Expert Advice

If you read this blog you'll know that Alisa and I are completely sold on the experience of raising our boys on a traveling sailboat.  Selling our house and quiting our jobs and sailing away from Kodiak when Elias was ten months old was a huge jump for us to make.  But we remain very glad that jump we did.

But - caveat emptor - it's a big jump, leaving behind the land life that you know and going down to the sea with your young ones in tow.

When Alisa and I were getting ready to leave, we of course had never met anyone who had sailed long distances with a kid in diapers.  And there was no comprehensive guide available for what we were planning to do. We could only find one quite limited book on the subject.  We each read it cover to cover more than once, willing the answers to all our questions to somehow appear from between the lines.

Into this breach come Behan Gifford, Sara Johnson and Michael Robertson, who have written a new book, Voyaging with Kids.

I "know" all three authors in an online sort of way, so I got an early look at the book.

And it's a fantastic resource.  Each of the three authors has sailed thousands of miles with kids of various ages, and they've tapped a wide group of other sailing parents to offer extra insights.

Voyaging with Kids is the book that Alisa and I wished had existed when we were getting ready to leave.  If you're thinking about going sailing with your kids, this book will answer your questions.  It will show you how you're not even asking the right questions.  It will show you how other sailing families have dealt with the rigors of the life afloat and made the family cruise a delight.

The book is available from L&L Pardey Books at a 30% discount prior to the official launch date. After October 1 it will be available at Amazon and other retailers.