I have spent hours watching other people sailing, with feelings from admiration and envy to apprehension and sorrow. I remember well watching a father and son team struggling to hoist the sails of a dinghy in a breeze, each taking it in turn to hold firmly onto the transom of the boat and shouting at each other’s attempts to hoist the main; what is more, the mainsheet was not even shackled to the end of the boom. Another fascinating episode was the family all with new lifejackets and gleaming boat who only hoisted the main till the boom was just clear of the deck; their antics to get into and stay in the boat with the boom so low were better than any TV show. Even better were the two who vigorously rowed their boat out from shore dead into the eye of the wind, then sheeted the main in tight and equally tightly sheeted the jib to windward, then proceeded to drift slowly back to the shore. This they repeated monotonously throughout the day. None of these people had to ability to quickly work out what was wrong.

Perhaps the foregoing examples that I have just described were due to lack of tuition, but it did take them a very long time to sort out what was wrong. I am still convinced that at least it requires an above average level of ability to go dinghy cruising, and a cool nerve to go with it. What is more, for those who suffer from seasickness, physical stamina is required, as well as determination. Perhaps those who go dinghy cruising are a modest breed; all those that I have met so far I certainly consider to be above average. Perhaps they are better at it than they think they are.

In reply to Jim Smith’s suggestion that we should attend some of the South Coast rallies, we should very much like to, and intend to do so in the future. This brings me to the next point — sailing with children, and the proposed Scottish holiday week. As children grow older, clearly they can sail for longer periods of time without coming back to base. So, too, if mum will allow it, can you sail with a tiny baby: he will sleep most of the time in his carry cot. I think, though, that there is an intermediate age when it is only fair to the children and the parents, that sailing should be restricted to short sails only.

One of my pleasures when there is a good stiff breeze blowing down Bala Lake is to fill my boat with heavy sailing friends and go planing across the lake. When the wind drops and the conditions are just right, I take my family on the water as much as possible. This is what I want to write about now. I hope the information will be of use to other people with small children. Our children are now 2 and 3½ years, and the earliest we had them on the water was Ian at 22 months and Keith at 2½ years.

The maximum length of time we have been able to sail with them so far is about 1½ hours; they then want to have a good run round and let off steam. Perhaps if very small children are taken sailing continuously, they will not need a period of adjustment to the boat. We found that both of our children needed a careful introduction to the boat in easy stages, and it is not finished yet! First of all, we let them play in the boat on the trailer at home. Next we popped them into the boat while in shallow water at the water’s edge, sitting on Mum’s lap. They found the movement of the boat under them strange, and a little disturbing.

We then progressed to taking them for a row on calm days for about half an hour at a time; if a boat came past and caused a wash, we would say “Here come the waves; look, what fun!” They soon came to enjoy the motion of the boat, though Ian, being younger than Keith when he first went on the water and none too steady on his feet, was not happy unless sitting down or on Mum’s lap. We found that rowing around Bala Lake was quite pleasant, and on one occasion spent an hour rowing slowly up the river looking down at the fish in the deep pools on the bends.

Both our children are very boisterous, want to examine everything new, climb, and generally get into mischief. How have we managed with discipline? During our rowing sessions we have allowed both of them to play with most of the gear. This we do not allow to turn into a free-for-all, and when something has been duly examined it is untangled and re-stowed not to be disturbed again (for ten minutes, anyway). We find we have to strike a balance between discipline and freedom. Complete discipline is impossible, and anyway unfair on children of this age, and so is complete freedom: it is unsafe.

At this stage we only take them out with the sails up in a gentle breeze. The children take up too much of our attention to make much sailing possible or pleasurable.

I have mentioned Bala Lake on numerous occasions so far. It is, we feel, ideal for kindergarten family sailing; there are two camp sites right at the water’s edge, and this allows for easy short sails — and it goes something like this. Half hour play with the ball, half hour sail or row, and then bring the family back and go for another half hour or so single-handed, or with a friend while Mum gets the dinner. On a weekend’s camping, this may amount to the family sailing together two or three times on Saturday, and perhaps twice on Sunday, before packing up in time to get home for supper. During one of our gentler sails, this time on Windermere, we were joined by a friendly duck who came and sat on our side deck and held the attention of the two children for quite some time till they wanted to touch him, then he was off like a shot.

The day finally came when it was decided that Keith would come for a sail by himself with Dad. We were up at Rudyard Lake, and Keith was showing clearly that he wanted to take a part in sailing the boat, so we unloaded the rest of the family and set sail by ourselves. We broad-reached across the lake for 100 yards or so, and each time I asked him if he wanted to go to Mum. No, he wanted to sail the boat with Dad. Each time we tacked, he climbed over the centreboard case and pulled in the jib sheet to the comment of “heave tight”; he was clearly very pleased with himself.

The longest proper sail we have had so far is 1½ hours on Southampton Water. This was superb; the children were good, and Keith kept asking for big waves from the tankers. We always turn back when the children are still happy, and by the time we are back they are still reasonably obedient and interested. Another thing we do is to sail close to the shore and land to let them play if they show signs of restlessness. If it is too windy to sail properly with the children, we sometimes motor upwind under engine and come back just under jib alone.

Let me now be a bit more specific about the Scottish holiday week. I suggested Scotland as a venue for two reasons: (1) I like it up there, and want to go sailing there, and (2) because there seem to be more camp sites at the shore’s edge with sheltered water and open water close at hand. It does not have to be Scotland though; anywhere will do. What I want to encourage is family sailing with small children in mind. Some of our sailing has been done alone, but we find that it is much more fun if there are other families around also interested in sailing. Jim Smith, in his article, implies that sailing in this way discourages dinghy cruising, and encourages the dads to go off by themselves. Quite a lot of dads do this anyway: they take their boat racing every Sunday, and don’t see their family from 9.00 am - 11.00 pm.

I am interested in the family who ultimately want to go cruising together properly, but for one reason or another feel that they cannot jump into it with both feet straight away. We know from the sailing we have done so far that sleeping on board and cruising with our children is not possible yet. If we pushed it too hard now, we would probably spoil it for good. Add to this the fact that we feel taking small children out sailing is a big responsibility: they are totally dependant on us and quite unable to fend for themselves, and will be for quite some time yet.

We feel quite envious of those who can cruise properly, and are looking forward to the day when it is possible for us. In the meantime we camp, day sail, and continue to slowly expand our sailing in step with the development of our family. I shall be very interested to hear comments from other family sailors as to how they started their family sailing, and at what stage they feel a proper cruise could be undertaken with the family. Plus, what problems they had, and how they solved them. Anyone who says that two small boys of 2 & 3½ should be no problem at all will receive, by British Rail, a large, well-ventilated container containing two lovable little boys, who, for their one week’s stay, will never stop running around, eating, asking questions, bouncing on the beds, emptying the cupboards, and dismantling everything in sight, and needing almost no sleep. We, for our part, will be off on a cruise in our Wayfarer.