Travelling with children

A sailing holiday is a wonderful experience for children and planning ahead can ensure a relaxing and enjoyable holiday for all the family.

Here are some things that we have found useful when travelling and sailing with babies and children. If you have any hints, comments, advice on what does or doesn’t work with your younger crew members, we’d love to hear it. Please let us know by e-mailing charter@nautilusyachting.com.

Travelling with babies and children

Children are now required to have their own passport from birth.

A car carry seat will go in the hold of the aircraft and is very useful as a secure place for your baby when the yacht is under way. A baby carrier is very useful for getting in and out of the dinghy with your hands free.

It helps to ease the pressure on babies/toddlers ears if they suck on take-off. For babies a bottle, for toddlers a beaker/carton with straw. It often takes a while from when the plane starts to move to actual take-off so save the drink until you feel the plane take off otherwise your baby may have finished it by the time you get to the runway!

Remember to pre-order children’s meals on scheduled flights to the Caribbean. Virgin Atlantic are particularly child-friendly with seat back screens, choice of films and kid’s flight bags.

For the return journey take a selection of snacks and drinks with you to the airport in case of delays. Facilities at some of the smaller overseas airports are limited and can be expensive.

Lifejackets for emergency use are provided on all charter yachts. Check you have children’s jackets before you leave the marina. For anyone under 7, we recommend taking their own lifejacket that fits and that he/she likes wearing.

Children should wear their lifejackets at all times above deck and in the dinghy (especially at night!). You may find it useful for young children to attach their lifejackets to a central point in the cockpit (eg steering column) while underway so that they can move freely but only as far as the guardrails.

Remind children that the skipper’s command must be obeyed quickly and without question, whether it is a parent or not.

Particular care must be taken if you have an outboard on your tender. Children should always wear a lifejacket when travelling in the dinghy - especially going ashore at night. If teenagers are in charge of a dinghy with outboard, remind them NEVER to run the motor if other children are swimming nearby and ALWAYS wear the safety wrist strap. Always have oars in the dinghy.

Sailing with toddlers

Toddlers are the most difficult crew members. If possible invite another person, couple or family along so there is at least one adult who can be in charge of children, especially coming in and out of harbours.

Some of the fleets offer child netting as an optional extra. Netting will be attached along the side rails, but it will not fully enclose the deck front and aft so cannot be considered an enclosed playpen.

Living onboard

It is essential that all children understand how to use a marine toilet. Children do seem to remember the rather distasteful rule: “Don’t put anything in the toilet you haven’t eaten first.” Remind them to use facilities ashore whenever you are on land.

Rubber rings can be safer than armbands for swimming in the sea off the yacht. Even once children can swim confidently, it is still recommended that they wear their lifejackets when snorkelling.

Small babies love sitting in a bucket of water in the cockpit to splash around and get cool and the deck shower on the transom is great fun for children. Watch water tank levels though!

The motion of the yacht is quite soporific so babies/children are often drowsy while under way. Use a loose cotton beach wrap to drape over a sleeping child to give complete sun protection in the cockpit.

Long sleeved loose cotton shirts and trousers are useful for sun protection as well as high factor waterproof sunscreen. Sunhats are important (especially legionnaire caps with protection for the back of the neck) but need elastic under the chin or they soon blow away.

For swimming (and especially snorkelling) a "swim T-shirt" is useful as kids can stay in the water for hours, especially in the Caribbean, and young backs get easily burnt. Speedo make excellent 100% UVF protection T-shirts that are lightweight and dry quickly.

For younger children take plenty of toys, colouring books, crayons, nursery song tapes. Unfortunately relaxing in the cockpit in an idyllic anchorage with a sundowner cocktail is so boring for children. However swimming with the fishes, going ashore in the dinghy and beach picnics are great adventures. Watch out for dolphins and turtles for a real treat!

Wet wipes and anti-bacterial liquid soap are very useful in the heat. Mosquito spray for ankles is needed going ashore, especially at sundown, and antihistamine cream is useful for bites.

Extra pegs are useful for drying clothes on the guardrails. Some are provided but never enough for all the wet swimsuits, T-shirts, towels that kids generate.

Don’t be too ambitious with your passage planning. Try to stop for lunchtime swimming and continue in the afternoon allowing passages of about 2-3 hours at a time.

Give children sailing tasks to keep their interest – steering towards a point on the headline or on a compass setting, spotting buoys, tending the dinghy, recording the ship’s log. Get them practising their knots!

Provisioning

It is important to drink plenty of water. Bring water bottles and write names on them so you can keep track of how much each person is drinking.

Take some plastic eggcups as boiled eggs are easy standbys. Sailing is hungry work so have enough snacks to keep kids quiet while on longer passages.