Want to find out more about living and sailing on a boat with children before you commit to a change of lifestyle or find some tips and tricks you could use yourself if you already live aboard? Read on to find out how Kim manages it!
Kim (46) & Simon (54) live aboard their 2003 Oyster 56, ‘Britican’, with their daughter Sienna (10). They began living aboard ‘Britican’ in 2014 and have sailed extensively, covering tens of thousands of miles since then on both sides of the Atlantic (including across it!). Sienna was 3 1/2 years old when she moved aboard so Kim and Simon have lots of experience of living with their daughter onboard and tips to share with you.
Tell us a bit about yourself...
What are your names, where is home and when did you leave etc?
Since 2014 we’ve been living aboard our 56’ Oyster monohull named ‘Britican’. I’m Kim, my husband is Simon and our daughter is Sienna. Simon is British and I’m American so we put the two together and came up with “Britican”.
Before moving onto the boat, home for us was in Buckinghamshire, England. We purchased our boat in Mallorca, Spain and for the first couple of years we sailed around the Mediterranean. Thereafter, we crossed the Atlantic Ocean and have been sailing the Caribbean and United States for a while now. Eventually, we’re going to head west into the Pacific and perhaps one day we’ll make it around the world.
Why do you choose to live this lifestyle?
The sailing lifestyle ticks all the boxes for us. It’s adventure, freedom, travel and amazing social connections peppered throughout our ’normal’ day to day life of earning an income, homeschooling, keeping the boat running and living life.
We’re removed from day to day politics, negative media news and keeping up with the Jones’. We’re choosing our life’s course rather than have it dictated to us
What do your friends and family think about you living and travelling on a boat?
When we first started we had some friends that thought we were nuts and others gave us full support.
Over the years everyone has learned to accept and even appreciate our lifestyle.
I’m sure my brother and his family think we’re bonkers to be living on a small boat anchored in a big ocean yet I feel the same about him living in a huge house in a small suburb. In the end neither of us want the other’s life but we appreciate that our lifestyle suit us perfectly.
Did you spend any/much time aboard while you were pregnant?
How old was your daughter when she moved aboard?
No. For some reason I felt that the boating environment wouldn’t be safe for a baby.
During Sienna’s first year we traded our annual sailing vacation for a holiday apartment in Devon along the south coast of England. While Sienna was taking a nap, Simon and I looked out at the sailboats sailing by and decided we’d never do a land-based vacation again. In fact, we were so disappointed that we decided to buy our own boat. Within a couple months we had our first sailboat, a 35’ Moody. From the age of two years old our daughter started enjoying the sailing life.
After enjoying as much time on our Moody as we could, we eventually decided that we wanted to trade up and start sailing further afield. By the time Sienna was 3 1/2 we moved onto ‘Britican’, our Oyster 56′.
What modifications have you had to make to your boat to have your daughter onboard safely?
Britican is a very solid and safe boat with a center cockpit. We didn’t make any modifications for safety. If, however, Sienna wanted to leave the cockpit during a sail she’d have to have a life jacket on and be accompanied by an adult.
What pieces of equipment do you have onboard for your daughter that you consider to be vital?
A mask and snorkel. 🙂
Do you have any funny stories that involve your daughter you'd like to share?
When Sienna was three she often told Simon to, ‘Go faster! Go faster’ when on the dinghy. One time Simon went fast and the outboard jerked in a strange way (of which it has never happened again).
Needless to say, Sienna was launched out of the dinghy.
Simon immediately dove in, the engine cut due to the kill-cord pulling out, and grabbed Sienna quickly. She was wearing a lifejacket. For at least a year afterwards Sienna would say, ‘Go slowly. Go Slowly!’
How do you keep her occupied onboard?
Homeschooling takes up the first part of the day and for the rest she’s often playing with other kids on boats nearby. Even during Covid we had kid boats around so there’s never been a period of time longer than a week or two where she hasn’t had playdates.
When she’s not playing with friends we go swimming, hiking, provisioning, eat out at restaurants and sightseeing. On the boat she has quite a few dolls, a couple of large trays of legos and, of course, there’s the iPad too.
What does your daughter do while you're on passage?
If it’s a short passage, Sienna often sits with us in the cockpit and either chats, plays games on her iPad or listens to an audio book. When we’re on longer passages she’ll watch movies.
How does she cope when it gets rough?
In all our major storms she’s slept through them. We even got knocked down twice and went through 70 knot winds and she didn’t wake up! During one really bad passage from Bermuda to the US we had over 15 squalls and we just made it a game to name them like hurricanes. Simon and I always have a brave face and explain that we’re safe. It’s important for us that she believes the boat and the world in general is a safe place. So far, I think we’ve done a good job 😉
What are you doing to make sure your daughter is able to socialise with others?
In the past, whenever we got to a new anchorage, Simon and Sienna would take the dinghy and drive around to find other kid boats. Sienna would invite whoever she found back to our boat whether it was a boy or girl or a child several years younger or older than her. In a few cases we had children on board that didn’t speak any English. It never got in the way of playing.
Nowadays, however, we know so many kid boats that we usually have several with us when we travel. And even when we don’t travel with buddy boats, we seem to find the kid boats quickly. With the Facebook forum Kids4Sail and websites like NoForeignLand.com it’s easy to see who’s around.
Have you had any surprises along the way?
Several! To begin, I had no idea that homeschooling was going to be so difficult. It’s gotten slightly easier now that Sienna’s older but we’ve had serious challenges. Socially she’s rather mature but emotionally she took a while. She had real issues dealing with anger and frustrations. Sienna also is Dyslexic so that took a while to figure out. Without her being able to read it’s been quite a hard path. Both my husband and I take turns sitting with her all morning reading most of the material. This past year Sienna has finally started to read and we’re all seeing massive improvements so I’m thankful that we’ve persevered.
Another major surprise was that I wasn’t expecting my social life to take off as much as it has. I’ve never had more friends and deep connections with people ever. I certainly feel like I’m with my people. I feel very loved and appreciated. The sailing community is so kind, helpful and genuine. If all of humanity was like the sailing community the world would be an amazing place.
What's the best thing about living onboard with your daughter?
I’ve been able to spend my life with our daughter – we’ve watched her grow, have made millions of memories and have had the honor to be able to really get to know her.
When Sienna was born I was working in London most days. The commute was long and I would see her asleep in the morning and then put her to bed at night. I knew very quickly that that situation wasn’t going to work. Little did I know that I’d be able to monumentally change things.
What's the worst thing about living onboard with your daughter?
Watching her grow up too fast. I know that one day she won’t be onboard and that already freaks me out.
What tips and tricks have you picked up along the way to make your life easier?
Creating a routine is very important. When we’re at anchor we have a set schedule that keeps us all sane. We wake, have breakfast, start homeschooling, clean the boat and then we have the afternoon for playing.
Sienna is older now so she’s taking up more responsibleness so that has made life quite a bit easier – having her help with dishes, vacuuming, hanging the laundry, cooking, throwing lines and even doing some passage planning are some of the things she’s picked up.
We have guests with children from time to time and I’m often amazed that they don’t know how to make themselves a sandwich or don’t pick up after themselves. With boat life a family really has to work as a team – everyone needs to muck in – and I think it provides an increased opportunity for children to become more responsible.
What does the future hold for you?
Currently we are doing lifestyle charters for couples and families that want to see what the sailing lifestyle is like. It took us several months to prepare but in 2018 we got our boat ‘coded’ so that we could take paying guests.
Every month we have around two couples or families come out sailing with us for a week and we not only show them how to sail but we explain the lifestyle – warts and all. It’s a way for people to try-before-they-buy.
So far we’ve had an excellent time with our guests – they’ve all been wonderful people.
Simon, Sienna and I feel privileged to be able to spend time with so many amazing people and to get paid for it too! It truly has become a dream come true.
We’re going to do our charters in the Caribbean for another year or two and then see if we can head into the Pacific. With Covid our lives have been somewhat on hold but we’re starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!
No matter what, the future is exciting!
What advice would you share with a sailing mumma-to-be?
Find a network of other boat kids and make sure you join them as soon as possible.
For example, Georgetown in The Bahamas during the winter or the southern bays in Grenada during hurricane season are two great spots to go. Within a couple weeks you’ll meet loads of kid boats, form connections and create a solid community base. From that base you can decided who you want to cruise with.
The hope is that you find other Mumma’s to be or mum’s with young babies and can share responsibilities – it’s important to get a date night every once in a while!
Find out more...
I hope you enjoyed reading this interview and finding out more about living on a boat with children.
If you’d like to find out more about Kim and follow her on her journey, you can visit her website here and follow her on social media.
