Soon to be Cruiser with Kid
 

Ok yes I do have to confess that I have been paying some special attention to this area of Sailnet of late........IOR ratings, the future of the America's Cup and Solarstiks have now all taken a backseat to much more pressing matters such as how to attach a car seat to your cockpit, where to store nappies, lifeline netting and what toys work best aboard.

So yes I am happy to say that my wife and I are expecting our first child mid January!

Now interestingly one of the first thing our non sailing friends say to us is "so when will you guys sell the boat?"

Perhaps even more interestingly one of the first things our sailing friends say to is "Oh so I guess you guys won't be doing much sailing for a while"

So when we tell them that we are actually still planning a year long sabbatical cruise for about June, up the coast, a bit of the Pacific and see how we go......looks of instant horror seem to appear on the faces of experienced and in-experienced folk alike as they begin to gesture wildly at my wife's belly and begin exclaiming "but the baby!"

Are we crazy to still be considering cruising??

Firstly let me say that our plan would see us cruising when bub is 6 months-12 months old. The hope being that by this time, sleep patterns and feeding should all be a lot easier.

Secondly let me say that both my wife and I are competent sailors, and have owned/sailed boats for 10 years. I don't like using the word experienced, because next to some of the people on here and who I have had the privilege to meet we are certainly not that.

Thirdly for the greater part of our cruise, indeed the first 6 months we would be 'day hopping' up the Australian east coast. A family who did this trip with a 6 month old and then later went on to circumnavigate described this route as a perfect way to start to cruising with little ones.

Obviously we will only really know when baby is born and we do try and do this whether it is right for us or not, but would be interested in hearing all your thoughts on our plans??

Congratulations. Boy or girl?

Congrats.
I am gonna get yelled at for this, but babies are simple. they are the 2-stroke engines of human beings- their needs are pretty simple. A clean diaper, full stomach, no gas, and love is all they want or need. You can do all of that just as easily on 30 ft as you can in 2500 sq ft....
maybe better. IMO, if the baby is healthy, with no need to have monthly visitsa to the doctor, then get him/her immunized and get gone.

But don't ask us. Ask your wife. If she is good to go, and you are good to go, then it's all good.

Now, fi you said you wanted to go crusing with mid-teens, well, that is a whole HELL of a bunch more complicated.
I have two for sale. cheap.

Thanks SD. Ask me in January!
We both like surprises so we are just waiting to see.

Thanks. We had reached a similar conclusion! Wife is quite keen - not I have talked her into it keen, but this is very much her dream as well. We will see how we both feel when baby is around of course.......

Congratulations Chall03. How about taking a first aid course specifically for treating infants? May ease some of the tension of the people with the opinions. Our daughter will be 6 this year when all of our worriers will realize that boat is really going into the salt water for real, and we havn't just been kidding for the last 16 years... :thewave:

My wife is a health professional, and both of us do hold senior first aid certificates. Sometimes the facts don't seem to convince the naysayers around us however!

We also certainly are worrying alot as well, both of us. This whole concept of cruising certainly has taken a whole new perspective now that there is another involved.

We did it. Babies on sailboats are easy 'till they can climb up the companionway ladder.

http://www.eskimo.com/~jimlee/NoTomo...alOnLadder.jpg

That ended our live aboard lifestyle.

Don't sweat it. Depending on the kid & the ladder, you may have a year or more left.

-jim lee

I just realized something—

Oh...my...god...he's...breeding.... ;)

Congrats, Chall!

We sailed with our son from the time he was just weeks old, and now we (and they) are sailing the our granddaughter too.

Raising our son has been without a doubt my wife's and my greatest accomplishment. That he's grown up to be a (better)sailor and boat owner himself is profoundly gratifying.

To be able to do the same now with their daughter is the sweetest icing on the cake..

All I can say is enjoy, do it, he/she will be graduating before you know it!

Chall!!!!!

Congrats brew! DON'T GIVE IT UP! We've been sailing with ours since they were 3 and 7. No biggie mon.

We got the same stink-eye from people when we had our first. We were avid rock-climbers and they were shocked that we'd take a 4-week old baby out with us to climb. We had him in a backpack style baby carrier and would hike him in, then hang the pack up in a tree where he'd sleep while me or his mom would belay the other just a few feet away. Perfect.

I have noticed, however, that the wee ones do tend to roll around a lot on a FC heel, so make sure you strap 'em in.

Very, very cool, Chall. Kids are the greatest thing in the whole world. It'll bring tears to your eyes, dude.

Pretty much sums up my life as well. Except for the gas. I don't mind it so much. It can be pretty funny at times.