I was asked by the RYA to represent the Wanderer Class Owners Association at the Alexandra Palace Dinghy Show in March and talk about my experience of dinghy cruising with children. It was then suggested that I might like to summarise the key points of my presentation for the association magazine…. So here goes.

I should state clearly from the outset – I like everyone else have learnt most by trial and error and have done things with the kids in boats which in retrospect maybe weren’t too bright but I was lucky enough to get away with it at the time, a wild down wind run across Poole Bay in a nasty breaking quartering sea with Niamh asleep on the floor boards spring immediately to mind and still sets the heart aflutter 5 years after the event. However, our risk/benefit balance improves with experience – whether the experience is our own or borrowed from others. I would also strongly recommend the RYA dinghy courses that I have done to improve all our general sailing competence.

The key thing to stress about sailing with young children is that all of us and all of our children are individuals and we will all make our own decisions on what is and isn’t appropriate for us to take on, but I hope here to offer some useful ‘nuggets’ if you are nervous about getting started dinghy sailing with your kids.

What to wear
It would be easy to fill the whole magazine running through just what is available for children to wear when sailing, and you could spend a kings ransom kitting them out in all this seasons Gucci gear… thankfully, it doesn’t need to be that complicated.

I bear in mind the following and it seems to keep us comfortable on the water…

Warmth

•         Elephant (me) vs Mouse (children) – the relative ratios of surface area to volume for children and adults means children cool much quicker.

•         Cold children are unhappy children…too hot is generally better than too cold

•         It is always at least a layer colder on the water than ashore

•         If children go quiet they’re almost guaranteed to be getting cold – parrot ‘are you warm enough’ constantly to catch them before they get properly cold

•         We wear all sorts of different stuff sailing from one day to the next – from ‘normal’ top and trousers to wetsuit / breathable cag / salopettes – no ‘one solution’ works in all circumstances and appropriate clothing needn’t cost the earth

•         BA counts as 1x warm and protective layer which we ALWAYS wear when on or near the water

•         Hat / gloves are always worn – hat has a full brim to protect face ears and neck. Fingerless sailing gloves are worth buying to keep your hands warm and protect from rope burns…warning – they will smell bad after their first outing!

•         Spend what additional money you can on the children’s kit to keep them comfortable, then you should get uncomfortable before them and know when to head back for shore

Dry

•         Wet = cold

•         We always carry spare jumper, towel and complete change of clothes for everyone on the boat in a dry bag

•         The smallest person’s clothes are packed so as to be easiest to get at as they will be the first to get cold

•         I scoffed at the ‘breathable clothing fad’ until we bought some for Niamh – she has found it much more comfortable to wear all day and it can be affordable if you buy ‘last years’ lines in clearance sales

•         I am just into breathable cag and salopettes now myself, and may go to fancy drysuits next, but I spent my first 5 seasons largely in ‘normal’ clothes and ‘millets’ waterproofs or a shower proof jacket designed for cycling which served me well enough.

Layers

•         This does not have to necessarily mean a fancy layering system sold by some brand for £xxxx’s, but can simply be a t shirt, long sleeved top, fleecy jumper, waterproofs and BA – the layers trap air to insulate you, wick moisture away from your skin and give you options to shed / add layers

•         It can however be difficult to change on the water – especially as the BA stays on all the time you are afloat! Is your Cag big enough to go over your BA so you can easily shed the outer windproof layer if you start to ‘boil in the bag’? Knowing how to heave to effectively is also handy if you want to shed or add a layer to you or the kids

Sun protection

•         Includes a decent hat, Factor 50+ waterproof sun block and sun glasses (Plastic / polarised / wrap arounds seem to be best – but spend as little as possible as they will end up going over the side or being sat on!)

•         Reflection from water and the cooling effect of the breeze over the water means that you and the kids will burn quick and you won’t notice it happening ‘til it’s too late. Backs of the neck, tops of the thighs and top of your feet are vulnerable to sunburn in a dinghy and often forgotten when wielding the sun cream

Keeping things in proportion is always a good idea. RNLI crew wear about £500 of high performance protective gear, the best you could buy – which is appropriate for them sailing into the unknown in atrocious weather conditions. If we tried to wear the same for pootling about in dinghies we’d never actually go dinghy sailing as we’d be saving up to buy it or be so encumbered by the bulk and weight of it that we could never climb into the boat.

We try and keep things appropriate for the weather and cruise planned, however in truth it’s governed largely by what I am prepared/able to pay for and what we think we can still move around the boat freely/comfortably in.

Safety….
Dinghy sailing is risky…but so is driving a car. So indeed is veging on the sofa and eating takeaway playing violent games on the playstation.

Decisions about the risk and the benefit for us dinghy sailors generally comes out in favour both of driving the car (mobility / convenience) and dinghy sailing with kids (excitement / bonding / exercise / escape from the everyday)

Our perception of risk is often very different from the actual risk in any given circumstance – humans are infact notoriously bad as risk assessment.

Roller coaster vs driving your car for example – which is ‘riskier’? One feels dangerous but is safe (The unfamiliar rollercoaster), the other feels safe but is relatively dangerous (The over-familiar omnipresent car).

I try to overcome this problem by imagining what could actually realistically happen and what the consequences would be…

What if….

•         We get cold – we always carry spare clothes, we choose those clothes carefully, pick appropriate weather and a realistic route to follow

•         Capsize – A reality that this could happen to dinghy sailors at any time and you need to be able to deal with it. What will you do? Do the children know what to do? Can you self rescue? – Self rescue should be the assumption – 3rd party assistance if it turns up when you need it should be treated as a welcome bonus

No Surprises…

•         Lairy planing 3 sail reaches followed by spectacular wipeouts have their place in dinghy sailing, but not I suggest when dinghy cruising with children…we have already made an excellent choice of dinghy, but it is up to us how we choose to sail it . Despite Wanderer being basically a stable and forgiving design, we generally sail reefed and always use masthead buoyancy to prevent inversion should we get knocked flat.

•         We generally have a written plan of where we are going and leave that plan ashore with someone who will raise the alarm if we fail to return on cue. We then stick to that plan or tell the shore contact if we are changing the plan

•         We know where we are going (Chart / local knowledge), know what the weather forecast is for the next 24 hours and know what the tides are doing.

•         I have a stowage list to make sure I don’t forget stuff and everything has its place in the boat. No really – I have seen people forget mainsheets (me) rudders, mainsails, booms, one forgetful chap even forgot his boat!

•         Everything that could float away is tied to the boat – including Max, though this is somewhat controversial… My thoughts were and remain that his harness line is long enough for him to move about the boat, including escaping in the event of inversion, and with two young people in the boat I need to know he can’t drift away while I sort out recovery of the boat. I have only used this when conditions are poor or we are venturing off shore – I always brief safety crew or accompanying crews on the safety harness arrangements.

•         CG66 registration – The MCA scheme maybe aimed at larger sea going yachts but as I venture onto salty water it seems sensible to help the coastguard identify me quickly and know my capabilities if I get into trouble – A copy of the CG66 registration paperwork is left with our shore contact along with contact numbers of appropriate MCA co-ordination centres. (see www.mcga.gov.uk/)

Proportionate…

•         When I moved ‘up’ from yachts to dinghies I tried to bring across all the equipment from the 26’ off shore cruising yacht to the 14’ inshore open boat….this made things heavy, crowded and complicated, all off which goes against the premise of simplicity at the core of dinghy sailing.

•         I think it was Frank Dye who suggested everything on board a cruising dinghy should earn its place and preferably have at least 2 uses… I’m not there yet but the list is getting shorter not longer after 8 years of dinghy cruising.

•         I found the RNLI Sea Check invaluable in getting a 3rd party view on what might be appropriate for the boating we do, especially having trimmed back my kit list from yacht cruising days – an RNLI volunteer called at my house and we had a relaxed chat while going over the boat – The outcome was I now carry a throw line, whistle and knife and sail with the (1x small) anchor ready to deploy at any time, cost of the Sea Check £nil, cost of new kit about £20… benefit – I feel safer and have a respected 3rd party endorsement of decisions I have made on kit vs. activity for the peace of mind of my other half.

Precautionary Approach

•         Build in passive safety decisions to everything you do in dinghy sailing – can I reach that? What if the boat’s upside down? How will people know if I am in trouble? Am I easily recognised?  A simple example of this mindset on our boat is my unusual choice of red sails / foils. This makes our boat easy to spot in a crowd of Wanderers, whether or not it is the right way up.

•         Accept capsize as part of ‘normal’ sailing activity, even in a stable design like the Wanderer…be comfortable with and proficient at recovery…especially if you are responsible for the safety of children aboard. I chose a safe opportunity in calm conditions on inland waters with a safety boat and lots of people in attendance, then practised a capsize recovery with Niamh in the boat. Niamh was not the happiest bunny during the exercise, but looks back on it as an adventure and now knows what to do when it all goes pear-shaped. She is briefed that she will end up in the water between the hull and the boom and that she should grab the kicker and keep herself ‘inside’ the boat

So, having considered what clothing to wear and how to keep ourselves safe when sailing with children, where are we actually going sailing and what are we going to do…?

Planning trips dinghy cruising with children….

Getting the children involved in the thousand jobs needed to get them afloat stops them getting bored and makes them feel useful, even if their contribution to actually preparing, launching or sailing the boat is minimal… They are learning all the time and will become more ‘useful’. The children are now competent trolley drivers meaning I can just concentrate on pushing at the back, and also they can park and collect the empty trolley while I hold the boat in the shallows.

Max (5) and his mate Ellen (4) happily spent about 40 minutes helping the whole fleet recover after a day sailing on the broads last year and were really useful, fetching trollies, steering boats up the slipway etc, while learning all sorts of useful lessons about community and ‘many hands making light work’. As I recall this effort earned them an ice lolly.

•         Places to go

•         One of the joys of dinghy cruising is mobility – trailer means you are not tied to a single marina or mooring, you can hitch up and try a new area every time

•         Trailer sailing has its own problems though as you rely on slipways / launch sites being available with nearby car parking at affordable rates

•         I reckon on 60 minutes from arrival in the car to departure on the boat. Sailing alone with young children means it is just me trying to lug the beast down and then back up that weedy slipway. Sailing in company means you have a ready supply of beefcake or childminders available during launch and recovery.

•         Short Hops, Frequent Stops

•         A satisfying dinghy cruise doesn’t have to be heroic in the mould of Frank and Margaret Dye. Some of our most memorable cruises have been the simplest of days, near to home on familiar waters …Christchurch Harbour from Mudeford to the Town Quay in October, or Poole harbour from Baiter to Brownsea island on a sunny afternoon in August, distance covered probably no more than 6 miles in total, but memories made for a lifetime…

•         Telling a little one that we are stopping for lunch in 3 hours somewhere over the far horizon means nothing…..saying we are going there – and pointing to somewhere they can see gives them hope! Trips ashore to explore break up the day, get the metabolism going and add ‘purpose’ to the day.

•         A2B2A

•         I can’t be doing with fiddling about in the same place all afternoon, covering and recovering the same ground – what’s the point of that? I’m easily bored I suppose.

•         We generally try and go somewhere, and then come back again, with some desirable activity at the destination – ice cream, cake, lunch, red squirrel hunting or a visit to something like a waterfall…arriving by boat makes destinations somehow more special and exotic than if you just roll into the car park with everyone else.

We don’t generally plan to anchor during our day cruises. We can easily haul ourselves clear of the water while we picnic. Dragging the boat out stern first keeps her drier than if the waves were slapping against or over the transom – just mind out for the rudder blade – someone broke their blade clean off pushing their boat backwards across the beach in Padstow harbour…

Another cautionary note – boats can have sand and gravel forced up the centreboard case by the wave action leading to the board becoming jammed – not fun when you are trying to clear a lee shore sailing through breaking waves and look after frightened little people… slot gaskets help and having a tool to clear the blockage sorts the problem quickly…always check the board is free before jumping in and pushing off though just incase!

Food

So, what to do on these trips? To keep them interested…

•         Don’t be selfish or over ambitious – if they get cold turn back. If they don’t want to cruise today – play on the beach, keep it light and live to sail another day

•         Toys – I normally sail with a small obsolete handheld GPS for Max to play with – not strictly for navigation, but a thing of interest for him to monitor our speed, distance run, distance to go, ETA etc… we always carry disposable cameras that generally produce surprisingly good results. We carry a fog signal for the kids to make appropriate sound signals to other indignant crew – our favourite being Two longs and a short or two longs and two shorts meaning we are overtaking you to starboard or port respectively – particularly popular with a six year old on the helm as you overtake the class chairman who fancies himself as a racer! Other toys include binoculars (cheap as they will get wet or go overboard), a small brass telescope (house clearance cheapie but great for emulating Nelson), hand bearing compass, hand warmer pouches that you squeeze to activate and warm your pinkies and bird recognition sheets.

•         Singing – Great fun believe it or not. I can remember as an early teen screaming out the words to Queen’s ‘We will rock you’ and stamping the floor of an Essex CC wayfarer nearly out of the boat in company with the rest of the fleet in the middle of a squall in the centre of the river Blackwater to take our mind off being frightened, cold and miserable – it still works… and the ruder the songs the better. Once the children know a song it takes their minds off being cold or frightened – gets them moving and warms them up. The best ones are those that allow them to insert their favourite insulting rhymes, about their father generally, or substitute words for a rude noise of their choice. Our repertoire includes ‘Oh You’ll never get to heaven’, ‘The motorcycle policeman’, ‘The quartermasters stores’, ‘The Cow kicked Nelly in the Belly’, ‘Heads shoulders knees and toes’ etc, sung with a variety of outrageous accents at the top of our voices.

•         Sleeping – surprisingly both Max and Niamh regularly fall asleep in the dinghy. Sometimes as a reaction to motion sickness, but more normally because they’re tired and it’s a lovely sunny afternoon….They will sleep through the most surprising conditions…but do make sure they stay warm – Niamh hides herself away almost under the foredeck to snooze, out of the wind and spray.

•         Adventures and missions – I witnessed a great effort last year by some friends who have a young daughter. They love their dinghy sailing but their daughter was very nervous about joining them in the boat and refused to co-operate, curtailing their boating to times when granny could babysit, until they struck on the idea of theming a day around being pirates. They dressed up in appropriate piratical garb, produced tea stained treasure maps and planted treasure to be found by a very excited daughter just where the treasure map said it would be – They had the most fabulous day and she’s now keen as mustard on sailing with them.

•         Niamh and I enjoyed creating and planting a time capsule on Wildcat island in the lakes, and on other occasions we have decided to thank places for welcoming us by litter picking beaches and having a bonfire of the rubbish.

•         The peak of our adventures afloat so far have been to sail to a destination and then camp aboard under a boat tent before sailing back the next day…

Get them involved

My two are both now becoming involved in actually sailing the boat. They started off by moving across the boat at the correct moment during tacks and gybes, moved on to handling the genoa sheets in light airs, I then fixed hiking straps to allow them to hike out and help keep the boat flat (minimal effect at their weight, but they look the part!) and now both Niamh and Max can helm allowing me to play with the spinnaker, take photos or both.

Have a go at Racing

Now I know dinghy cruisers traditionally get very sniffy about those rather shouty types who enjoy crashing into each other, breaking bits of rigging and going round in circles, but I have found the unusually relaxed and friendly racing circuit for Wanderers useful in learning how to make the boat go better (a matter of good seamanship as well as competitive racing), whilst being an excellent excuse to travel to even more places and go sailing even more often…anyway, my racing IS cruising, as we still reef and the boat has masthead buoyancy and righting lines rigged, so really we have a great day in beautiful surrounding cruising round in triangles and sausages in the company of likeminded and friendly (but faster) folk!

Tim Robertson

WCOA Cruising Secretary