thoughts on the couple who tried to sail across the pacific w/ the 1 & 3 yr olds?

groovygrl · April 2014

just wondering

. trying hard not to judge but seems like a pretty bad decision. For all I know, there are ppl who do this all the time w/ really small kids & they just happened to run into trouble? I admittedly know zero about sailing.

VOR · April 2014

My DH sails. We will not take DS out on the sailboat for another couple years. He's presently 5. I don't know how common it is, but I truly can't make sense of the decision making process to sail AROUND THE WORLD w/ two such young kids.

djm31012 · April 2014

I think they are morons . Who would dare take young children on that type of adventure . Forget about getting sick , what if they hit a rough storm and the boat was capsized . And now our tax dollars paid for the naval ships and helicopters to go rescue them . Idiots .

diamondduck13 · April 2014

Wow, just wow. I couldn't even imagine taking a 1 yo and 3 yo on a sail boat on a lake. Put them in an ocean, IMO, crazy, stupid, reckless.

IrishTraveler · April 2014

Fools, and fools with more money than sense as my grandmother would have said.

Meery82 · April 2014

I'm judging, too. What the hell were they thinking?! I think you forfeit your right to do something that risky when you have a child. Whether or not the child is present. What's going to happen if their parents get killed?The kids should come first.

dglvrk2 · April 2014

My ILs are big time sailors. FIL and MIL's father have sailed from Hawaii to LA and Seattle on a few occasions and both DH's parents were competitive sailors in college. They're the first to say it's risky -not to mention difficult to manage- to take kids on longer sailing tours. Longer meaning any multi day trips. This is awful!! It's negligence and completely selfish IMO.

dglvrk2 · April 2014

BTW, where and when did you hear about this?

VOR · April 2014

dglvrk2 said:
BTW, where and when did you hear about this?

It's been on the national news.

groovygrl · April 2014

To the pp, it is all over the news bc the one yr old got sick and the navy had to come in and rescue them and fly her out. They're not saying what happened. The couple has a blog and I just glanced at it and did not get a great impression of them from the few parts I read...not surprising perhaps...there are a lot of supportive comments on it though...maybe friends and family just hoping for the best or maybe a community of ppl who think it was an ok decision?

jnnfrrose6 · April 2014

Who thinks it's a good idea to put a one year old (and three year old) on a small, contained craft that you CAN'T GET OUT OF? DS would be bouncing off the walls within a day.

BP607 · April 2014

I thought it was extremely selfish and not a great situation to be in for the kids. Like PP have said, who would want to confine kids to that small of an area for extended lengths of time. They are lucky something worse did not happen.

*sparky* · April 2014

First of all, being stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean with two small children would be complete hell to me - I can't imagine ever thinking that would be a fun thing to do.

But more importantly, as a parent that is incredibly irresponsible. There are just way too many things that can go wrong and putting small children at risk like that is just so selfish and foolish.

SunAndRain · April 2014

I think the parents must be insane. We all take risks to varying degrees with our children, but yet, for all the reasons PPs stated, I think these parents are selfish and narcissistic.

At the same time I'm sure people will question my decision to let DD jump horses (my hobby she she'll get to do the same if she wants) which is dangerous. Of course, it'll be her choice to participate but she'll start at an age that is too young to really make sounds decisions about safety so really, it is my decision to let her do it. Not to mention that my hobby takes me away from DD for a few more hours each week though I either take her with me and have a baby sitter at the barn or I try to schedule my barn time while she is sleeping. So some might accuse me of being selfish.

ASmallWonder · April 2014

Like @SunAndRain said, we all take some risks but those risks come with the understanding that, should something go very, very wrong, we are able to get medical help in a timely fashion. You can't live in a bubble but you can choose NOT to take your young children who are much more fragile, away from civilization in case of an emergency!

Monkeybutt80 · April 2014

This whole concept doesn't even register in my head. I have anxiety about going on a 4 hour drive with my 9 month old to visit the inlaws. 2 kids, sail around the world?!? I don't get it.

Meery82 · April 2014

theresat858 said:

I kind of know the mother of this family. Yes, she is a bit cray cray. She has an etsy shop where she expects people to pay 2x what competitors charge for basically exactly the same products because "Well I live in a HCOL area and have to make a living wage"...um...if that's true then you should find a real job, not make sh*t for Etsy, and not try to guilt every mom in a particular group into buying (for 2x the cost) from you rather than your competitors because "local is always better" and "omg, she stole my design."
(Her "design" was for suck pads for a baby carrier. It's a piece of fabric with some velcro or snaps. Anyone with sewing skills could probably figure out a pattern in less than an hour).

And now this....

I do feel really bad for her poor children, though. They don't have a choice in these things and now the little one is going through significant stress during what would already be a stressful time (being sick).

Maybe the boat sinking will make them reevaluate what is really important in life... but probably not...

Boat sinking??

Meery82 · April 2014

theresat858 said:

Meery82 I heard that due to the boat taking on water and having issues with the motors, they will most likely have to sink the boat - although that news is from two days ago so maybe they were able to figure out a way to repair the boat instead.

Yikes. Hopefully they fixed it. Those idiots.

laurakaz13 · April 2014

I'm a huge traveler and we have taken DD all over the country and to Europe already. But these people are idiots and I think they should have to pay for their rescue.

VOR · April 2014

theresat858 said:

Meery82 I heard that due to the boat taking on water and having issues with the motors, they will most likely have to sink the boat - although that news is from two days ago so maybe they were able to figure out a way to repair the boat instead.

"they" who? To be blunt, I hope the Navy didn't waste another moment on that boat other than to get the family off of it and help their child.

Meery82 · April 2014

VOR said:

theresat858 said:

Meery82 I heard that due to the boat taking on water and having issues with the motors, they will most likely have to sink the boat - although that news is from two days ago so maybe they were able to figure out a way to repair the boat instead.

"they" who? To be blunt, I hope the Navy didn't waste another moment on that boat other than to get the family off of it and help their child.

From what I read, the parents and other child stayed behind on the boat.

DiveFrog · April 2014

I have a good deal of sailing experience. I would take my young children on a boat. I would do it for multiple days at a time. The boat would be appropriately equipped and would not require both my husband AND myself to sail. I would not undertake any trip that took us more than a few hours from land until the children were MUCH older. Certainly NOT across an ocean.

groovygrl · April 2014

Of course they didn't just take the one yr old and leave both parents on the boat, come on now... I believe they did sink the boat. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/us/2-tots-a-sailboat-and-a-storm-over-parenting.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Blogs

SoMoNY · April 2014

I think the majority of folks think they are nuts.

Extra details about the trip here, in the comments section

https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/judge-the-rebel-heart-sailboat-parents-or-envy-them/

Huahine · April 2014

I spent 3.5 years sailing around the world with my husband before we had kids. We met plenty of families from all over the world who had small children on board. It is not an inherently reckless or irresponsible choice.

We live on land now. However, DS1 has spent the past two summers on board, cruising New England. There are many ways to be safe with children on a boat. DS2 will be onboard within weeks of birth. We plan to go offshore voyaging again when both of our children are older. We wouldn't go offshore with them at this age because it is just too hard - not because it is unsafe.

Just to clarify - the Navy sank the sailboat because it was a hazard to navigation. The parents and both children are on a ship headed back to San Diego.

citymama2012 · April 2014

Those parents should have to pay the cost to have the Naval ship come out to save them! It definitely should not be left to the taxpayers to foot the bill for the negligence of these idiots!

rubber_chicken · April 2014

Just to play devil's advocate, this isn't an uncommon thing. There are thousands of families out there right now, living permanently at sea: https://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/04/rebel_heart_sailboat_rescue_eric_and_charlotte_kaufman_are_part_of_my_community.2.html

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