Sailing with kids: FAQ
On the LiveChat, we’re often asked about whether kids will enjoy it, what age is the best age to take sailing, and where the best place is to go sailing with kids. So here’s our FAQ to sailing with kids!
Will kids enjoy sailing?
Yeah, absolutely, kids will love sailing. There’s the spirit of adventure in the air, new places to go and see, the novel surroundings of a boat, learning new things, and also, importantly, so much time and attention from their parents. Throw in sunshine, beaches, ice-cream and plenty of time for splashing around, and it’s no wonder why kids love to go sailing.
When they get older, they can get involved in helping to pull ropes and to steer the ship – which are responsibilities that they’ll take remarkably seriously – and, once they’re good enough swimmers, you’ll be able to pack the boat with a wakeboard, kayak or Stand Up Paddleboard for added thrills.
Generally, kids will love it! (and the more excited you get about it, the more excited they’ll be).
What is the best age to take kids sailing?
You can take kids sailing from when they’re babies – and I have – but you’d probably say that sailing works best for kids aged over 6 years old. For no other reason than that by then they should have a fair amount of balance and co-ordination, a good level of inquisitiveness and willingness to engage with the boat and sailing, and enough imagination to occupy themselves so that they don’t get bored.
It’s absolutely possible to take young kids away sailing, but you need to be organised and have plenty of things to do on-board (crafts, games, cooking, etc…) to stop them getting bored and fractious. My wife was ingenious and got the kids making binoculars out of toilet paper tubes, and painting shells, which really helped to pass the time in a fun and semi-relevant way.
After being cooped up on a boat all day, it’s important to burn up some of their energy by heading for land and exploring the local area – either the town or the nearest bay.
Where’s the best place to sail with kids?
This is an interesting question, and the short answer is that anywhere will do. As we mentioned above, maybe 90% of the thrill is being on a boat and adventuring with fun adults – so where you sail only makes up the final 10%.
Even then, there is almost always something exciting for kids to see if you sail from any of our bases in Greece or Croatia – whether it’s a medieval castle, a natural phenomenon, epic waterfalls, brilliant beaches, cute little islands, ancient ruins, roman temples, or even theme parks and forests where they’ve found dinosaur footprints!
They’ll be happy wherever you go, so it’s probably best, for starters, to choose the base which is easiest to get to, read our destination guide, and take it from there (it’s a major sailing base for a reason!)
