Car Seat on a Boat

When I was pregnant, and we decided to move onto the boat and get serious about our cruising saving and plans, I did a lot of research about cruising with kids.  I bought every book I could find on the subject.  There seemed to be some general consensus that installing a car seat on the boat somewhere safe was a good option when you needed to put the baby down and do some sailing.  So, it only took us 7 months to make it happen, but we took our first sail with the car seat!  

I bought an extra, used, inexpensive infant car seat base that Yemaya's car seat clicks right into.  Ari installed two mounting rings that car seat LATCH systems can clip right into (so it will be good for the next car seat size up too).  Ari clipped the base in and snugged it down tight.  We plopped the car seat in and buckled Yemaya in safe.  

The sail took place a little late in the day, and Yemaya was not in the best of moods, but she was safe.  I hung some nice toys for her, but she really prefers the vang and cunningham lines.  I'm fairly sure that the fancy lines Ari bought are not organic cotton, but Yemaya does love sucking on them.  As we tacked up the estuary I played down below with the baby.  When we turned around and headed downwind, the wind was getting lighter and Ari wanted to put up the geniker.  So into the car seat Yemaya went.  We sailed nicely downwind for a bit as we watched the container ships and tug boats moving around.  And as it always happens, as we sail by, the container ships get ready to move.  Oakland is, after all, one of the busiest ports on the West Coast.  At that moment it was nice to have two hands on deck.  Not absolutely necessary, but nice to have the baby down below and safe so we could move to one side and take the geniker down, while the container ship was turned and pushed out to the Bay.  Yemaya cried a bit, but I sang to her, and she was fine.

I spent some time feeding her and playing with her down below before we docked.  But then, back in her car seat, grumpy and tired, for a quick moment while I helped with docking.  Again, we sang to her to calm her down and keep her happy.  I wondered if anyone heard us and was curious as to why the small boat was docking to "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" and "Five Little Ducks."  In case there are other sailing parents out there, I have used "Five Little Ducks" on two different crying children on sailboats and both times it worked like magic.  Not sure why, but a good one to know in an emergency.  http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/f005.html

In general, the car seat was great.  Yemaya was a little over tired from a busy weekend, so she did not show her love for the car seat set up, but I think it will grow on her.  Now we just have to get the same set up going for Macha.  After that, the next baby safety project is a harness and tether for when she is walking or crawling above deck (which requires both learning to crawl/walk, and for the rain to stop).

A while back, before the baby, I summed up everything I had learned from my reading about cruising with babies and kids.  If any of you out there have more suggestions or stories to share I'd love to hear them.  http://sv-macha.blogspot.com/2009/04/baby-aboard.html

Just out for a sail with a baby

Ari and I took a quick sail on the Tuna with the baby after work. It
was a wonderful sunny day, and isn't that why we (he) bought it after
all. But right now, sailing with the baby means that one of us is
watching her and one of us is single handing the boat.


We hope to make a way to put her car seat in so we can strap her down
when needed, and perhaps I will figure out some other method of
containing her safely. But for now, when the winds get light and Ari
wants to hoist the geniker, and then the winds get lighter and he rows
a little with the geniker still up, this is what you end up with.  Notice the line in his mouth!

It was a really great family sail.  Yemaya loved every minute of it.  I'm not sure she knew what was going on, but she loved cuddling with mom and dad, rolling over onto the sail bags, and flashlights and shadow puppets after sunset.  Hopefully, with the winter rains coming to an end soon, and longer days, there will be many more sails on the Tuna at sunset before returning home to Macha to tuck the little one in for the night.

Sailing Macha

As promised here are some photos from our sail a few weeks back.

 

 Sails hoisted (with an accidental, but amazing shot of a bird).

 

Yemaya down below "napping."

 

Craig on the helm.

 

Ari and the Estuary sunset.

Our New Sail

So we hoisted the new drifter and it is quite something.  We bought it off Craigslist for $400. (Plus it came with 4 bins of miscellaneous junk thrown in that the sellers wife foisted off on us.  I am very excited about all the junk.  Ari and I have a bet about how much I can make selling the junk.  He thinks $75,  I say $100.)  It seems to fit fairly well, which is a bit of a surprise because both my husband and the seller seemed a bit unsure of all the dimensions.  We have not actually used it to sail the boat and there are some concerns that it might not tack well between the jib and jib topsail stays.  But who needs to tack when trying to go upwind in light air?

The whole process of hoisting a sail was a bit more difficult then I would ever have imagined.  Ari has been sick for a few days and keeps getting out of bed acting like he is doing fine.  And then he will say things like "I feel a little woozy."  So when I proposed the sail hoisting project I thought he was feeling better.  Only to discover halfway through that he is still feeling sick and light headed.  So, I feel a little guilty that I let him go out on the bowsprit twice.  Also, when I suggested hoisting the sail the baby was asleep, and she of course woke up as soon as we got the sail on deck.  So I lay her down in the cockpit on a sail bag, and Ari or I would go back and check on her when she started complaining about how boring it was by herself looking at the sky.  In our efforts to hoist the sail, with Ari not thinking clearly because he has hardly eaten in two days and me half thinking about my poor baby in the cockpit, we (I) first hanked the sail on to the wrong stay, and we hoisted it up before we realized what was wrong.  But at last we got it up on the right stay, and it is glorious!

But, does it really matter how many sails your boat has if you are too scared (and messy) to take your baby out sailing and you live on your boat?  Yemaya will be 4 months old this week and she has been sailing three times!  Twice on a 30 ft catamaran and once last night on our Santana 22 just up to Jack London Square and back.  And perhaps soon we can take her out on Macha.  I guess as long as the boat doesn't heal very much I can hold her safely underway.  But when Macha is powered up by the afternoon Bay wind, I am worried my little one and I will not have very much fun sliding around in the boat.  But who knows, perhaps we can just play on the sole and come up when things are calm and we will not be in the way.  And maybe we will figure out the whole car seat lashed down below thing too.  Since she can't really move herself around yet I worry about leaving her in a padded berth where she may get smushed in a corner with out really being able to get herself out on her own.  But soon she will be older and stronger which will help me be braver about the adventures we take her on.

Second Sail

We took Yemaya for her second sail on our friend Craig's catamaran (but this time we remembered the camera).  We even put Yemaya in her life jacket for some of the sail (it fits now!).  She hated it, and she and I mostly stayed inside anyway.  We had a grand time!

Yemaya likes sailing upwind best for sleeping because the conditions are more bumpy and bouncy.  Downwind is too calm for really good sleeping.

I'm sure all the grandparents will be glad to know that we have not taken her out on a more adventurous little boat sail yet.  Soon maybe.