Although we read the cruising books by Herb, Steve, Tom and others, we were a little surprised by the number of boats we see with kids. Don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of cruisers look like us, old retired couple out spending their kid’s inheritance, and love to have the grandkids come for a visit.
Some of the younger cruising families we have talked to say they decided to take a year off from their jobs and enjoy their kids while they are young.
Kids share in the boat jobs
One couple we met in the Exumas on a large ketch rig had three teenagers aboard and had been cruising for a long time. The wife joked that they started out on a smaller boat, but the kids just kept growing.
The parents reported that with the Internet, home schooling had gotten much easier. On one occasion we saw a young man scrambling to find an Internet connection because he had an assignment due. We suspected that some procrastination had preceded the angst. Usually what you see are kids sitting in the cockpit of the boat reading or working on a laptop in the morning, and then out hiking or swimming in the afternoon.
We also noticed that boats with kids tend to “buddy boat” more that the rest of us. One young lady joked that she was the fourth kid of the family with three teenagers. Every morning at 9 AM there is a cruiser’s net on VHF radio in George Town, Exuma. Following the regular net, there was a net for kids to arrange their day’s activities. It was always preceded by a cheery announcement, “kids for sail, kids for sail.” We were relieved to discover that they really weren’t selling kids.
They spoke French, but were working on their English
The cruising kids we have met have all been very polite, articulate, and fun to be around. Don’t know if I could say that about the “dirt kids” I have met.
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