Yachting World — February 2018

cruising

with kids

staying safe

IN THE SECOND OF THIS SIX-PART VIDEO AND PRINT

SERIES ON GOING LONG-TERM CRUISING WITH

CHILDREN, CASPAR CRAVEN ASKS WHETHER IT’S A

RESPONSIBLE DECISION TO TAKE CHILDREN TO SEA

Caspar Craven and his

wife, Nichola, and their

three children sailed round

the world together on

their Oyster 53, Aretha.

Caspar is a sought-after

keynote speaker on the

topics of leadership, team

building and dealing with

adversity. His book Where

the Magic Happens is being

published by Bloomsbury

in May 2018.

http://www.casparcraven.com

Pa r t 2

ast year, I returned from sailing around the

world for two years with my wife and three

young children. The children were aged

nine, seven and two when we left.

But there’s a thing we were often asked:

were we responsible or irresponsible to do that? We find

people rarely sit on the fence on this question!

Generally, people either think we are utterly selfish and

irresponsible for choosing to sail round the world with

our children, or that we are the best parents for choosing

to experience life and the world with our children. There

really isn’t much between those two extremes. The

biggest concern always focuses on safety and whether we

were putting our children in danger.

I’ve read several interviews in which some sailing

families make the case that sailing oceans is less

dangerous than going driving on the road. I’ll be candid:

that logic irritates me, and here’s why.

Everything in life has risks; there’s no getting away from

it. When it comes to family sailing and putting yourself

and your family in a boat on the water, there will always be

a set of risks. To downplay those risks is, I believe,

potentially dangerous.

I’ve read the blogs sharing the statistics that show

you’re more likely to be killed or injured on the roads than

you are at sea, but statistics like that can lull you into a

false sense of security. For me, it’s about being aware of the

risks, thinking each of them through and then taking

steps to minimise them to a level that you and your

family are happy with.

When we circumnavigated we weren’t cavalier. We spent

five years planning our voyage and explored all the major

risks, finding ways to mitigate them as much as possible.

It’s a big subject and there is much to say. Even though

I’d sailed and been on the water all my life, when we

thought about sailing with our children, we looked again

with a fresh set of eyes and made decisions based on

understanding each of the areas of concern.

L

Graham Snook

Caspar Craven

66 February 2018