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Proud to announce that my son's first sailing experience was a success... We only went out for about an hour but he was fine the whole time.
We headed down to Harve De Grace, MD this past weekend for an open house at Baysail, which is a small charter company in the Northern Chesapeake Bay. We're scheduled to charter a Catalina 350 out of Baysail later this summer in July so we wanted to pick him up an infant PFD. While we were there, we hopped on Catalina 36 and were able to do a bit of sailing.
My son definitely hated his PFD when we first put it on him, but he eventually seemed to settle into it. He'll be a bit bigger in July, which I think will help make it a bit more comfortable for him. Also, we plan on spending some time with him in a swimming pool this summer to get him used to it. I'm glad we went in person and didn't just order one online becuase we tried about three different ones on him before deciding on the one we bought.
Congrats on a great day. IMHO the more sea air you get into his little lungs the better. But be forewarned, it may lead to a strong, un-explained desire later in life to avoid any type of desk job.
Not that that is a bad thing
Good on you both for taking him out. He'll grow up sailing and it will seem/be 'normal' for him. It's actually easier now than when he's a toddler but you have time to think that through.
We had our granddaughter out overnight this past weekend, she's a natural and we had a great time (she's 3 1/2 now, but her parents had her sailing at 1 week old in December!)
Congratulations, a lot of fun in store. My third born son (may) have been conceived in the V-berth! he is entered into the log as being aboard whilst in-vitrio on many occasions. Attempts for induction of his birth by the rocking motion of the boat failed and he arrived a few weeks late. At two months we attended a National sailing championship in which his much older brothers were competing. We used to transfer him from shore to the spectator boat we were using in a small dinghy. We had a "KaPoochi" which was a semi rigid harness for the baby which could be clipped onto a harness which I wore. You see baby carrying pouches all the time but this one was particularly suitable as the baby was securely fixed into his harness.. I had the sailmaker sew a Webbing handle loop onto the back of the baby harness component. You could carry him suitcase like lying horizontally and face down (hang glider style). When passing between carriers you could pass him secure in the knowlege that the person holding the handle could hang on until absolutely certain that the other party had a good hold. The semi rigid nature of the harness gave his body some rigidity and made the life jacket he wore an even more secure fit. Later (from about 10 months) when he was sitting up and starting to walk we fitted a kids bicycle carrier seat mounted to the stern rail. This left him securely fixed. out of the way with a great view. We spent many days over many years cruising with all on board. But wouldn't you know it sailing is just not his thing and he doesn't seem to have a great passion for it.
Aw man... too bad he's not that into it now... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my guy will love it just like his dad. Maybe your son will grow into it... I don't know how old he is, but I could see a period where most kids probably would shy away from things like sailing.
Thanks for the replies everyone... here's a picture of my little guy in his new PFD... He looks like he likes it in the picture, but believe me, he was screaming in between pictures... as soon as he sees the camera, he immediately smiles.
Nice! We had our wee lad (10 months) out this past Sunday as well. Not his first time, but the first for this season. He hung out below a good bit with the admiral, got a big nap, and then sat with Mom or myself in the companionway bridge deck. He liked the spinnaker!
Thanks for all the responses... my wife and I are trying to find some time to hit up a swimming pool to get him used to his new diggs... our sailing trip this year is slowly creeping up and I can't wait.
That's awsome... I'm keeping my fingers cross for our trip... I am a bit worried about how well he'll sleep during the trip... he's a bit of a light sleeper at times and boats are loud down below.
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