, puzzels and the most important of all a small fish landing net.

If you are unsure about sea sickness I would bring some baby car sickness pills.

There is no age when it's too early to bring the kids sailing.


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## PatWarden (Jun 5, 2018)

Most 2 year old are very active and don't sit still so it would be better if some safety measures to be taken and keeping an eye on them almost all the time except when they are sleeping. Life jacket is must and always keep medicines for sea sickness and other as we never know what might happen. Also do a checkup before sailing of the infants as well of your family.hope i was useful.


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