Hi! We spent five years living aboard and sailing on a couple of sailboats (34ft then 42ft). We began our journey as a family of 3 on the east coast of the UK in 2017 and sailed across the North Sea to Northern Europe. After a couple of years exploring the continent, Jersey in Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the south coast of the UK, and having a baby(!) - we set sail south down the Atlantic coast from Cornwall, UK and sailed down to southern Portugal when Erin was only 8 months old. We have PLENTY of tales to tell! Now we're ready to share our experiences and all the knowledge we picked up to help other families get out on the water sailing. Come join us!
SAILING WITH TEENAGERS SPECIAL! π©π»π§πΌ How to convince your teens to go sailing with you! β΅οΈ #7
Hi Reader, Welcome to the 7th edition of 'Families Afloat'! The brand new weekly newsletter full of inspiration, stories and invaluable information for sailing families. If this is the first one you've received - welcome aboard! It's great to have you here. If you want to have a read of previous newsletters, you can find them on our homepage (https://familiesafloat.co.uk). Now, on with this week... it's all about going sailing with your teenagers (and how to persuade them that cruising is ACTUALLY a pretty epic thing to do! π) β What You Should Be Thinking About This Week'Cruising with Teens' The Hacking Family began a "theoretically only two-year" cruise in the Eastern Caribbean aboard a 45-foot catamaran, bound for Australia with the parents, two teens, 12 and 15, and the family cat. After a year of learning the ropes of cruising, ironing out family dynamics, and setting a family goal to head west, they transited the Canal, and entered the Pacific Ocean. Christopher finished his high school on board and opted to take a "gap year" to continue sailing in Tonga and Fiji. Amanda sailed with her parents from Australia, through SE Asia, and across the Indian ocean to South Africa where she left for college, also after a gap year. This article was written by Sue (the mom) when they reached South Africa and Amanda was about to head off for university in the States. Read it here: 'Cruising with Teens'.
β I'd also recommend a visit to their website for a general look around also - it's a treasure trove of information from their travels. The Hacking Family - Cruising the World on s/v Ocelot.β β Boat Tour of the WeekI don't know about you, but I LOVE looking around other people's boats! Every week I will share a new boat for you to take a look around. This week we are touring Sailing Kittiwake's Tayana 37 called Skua. Elena and Ryan bought Skua in Spain and spent a lot of time and love doing a big refit on her (you can watch the previous videos on their YouTube channel if you'd like to see!) before sailing her across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. β β Do you have a family sailing yacht boat tour you'd like to share? It can either be your own boat or one you've found on YouTube! Let us know here.β β Sailing Tip of the WeekThis week it's all about 'How to Convince Your Teenagers to Sail With You'. Nick Hayes shares a new way of looking at the problem of how to get your teenagers onboard with the whole idea of sailing. They might not be as enthusiatic as you were hoping when you first raise the idea to them but fear not, there may be a way...! Read 'How to Convince Your Teenagers to Sail With You' on Sailing Magazine's website. β Galley Recipe of the WeekThis week it's 'Bake Bread on a Boat Grill'. If it's super hot where you are, or, you just don't have an oven in your galley, why not try baking bread on a grill?! The recipe this week is from Carolyn Shearlock (and Jan Irons) from The Boat Galley @theboatgalley. According to Carolyn, Jan is an expert griller and has had great success at making break on her boat grill. βCheck out the recipe and tips they share so you can have a go too. Have you tried to make it? Why don't you let Carolyn @theboatgalley know on Instagram how it turned out! β What's your favourite galley recipe? Let us know here.β β Sailing & Cruising Tipsβ "Get starlink! π"
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Sailing Moana - @sailingmoana_
β The crew of Sailing Moana are currently preparing their Excess 11 catamaran ready to begin cruising in July 2023. They have two teenagers onboard which explains the above advice! β Do you have a really useful tip you'd like to share? Let us know here.β β Video of the WeekThis newsletter, my video of the week is 'Convincing Our Kids to Sail Around the World' by Sailing Zatara. Keith and Renee made the decision for their family to move onto a sailboat in 2016 with their four teenage children and sail around the world. The kids weren't onboard with the idea to start with but I loved seeing how their mindsets and points of view changed as the years of living aboard went by. βIf you need some help with how to get your kids onboard, go and check it out! β β β Have you watched a really good video this week? Let us know here.β β Pets CornerOur furry friends are most definitely part of the family. Each week, we'll share a picture of our favourite boat dog or cat (though we're not limited to those - show us what other animals you have onboard!) This week it's Poppy and Lily from @sailingdoodleswelshβ β Want your salty seadog (or cat, or other pet!) to be featured in the newsletter?! Let us know here.β β Bilge BanterComplete the following (and get as inventive as you want!!!) β Customs board your boat, you should __________________. β βSubmit your answers here.β β Puzzle CornerIt's time to get your thinking caps on. Can you solve our nautical themed puzzle?! This week it's a CIPHER! β Find out in the newsletter next week if you're right. β Last Week's Puzzle - ANSWER The answer to the puzzle last week was... A cloud! Did you get it?! β Competition Timeππ» CONGRATULATIONS to the winner of last month's competition - Qamar S. who has chosen to receive the 'Sailing Log Book with Vintage Sailing Ship Blueprint' cover from Red Panda Publishing! ππ» β This month we have teamed up with Kim from Sailing Britican. She has very kindly offered one of our readers the prize of enrollment on her online Boat Safety Course (complete with personalisable Manual for your boat) worth $347! β To find out more about it (and enter!), please visit our competitions page - just click the big orange button below! β
Brand: Sailing Britican Prize: Enrollment on their Boat Safety Course and Manual (online) Retail value: $347 Giveaway open to: Entrants worldwide aged 18+ This competition will run: During March 2023 and the winner will be chosen and announced in April 2023. β If you are a brand or company that is interested in giving away a quality sailing or travel product or gift voucher, please leave your details here.β β Really Useful WebsitesEach week we'll share some of our favourite sailing related websites that we have found super helpful and/or found ourselves revisting time and time again. β No Foreign Land No Foreign Land is a website used by sailors across the world. When you sign up you can add your boat to their map so others can see where you are along with a profile of who you are and whoβs onboard. It is also able to track your movements if you allow it to so others can see where youβve been. On top of all that, you can then join groups. Some examples are all the different boat manufacturers (Amel, Bavaria, Beneteau, Hallberg-Rassy, Jeanneau, Moody, Oyster etc to name a few), those doing the Atlantic crossing, ARC kid boats, Catamaran sailors, sailors of different nationalities etc. There is a large range and youβre sure to find multiple that you can join. The βKids4Sailβ group is definitely one to join when you have children onboard. You are able to filter all the boats on the world map to just show where the kid boats are. This allows you to see who is close by. There is a chat function on the website so when you click on a boat and see whoβs onboard, you are able to get in touch with them. βhttps://www.noforeignland.comβ β Marine Traffic Marine Traffic displays where all the boats using AIS are in the world. Different types of vessel are shown in different colours to help you identify what you are looking at. You can filter the map so you only see other sailboats or only tankers etc. You can also change the layers shown on the map to look at points of interest (ports, marinas, anchorages etc). You can create your own fleet of boats that you track, check the weather, and much, much more. It is available as a web app and also as an app for your devices. We use it on our phones and ipads to track where our friends boats are and also to see who is around us if we are near the shore. βhttps://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/β β What websites do you find yourself going back to time and time again? Tell us about them here.β β
Join Us on Social Media β Enjoyed Families Afloat?βFind out how you can support us here so we can keep sharing Families Afloat with you all each week. π₯° β Thanks for joining us! I really hope you enjoyed reading this week's edition of 'Families Afloat'. Hope to see you again next week. In the meantime, fair winds and following seas! Robyn and Dave β Experiment
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Families Afloat | Sail Away Together
by Robyn, Dave, Erin, and Scrappy
Hi! We spent five years living aboard and sailing on a couple of sailboats (34ft then 42ft). We began our journey as a family of 3 on the east coast of the UK in 2017 and sailed across the North Sea to Northern Europe. After a couple of years exploring the continent, Jersey in Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the south coast of the UK, and having a baby(!) - we set sail south down the Atlantic coast from Cornwall, UK and sailed down to southern Portugal when Erin was only 8 months old. We have PLENTY of tales to tell! Now we're ready to share our experiences and all the knowledge we picked up to help other families get out on the water sailing. Come join us!
Hey Reader, I hope you've had a great week. Did you see my email last weekend where I told you I'd just relaunched Families Afloat as a brand new website?! Visit Families Afloat by clicking the image above or the links in the email Have you had a chance to check it out yet?! I'd love to hear what you think of the new (and IMO very much improved design! Let's be honest, the last website was a bit crap...! π) It's still early days for it but I'm adding new posts to it as often as I can. What...
Hi Reader, Iβm back!!! Itβs been a while since I emailed and a LOT has happened since then! Weβve moved back to the UK from Portugal and are in the process of trying to resettle into βnormal lifeβ. The bottom line is that itβs not going very well - moving back in the middle of winter probably wasnβt our smartest move! π Weβre missing boat life like crazy and have started boat hunting again π. The other thing Iβve been doing which has taken up a LOT of time is redesigning Families Afloat from...
Hi Reader, Welcome to the MAY edition of 'Families Afloat'! The monthly newsletter full of inspiration, stories and invaluable information for sailing families. If you want to have a catch up of our previous newsletters, you can find them here: NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE. This week's topic is what cruising is really all about... Fixing your boat in foreign countries! π I'm pretty sure that almost every cruiser we've met has had to fix their boat abroad at some point in their journey, if they haven't,...