cruising
with kids
Caspar Craven
WHAT sorT of THings sHould you be looking
for WHen cHoosing THe rigHT boAT for A
long-Term liveAboArd fAmily cruise?Part 4 choosing a yacht
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 this year.
http://www.casparcraven.comour partner is keen. You’re ready to take the
kids sailing and you’ve got some money
together. You’ve been flicking through the
classified pages and can see a plethora of
boats for sale. How do you work your way
through the options and choose the right boat for you?
The reality is you’ll likely have a good amount of choices
and there is no such thing as the perfect boat. So, here’s
one way to approach choosing your boat for family
sailing. This isn’t a fully comprehensive guide. It’s a set of
practical things to think about as you set about the task of
balancing budgets and what you’d ideally want to have.The right tool for the job
Start with the end in mind. What are your sailing plans?
Do you want calm weather sailing in the Mediterranean,
coastal sailing or offshore cruising and ocean crossings? Is
it likely to be mostly upwind or downwind?Next, who is likely to be on board. Is it you and your
husband/wife/partner, a handful of kids, friends? How
many berths do you need, how long will you be at sea for
and where would you like to keep the boat?
All these are important considerations to think about in
advance so you can get what’s right for you. If you want a
boat for the Med or for cruising one month a year, your
needs will very clearly be quite different to what you’ll
want for a two year circumnavigation.
I’m all about finding shortcuts in life. Do you know
people who are doing the sailing you already want to do?
Go and talk to them. What boat did they choose? Why did
they choose it? Are they happy with it?
Ask them what they would do differently next time.
Find people who’ll share their experiences – this is the
best knowledge accelerator you can get.
Nichola (my wife) and I recently returned from
circumnavigating with our three young children. BeforeY
Getting children involved with sailing can be great fun, and is
important if they’re to enjoy the long-term cruising experience,
but the boat has to be suitable for the job to start withAlamyAlamyGraham Snook