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Private YACHT

NOT FOR CHARTER*

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SEAKID II yacht NOT for charter*

56m  /  183'9 | benetti | 2013.

Owner & Guests

Cabin Configuration

• Previous Yacht

Special Features:

• Glass-ended spa pool on the sundeck
• A two-way outdoor cinema screen
• Two large master suites
• Massage room with panoramic views
• Highly voluminous interiors

The award winning 56m/183'9" motor yacht 'Seakid II' (ex. Lady Candy) was built by Benetti in Italy at their Livorno shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house Central Yacht and she was delivered to her owner in September 2013. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Central Yacht.

Guest Accommodation

Seakid II has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 12 guests in 6 suites comprising one VIP cabin. She is also capable of carrying up to 13 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Onboard Comfort & Entertainment

Her features include a dancefloor, movie theatre, spa, satellite communications, beach club, gym, deck jacuzzi, WiFi and air conditioning.

Range & Performance

Seakid II is built with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by twin diesel MTU (12V 4000 M53) 12-cylinder 1,770hp engines running at 1800rpm, she comfortably cruises at 12 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 17 knots with a range of up to 5,000 nautical miles from her 130,000 litre fuel tanks at 12 knots. An advanced stabilisation system on board promises exceptional comfort levels at anchor or on any voyage. Her water tanks store around 18,000 Litres of fresh water. She was built to Lloyds Register classification society rules, and is MCA LY2 Compliant.

PRIVATE YACHT - "Seakid II" IS NOT FOR CHARTER

Sorry, motor yacht "Seakid II" is a strictly Private yacht and is NOT available for Charter. Click here to view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting another luxury charter yacht.

"Yacht Charter Fleet" is a free information service, if your vessel changes its status, and does become available for charter, please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

Seakid II Photos

Seakid II Awards & Nominations

• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2014 Interior Design Award: Displacement Motor Yachts 100′-199′ Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2014 Exterior Design & Styling Award: Displacement Motor Yachts 100′-199′ Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2014 Holistic Design Award Finalist
• The World Superyacht Awards 2014 Best Displacement Motor Yacht of 500GT to 1,299GT (approximately 50m – 59m) Finalist
• Asia Boating Award 2014 Best Worldwide Custom Built Yacht Winner

NOTE to U.S. Customs & Border Protection

NOTE TO U.S. CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION

Due to the international and fluid nature of the yachting business and the fact there is no global central industry listing service to which all charter yachts subscribe it is impossible to ascertain a truly up-to-date view of the market. We are a news and information service and not always informed when yachts leave the charter market, or when they are recently sold and renamed it is not clear if they are still for charter. Whilst we use our best endeavors to maintain accurate information, the existence of a listing on this website should in no way supersede official documentation supplied by representatives of a yacht.

Specification

M/Y Seakid II

SIMILAR LUXURY YACHTS FOR CHARTER

Here are a selection of superyachts which are similar to Seakid II yacht which are believed to be available for charter. To view all similar luxury charter yachts click on the button below.

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Sea Kid ex Tatiana per sempre

Planning • 2007

44,00 x 8,30

Main dimensions (W x B - meters)

Motor Apparatus Power (kW)

MTU 16V 4000 M90

Model MM.PP.

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Sea Kid - BAGLIETTO

Specifications

• All Specifications
• Detailed Information

Basic Information

Builder: BAGLIETTO Category: Motor Yacht Sub Category: Semi-Displacement Model Year: 2007 Year Built: 2007 Refit Year: 2016 Country: Greece Fly Bridge: Yes

LOA: 144' 5" (44.00m) LWL: 124' 5" (37.90m) Beam: 27' 3" (8.30m) Min Draft: 10' 6" (3.20m) Max Draft: 11' 2" (3.40m)

Speed, Capacities and Weight

Cruise Speed: 27 Kts. (31 MPH) Max Speed: 31 Kts. (36 MPH) Gross Tonnage: 381 Pounds Water Capacity: 1268 Gallons Fuel Capacity: 10567 Gallons

Accommodations

Total Berths: 12 Sleeps: 12 Total Heads: 6 Captain Cabin: True Crew Berths: 7 Crew Sleeps: 7 Crew Heads: 4

Hull and Deck Information

Hull Material: Aluminum Deck Material: Teak Hull Configuration: Deep Vee Hull Color: Ice Blue Hull Finish: Aluminum Hull Designer: Baglietto S.P.A. Exterior Designer: Francesco Paszkowski Interior Designer: Francesco Paszkowski

Engine Information

Engines: 2 Manufacturer: MTU Model: 16V 4000 M90 Engine Type: Inboard Fuel Type: Diesel

Electrical Equipment

2 x Onan 80kW 50 Hz 3 Ph. Hours on 15 August 2021 Port 14,114 - Stb. 14,058

Bowthruster - American Bowthruster

Stern thruster - Hydrosystem

Sewage treatment - Hamman 750 Litres / Hour

Watermakers - Idromar 4,300 liters per day

Stabilizers - Zero Speed by American Bowthruster

Refit Information

Highlights of the interior works

• All new interior furniture to complement the design aesthetic
• New mattresses & linens throughout
• New window treatments throughout
• Bespoke &tasteful dressing of the yacht
• Improved crew laundry area, annual maintenance of washer, dryer, etc.

Highlights of the exterior design works

• Total painting and sandblasting, under supervision by International paints, including full manufacturer’s warranty. (Dupont paints) (2016)
• Yearly refresh of paint job. (Last being 2021)

Highlights of the mechanical works

• Sea chests cleaned & strainers changed
• All galley equipment serviced
• New boiler installed for double the hot water production capacity
• All tanks cleaned & coating repaired as necessary
• Stabilizers repaired & fully serviced
• Water maker serviced
• Engine room bilges cleaned degreased
• Overflow system for service fuel tank improved
• Maintenance for all main pumps
• Maintenance QL4 on main engines
• Maintenance of piston heads
• Maintenance of PTO and bow-stern thruster
• Maintenance on stabilizers and hydraulic unit
• Shaft maintenance and mechanical seals replacement
• Replacement of air conditioning unit with new inverter type
• Maintenance hamann system treatment
• Replacement of black vacuum water pumps
• Maintenance of hydraulic units for major hydraulic systems
• Tender’s inflatable engine general maintenance
• Maintenance of main machinery connected rods
• New control unit for manual control (MTU)
• VSAT & Satellite TV system replaced (2021)
• Complete upgrade to on board Wi-Fi network (2021)
• AV system updated (2021)
• Alarm & monitoring system updated & programming adjusted
• Navigation equipment replaced 2019

Safety / Operations

• Safety equipment updated & surveyed to Class & Flag’s satisfaction
• New charts & all logbooks updated
• Planned maintenance system implemented
• Draught marks & plimsoll remarking reinstated as per Class & Flag requirements
• Full, updated set of drawings produced, both dwg & pdf, incorporating the new GA, dimension changes, name changes & corresponding updated safety plan

Exterior / Technical Areas

• Underwater areas blasted to bear metal, under supervision by International Paints, including full manufacturer’s warranty (2016)
• Hatch door (stern) replaced (2016)
• Accommodation ladder maintenance (2021)
• Maintenance of passerela (2021)
• 90% Teak deck floor replaced (2016)

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To learn more on the “Search results” or to get advice on how to buy or sell a yacht or get a great price for a yacht charter, please call: +1-954-274-4435 (USA)

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• YACHTS FOR CHARTER
• DESTINATIONS

SEAKID, YACHT FOR CHARTER

INQUIRE ABOUT SEAKID

‘Seakid’ is a 144.36ft  /44m  Baglietto 44m motor yacht built in 2007 by Baglietto. Francesco Paszkowski has designer her interior and exterior, and she was previously named Tatiana Per Sempre.

Seakid’s interior layout sleeps up to 12 guests in 5 rooms, including a master suite, 1 double cabin and 3 twin cabins. She is also capable of carrying up to 7 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience. Timeless styling, beautiful furnishings and sumptuous seating feature throughout to create an elegant and comfortable atmosphere.

You’ll find many leisure and entertainment facilities onboard, making her ideal for entertaining friends and family on your charter vacation. There’s lots of space for enjoying an alfresco lunch or dinner on deck, or simply lounging in the sunshine and working on your tan.

She has a cruising speed of 23 knots, a maximum speed of 30 knots and a range of 1,000nm from 40,000litre fuel tanks. Her combination of performance and style is particularly notable and it’s not hard to see why she’s so popular.

This impressive yacht comes complete with a modern stabilization system to reduce roll motion even during rough seas, and the yacht also has ‘at anchor stabilizers’ to keep things smooth even at anchor/zero speed.

Wi-Fi connection is available throughout, so you’ll be able to stay connected while you’re away, great for business, checking emails or sharing your experience on social media.

Air conditioning keeps conditions comfortable throughout the cabins, even on the hottest of days or nights.

Fun is easy to find thanks to toys including 1 x 3 seat Sea-Doo GTX Limited Waverunner, Water-Skis, Towable Toys, Banana, Wake Board, Fishing Equipment, and Snorkelling Equipment, sure to keep guests entertained as you sail in style across crystal waters.

Seakid FEATURES & PRICING

• AIR CONDITIONING • FISHING • SNORKELING • STABILIZERS • TOWABLE TOYS • WAKEBOARD • WATER SKI • WAVERIDER • WI FI

1 x 16.40ft /5m Castoldi Jet Tender with 1 x 125 HP Inboard engine 1 x 12.63ft /3.85m Wiliams Jet Tender with 1 x 104 HP Inboard engine

1 x 3 seat Sea-Doo GTX Limited Waverunner Water-Skis Towable Toys Banana Wake Board Fishing Equipment Snorkelling Equipment

CHARTER SEAKID

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Sea Kid power boat

39’ / 12 m | Fjord | 2007 / 2020

Sea Kid is a 39 feet speedboat built in 2007 that is perfect for island hopping, allowing you to jump from one location to another fast. With a capacity of 8 people, this speed boat carries exciting water sports on board including snorkeling gear, water ski, and wakeboard equipment. 

For those interested in slower explorations, there are kayaks and paddle boards guests can use with great pleasure. Additionally, fishing enthusiasts can also take delight in the fishing possibilities. So put your sunglasses on, hop on board, and feel the wind on your hair as you embark on this speedboat for the perfect island hopping adventure in Mediterranean.

If you are interested in snorkeling as many pristine sites as possible in a day, Sea Kid is a great pick. Being a power boat, it will transport you to many miles over water within a blink of an eye. It is the ideal choice for a small group of friends, or families with children who don’t want to spend more on their holiday, yet want to experience the high life of a boat charter.  

Enjoy the amenities on board, where you can relax as you make your way to one island or bay to another, and prepare yourself for exciting activities that are waiting for you to enjoy. With speed and power at the helm, guests can visit more locations, such as hidden coves and stunning bays that only a select few get to experience.  

Powerboat Sea Kid offers an action-packed adventure that others only dream about. With a spacious deck and dedicated small crew of 1 that cater to your needs and qualms, your speedboat charter in Mediterranean is simply the best way to spend an extra day or a few hours traversing the coast or nearby waters.

Destinations

Powerboat Sea Kid is available for boat tours around Corfu promising a pack of day attractions that Greece is known for. Your day trip can include everything from water sports to snorkeling and occasional diving, as well as visiting breathtaking sights on neighboring islands and scenic coasts. Though a day trip limits you to a few hours out on the water, Sea Kid creates the perfect opportunity to give you a glimpse of what these locations have in store.

Chartering a Sea Kid comes with a fixed day trip itinerary. During your speed boat tour, the lunch is usually served on the beach or in a cozy restaurant at one of the stops. Its dedicated crew of 1 will be looking after you at all times both on land or in water.

Sea Kid is a speedboat that offers smooth sailing over the waters of Mediterranean . With an intimate crew, stunning features, and capacity to visit more locations in a full-day charter, guests can immerse themselves in the beauty of the coasts, the nearby islands, or simply revel in this speedboat charter experience.

Charter Sea Kid in Greece

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Cruising mega-yacht SEA KID raised pilothouse planing hull not specified

Characteristics

47.6 m (156'02" )

9.5 m (31'02" )

2.5 m (8'02" )

497 t (547.8 us ton)

Description

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Family sailing: The secrets of cruising with kids

• Theo Stocker
• April 30, 2021

Theo Stocker speaks to a variety of cruising sailors in order to get their best tips on what to do and what to avoid when going family sailing

As sailors, you’re likely to share your passion with your nearest and dearest. Family sailing offers the promise of quality time with your family, adventures and memories for the children and passing on your love of the sea, whether they are your own children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren or those of friends.

Family sailing isn’t without its challenges, however. How do you keep your crew happy , warm, fed, entertained and occupied within the confines of a small boat? And how does life aboard change as children grow from babies and toddlers to teenagers?

More importantly, how do you ensure that going sailing is a positive experience for everyone involved, and that they are going to want to come back next time?

Unlike navigation or boat handling , there are no courses or text books for family sailing. The particular challenges will be different for everyone, depending on the children’s age, temperament, and how many of them there are, the size of your boat, your level of experience, where you sail and the kind of sailing you’re planning.

The Kavanaghs are a family of four: Bruce, Abi, Skye (7) and Savannah (5), with a Warrior 40 based in Gosport. Photo: Abi Kavanagh

We’ve canvassed a diverse group of skippers who sail with an array of family arrangements, including as grandparents, parents and teenagers, from liveaboard cruisers to open-boat adventurers, and those raised with salt in their blood to sailing novices. Their wisdom has been gained through years of family sailing and discovering by experience what works and what doesn’t.

It’s easy to put a child off sailing with an initial negative experience, but a positive one can be the start of a life-long passion for the sea. Clearly, the sailors in this article have found how to make family sailing a success, and hopefully their advice and experiences will help you do the same.

Starting slow

The most formative time for your children will be the first few times you sail with them, says Olly Perkins. ‘Children and teenagers are quick to decide if they like something or not and it would be very easy to put your kids off sailing for life if you are not careful. Most importantly, don’t be too ambitious.

Even one eight-hour passage in a lumpy sea could give children the impression that sailing is always unpleasant.

‘Start off with small trips, building up excitement towards big adventures. It took us years before we first ventured out of the cosy confines of Chichester Harbour , once we did we were so thrilled to be able to leave harbour.’

Abi Kavanagh agrees that, initially at least, plans should be modest. ‘We have found that for any given trip we do less sailing than we did pre-kids and never push as hard, but as they get older this is changing. We’ve done a few very early morning departures with the kids still asleep and late evening sails after they have gone to bed which have worked well.’

You don’t even have to leave harbour if you don’t want to. ‘Sometimes not going anywhere is as much of an adventure with young children,’ says Hamish Southby Tailyour. ‘On a mooring just use the boat as a base for the weekend with a barbecue or pub supper ashore. At anchor stay there an extra day, relax and see who turns up in the evening.’

Having all the mod cons isn’t necessary either. Conrad Humphreys and daughters enjoy river cruises in an open boat. ‘We’ve been mainly cruising around Devon and Cornwall, exploring the rivers closer to home,’ he says. ‘We love the Yealm and the upper reaches of the Tamar and Lynher Rivers are just fantastic for a small, shallow draft boat like Bounty’s End . This year we plan to explore the River Fal and venture down to the Scilly Isles , which should be a reasonable passage in an open boat.

‘Our biggest challenge when away for longer trips is keeping Bounty’s End ’s batteries charged, as she is fully electric with only a small capacity to charge when under sail. We either carry a small generator or make sure we can spend the night in a marina for an overnight charge if necessary.’

Attractions ashore

Think about where children would choose to go. ‘In the early years, we favoured beach anchorages, and that now holds true with our small granddaughters,’ says Ken Endean – and beaches were the most popular by consensus.

Exploring creeks and camping overnight by a fire is the ultimate adventure for kids and adults alike. Photo: Hamish Southby Tailyour

Priorities change as children get older, however. ‘Teenagers are more alert to foreign cultures and places that are off the normal tourist track, while unfamiliar wildlife, such as dolphins, is always a bonus,’ says Ken. ‘Our actual passage planning was not greatly affected by having youngsters on board: a cruise should be safe and comfortable, whatever the ages of the crew.’

Planning small adventures works well, says Perkins. ‘We loved visiting beaches, fishing and going on “expeditions” – in other words, walks we hadn’t done before.’

Meet others

Family sailing is also about the people you’ll meet, says Hamish Southby Tailyour. ‘Plan to meet with friends either afloat or on the beach on your cruise. Row over, with your children, to any boat with other children onboard sharing the anchorage or marina. Join Kids4Sail , a subset of www.noforeignland.com. This totally changed our cruising and connecting with other boats with children in the Med.’

Erin Carey agrees. ‘When cruising with children, the destinations you choose to visit will often revolve around where the other boats with kids are. This gives them the chance to make playmates and allows parents to have a break. It’s truly amazing how quickly families on boats can become friends, with the common interest of keeping the kids sociable, well-rounded creatures.’

Don’t fight the weather

‘I am much more mindful about the weather, picking and choosing the days when I know sailing will be enjoyable for us both,’ says Graham Snook. ‘This is probably one of the most important things I’ve learnt.

‘Being divorced, the dates I have Ella are set in advance so if the weather doesn’t look good, we don’t go sailing and use the boat as a base instead. Last year the two weeks over the holiday were beset by strong winds; we still went to the boat but did different things around Gosport instead.’

Family sailing planning

One piece of family sailing advice from Hamish is to get everyone involved with the planning. ‘Google maps, electronic charts – get your digital natives helping. Ask them and give no more than two choices, both that are acceptable to you.

Our eldest was eight and the twins six when we took the plunge and purchased our first boat, says Frank Thorogood. Photo: Frank Thorogood

‘You may need lots of expectation management. Pubs, ice-cream, the draw of good free Wi-Fi connections, and time on the beach are obvious incentives, but funfairs, skate parks and a land visit to the local lighthouse have all proved to be tempting destinations.’

Family sailing safely

Safety is essential, but sailing shouldn’t be a list of dos and don’ts, says Olly Perkins. ‘Have only a few rules, but emphasise their importance.’

‘Rules were an integral part of our liveaboard lifestyle,’ says Erin Carey. ‘When you are above deck underway, you are tethered with a self-inflating lifejacket, no matter what. When we were anchored, they were not allowed on deck without a buddy, and never before we were out of bed.’

Everyone agreed that either lifejackets or harnesses are necessary underway when family sailing, and when the boat is stopped and children are on deck or on the pontoon, that a flotation device is absolutely essential.

‘Ella initially wore a kids lifejacket ,’ says Graham Snook, ‘but it was bulky and uncomfortable. Below decks, she’d take it off, but then change her mind and want to come back up on deck. It was much easier for her to wear a harness that was comfortable enough to wear all day.’

A few basic rules:

• Lifejackets or harnesses to be worn whenever underway, and lifejackets to be donned on the pontoon.
• Keep hands clear of winches.
• One hand for the boat and one for yourself.
• When sleeping at night the children have to tell us if they’re going up on deck alone.
• Take care getting in and out of the dinghy
• Bottoms-first going down into the cabin.

Skills to learn

‘I’ve taken time to show Ella how to use the VHF radio,’ says Graham Snook. ‘I test her on how she’d react if anything happened.’

Even younger children can be taught basic safety roles, like using the VHF or pointing to a MOB. Photo: Abi Kavanagh

Practising drills is important, particularly when family sailing says Abi. ‘We practise man-overboard drills, where everyone has a role. Our youngest focuses on pointing at the casualty. Our eldest presses the DSC button and places the Mayday call on the radio. Early in the season we try to get them to practise floating in their lifejackets, so that they understand how it works. Doing this in a swimming pool is fun.’

Going to the toilet underway can be an issue, says Hamish. ‘Make going in a bucket in the cockpit whilst at sea normal. It’s easier and safer and you can help them easily without going below yourself. Children can also become dehydrated quickly, which makes them more clumsy, grumpy and can make them more susceptible to seasickness, so keep them hydrated.’

‘Kids have an amazing ability to have fun,’ says Frank Thorogood, ‘and our three were no exception in finding out what parts of our days on the water they enjoyed.’

‘All of life is on board a cruising boat, from practical and cerebral skills, nautical and domestic, food preparation and cleaning, but also the psychological – seeing their parents solve real immediate problems in a calm logical way is a wonderful legacy to pass on,’ says Hamish Southby Tailyour.

Some jobs are more fun than others! Photo: Hamish Southby Tailyour

‘There are a multitude of mathematical opportunities to learn. There is the fun of knot-tying and rope-throwing competitions, but give them names that describe how they are used: not a clove hitch, a fender knot; not a rolling hitch but a lee cloth knot; and not how far can you throw a rope, but can you lasso a cleat, or even your brother?

If it’s dark and you notice the phosphorescence, stop putting the children to bed and jump in for a swim. The lasting memories are worth the effort of a midnight swim in the phosphorescence with your children.

Help them keep a daily journal with drawings and scraps stuck in, or a video log. Set up your own traditions. We have pancakes every Sunday, and this doesn’t change when we’re on the boat.’

Inside Games

Julia Jones says a boat is ‘a great space for family reading aloud.’ Frank Thorogood agrees that plenty of books are essential, as well as audiobooks. ‘Our son Kemmel is dyslexic, and on the voyage down to Cornwall audiobooks of the Harry Potter series were brilliant for him.’

Games are essential for family life on board. ‘There’s usually some game that everyone gets obsessed by,’ says Julia.

‘Liar Dice was very popular when I was little, or gambling with matchsticks,’ says Julia. ‘Gameboys suited the millennial children.

Sailing is great for life skills, like getting involved in cooking. Photo Hamish Southby Tailyour

I’ve come to dread iPhones as we are not strong on battery power, so long-lasting battery packs are very useful.’

‘Down below we keep a stock of sticker books, colouring books, modelling clay, paints and books to read,’ adds Abi Kavanagh. ‘There are also some good stop-motion apps that you can download and we have made some stop-motion animations with the things they have created.’

‘Musical instruments are a must so they can join in with others who you’ll meet along the way,’ adds Hamish Southby Tailyour.

Outside Games

There’s plenty to occupy children on deck without getting off the boat. Julia says, ‘My brothers and I used to spend hours climbing around without touching the cabin floor or the side decks or whatever the challenge was. I often welcome visiting children and find that being encouraged to climb in and out of the forehatch never fails to provide amusement.’

‘When getting off the boat isn’t an option, we sometimes put a paddling pool on the foredeck and give them a variety of containers to play with,’ says Abi Kavanagh.

Hamish adds, ‘The Star Atlas by H E Ray and red head torches is a wonderful and easy way to learn the constellations. Mast-swinging and jumping from the boom are our best activities. Set up the fender board or passerelle and make them walk the plank. Hammocks are a must.’

At anchor swimming, playing in the dinghy and fishing can keep children occupied for hours. Photo: Olly Perkins

‘We have a fishing rod and some hand lines,’ says Conrad Humphreys. ‘We also tow an inflatable paddleboard which the kids spend many an hour jumping off or exploring the mud flats.’

As for equipment for playing, Hamish recommends, ‘Sand castle-making equipment and snorkeling gear, tractor inner tube and an SUP board, wetsuits and rash vests, and things for a barbecue. Or use rope, fenders, oars, boathooks, deck brushes and the passerelle to make a raft.’

If the children are getting cooped up, however, ‘always make sure the kids can let off some steam on dry land,’ says Olly Perkins, ‘and remember sandy beaches are always a winner!’

Exploration and independence

‘Children probably learn more seamanship when commanding a dinghy than while steering their parents’ big yacht,’ says Ken Endean. ‘When the girls were nine and six, we built a small folding boat, Sugarlump, in which they played Swallows and Amazons when at anchor. Sugarlump has been refurbed and is about to be given to our granddaughters.’

Young people thrive on being challenged, says Hamish Southby Tailyour. ‘Give them slightly over-age responsibility. Send them off rowing on a long floating line.

Let them steer with the outboard and lean to start and stop it, practise coming alongside and how to balance the dingy. Heather has been steering with the outboard since she was seven, and by 11 was confident and competent enough to take the dinghy ashore alone under outboard to collect some friends.’

Living Aboard

When it comes to sleeping arrangements, a dedicated bunk is not always an option,’ says Erin Carey. ‘Our kids actually loved being in the one cabin together. Sturdy lee cloths are a must, and we kept ours up even when anchored. It’s also important for them to put up their drawings and posters, to have somewhere to keep their little trinkets and shells they have collected, to make it feel like home.’

Having some personal space in a bunk is important and should be respected. Photo: Hamish Southby Tailyour

Hamish Southby Tailyour agrees. ‘A personalised space, however small, is vital especially as children get older; somewhere that is theirs and respected as such. Allow them to put pictures around their bunk.

‘We installed shelves and installed individual phone-charging points at their bunks and a designated hook for a head torch just helped with the children’s chaos of a cabin.

‘They will spend much time in their bunks and that is okay, and the more it is their space the better. For parents, forfeiting the forepeak is worth doing, if only so you can have some adult time after they have gone to bed.’

Separate cabins aren’t always an option, however. ‘Peter Duck is very open plan so we just have to cram in and use the floor if necessary,’ says Julia Jones. ‘She was designed for two but luckily they were large!

‘This means that side berths are quite wide so it’s possible to squeeze adult and child together on one if necessary. Loved-up teenagers have also used this facility. There’s also a quarter berth, which is great once you’re in, and a fo’c’s’le berth by the heads. By modern standards there’s no privacy and not much comfort, but I love it.’

Safety is imperative but try not to overwhelm children with a daunting list of rules. Lifejacket etiquette is a must however. Photo: Julia Jones

Children will enjoy making do in small boats, Ken Endean says. ‘Small children seem to regard a yacht’s cabin as a kind of playhouse and very small ones will happily make a nest in a quarter berth. When at anchor, our girls occupied the fore-cabin and usually slept undisturbed.

‘On rough passages, the most secure place for children below deck is a proper sea berth, with raised side panels or lee cloths.’

Babies on board

‘For babies, a box-type carrycot is ideal for both transport and sleeping,’ recommends Ken. ‘It can be lifted like a briefcase and lowered on to someone’s knees in a tender, all without disturbing the occupant. And on a hard beat to windward, Mary found breast- feeding kept little ones quiet without having to juggle bottles and other equipment.’

As they grow, a portable travel cot can come in handy. ‘When they were little they slept with us or in a Phil & Teds Pack’n’Play,’ says Abi Kavanagh, ‘which had the advantage that it packs up really small and has a zip on one of the side panels so that you don’t have to lift the baby out of the top, particularly useful in low spaces.

Reuben, 4 months, sleeping soundly in the sling, onboard. Photo: Theo Stocker

‘I know a lot of people use slings or carriers for babies,’ she added. ‘We always worried about what would happen if the adult wearing the baby went overboard, but I can definitely see the advantage of being hands-free.’

When excitement is high, getting children to sleep isn’t always easy. ‘We do our best to stick to bedtimes; no one wants a cranky five-year-old on a sail the next day,’ says Abi Kavanagh. ‘We try not to have two big sailing days concurrently, though obviously this isn’t always possible.’

‘Our children are old enough now that bedtimes don’t vary much whether at home or on the boat,’ says Frank, while Julia Jones likes the variety. ‘Days on the water are outside normal routine. They have routines but these are determined by the weather and the tide and what you’re trying to do.’

Hamish Southby Tailyour says the only routine they have to stick to is brushing their teeth, although ‘having stories read to them whilst tucked deep in their bunks’ was a firm favourite.

Charging up

‘One important thing to consider when cruising with kids is power consumption,’ says Erin Carey. ‘The amount of amps drawn by charging laptops, iPad, Kindles, EarPods, and portable speakers can be mind boggling.

Audiobooks and games are a must for down-time but make sure you have sufficient charging capacity. Photo: Frank Thorogood

‘The endless array of cords and chargers is equally as frustrating. Having a dedicated charging area somewhere central in the boat is one way to deal with this. Another solution is to use portable batteries for the devices. These can be charged up during the day when the solar is at its best, ready for the night time.’

When it comes to mealtimes, sharing the work is all part of life aboard, says Hamish Southby Tailyour. ‘Simple tasks we always ask our children to help with include laying the table, serving up the portions, dish- washing and drying up, putting away and the daily cleaning of the decks, heads, and cooker. More importantly Heather now mixes an excellent gin and tonic and pours a good beer.’

For smaller children, ‘plastic trough bibs help to keep food under control but the children must be well-wedged if they are inclined to eat with both hands,’ says Ken Endean. ‘On a couple of very lumpy Force 6-7 passages, both our girls ate lunch while sitting on the saloon floor.’

When you’re in a foreign country, going to buy food is a great way to explore, says Erin Carey. ‘Trips ashore to the market are a great way to interact with the locals and to get fresh produce. Having the kids handle the money, find the right vegetables, weigh them and barter with the shop owners really builds their confidence.’

Conrad Humpreys prefers a more relaxed approach when he is going family sailing. ‘I’m not one for fussing too much about victualling the boat with endless supplies of food, preferring to either forage, fish, or find a local pub, but if we are away with the kids, then Vikki always manages to sneak onboard some flapjack or chocolate brownies to keep the wolves at bay. There is always some emergency freeze-dried food if we do get caught out.’

‘Food on a boat doesn’t have to be worse than food at home.’ says Olly Perkins. ‘Have special food which the kids particularly like – pizzas are a good shout. But our favourite was the “yummy cupboard”. This was filled with snacks that we’d rarely see at home.’

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Maybe the Best Home School Is … on a Boat?

Thanks to their adventuresome parents, some screen-addled children are getting a reprieve — and an education — at sea.

By Mariya Manzhos

Two years ago, Alison and Luke Williams bought a 44-foot monohull Moody Blue with the dream of sailing around the world with their three children. But many commitments tethered them to shore: two full-time jobs, piles of debt and their children’s school in New South Wales, Australia.

Then the pandemic hit. Mr. Williams, 43, lost his job at the landscaping company, school went online, and life became restricted to the home. “If not now, when?” they thought.

They sold their home, most of their belongings and moved their crew of three kids ages 7, 12 and 13, two Labradoodles and a cat onto their new floating home. “Covid has given us a push forward rather than holding us back,” said Ms. Williams, 39, who left her job as a kindergarten teacher. They are reclaiming something they’ve lacked for years. “We finally have time as a family.”

For many families, the coronavirus upended the delicate balance of work, home-schooling and child care. But for a growing number, the pandemic has catalyzed a leap that may have seemed irresponsible: one onto, if not into, the sea. “We have never been busier,” said Behan Gifford, a coach for families seeking to set sail and the founder of Sailing Totem . “Our rate of inquiries and new clients are a multiple of pre-Covid. People want to get away.”

“The families are home-schooling and working remotely anyway,” Ms. Gifford said. “Why not take the cash from a home or savings and turn it into an unforgettable family adventure?” Families with children aboard are referred to as “kid boats” in the sailing community. Ms. Gifford estimates there are over a thousand of them at sea.

In 13 years of cruising (another term for recreational sailing), Ms. Gifford, along with her husband and three children, circumnavigated the world, visited 48 countries and territories, swam through the wrecks of a Japanese fighter plane in the Western Pacific, and searched for Napoleon’s ghost on St. Helena island.

This unconventional upbringing benefited her oldest son, who’s now a junior at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. “Our kids are articulate and interesting and very different,” said Ms. Gifford, who is currently anchored in the Sea of Cortez with her family. “Being different is good, it means that you stand out.”

As online school launches, to use the term in its modern landlocked sense, many children are confined to the four corners of their computer screen. But for boat kids, their classroom is as wide as the world.

Nathalie and Michael Neve, along with their own three children, are anchored in front of a deserted beach, surrounded by turquoise water, in sight of the tropical hills of Moorea in French Polynesia. When they catch a fish, Mr. Neve and Noah, 12, cut it open to study its digestive system before filleting it for dinner. They peer into its gut, often spotting smaller fish, little squid or a piece of coral.

“It’s not the kind of thing you’d do in a typical school environment,” said Mr. Neve, who left his engineering job in Oregon to cruise in 2018.

The Neves’s solar-powered monohull Ubi is itself an object lesson. “We always come back to energy and space — how do you get essentials like electricity and fresh water on the boat? Is there room for a Lego you just built, or do we have to break it back into pieces before we go to bed?” said Ms. Neve, a professor of mechanical engineering who enjoys teaching innovation to kids.

In addition to home-schooling books, the kids use an offline Wikipedia, which a friend downloaded to a hard drive for them, and a modest library. The internet signal wavers in remote locations like French Polynesia, which reduces fights over screen time. Instead, the children keep a running list of questions to look up once they can get access the internet.

“There is definitely something about the internet not being easily available that makes it feel like a special thing,” Ms. Neve said.

Kid boats appeal to those seeking a less mediated life, one that cultivates independence and problem solving. On a recent morning, a panicked woman ran up to Jace Chapman, 13, and his mother, Caci, who had disembarked onto a dock in San Diego Bay. The woman’s husband was being blown out to sea in a dinghy, after finding that their oars had been stolen.

Jace jumped into his dinghy and motored to the man paddling furiously against the wind with a Tupperware lid. Jace connected the two dinghies with a line and pulled the man to shore. “I felt like a U.S. Coast Guard on a rescue mission,” Jace said. He was joking, and yet. …

Back home in Los Angeles, Jace’s days revolved around going from one audition to the next with his parents (he plays the lead in the Netflix series “The Healing Powers of Dude” which premiered in January 2020). But after casting offices moved to remote auditions, the Chapman family saw an opportunity to escape not only Covid-19, but also the pervasive elements of online culture.

They didn’t want their children “to be materialistic zombies, chasing after the latest fashion trend, TikTok dance or YouTube celebrity,” said Ms. Chapman, 35. “We want them to care about real issues and make real change.” The Chapmans, who go by The Expedition Family on their YouTube channel, moved aboard their 46-foot monohull Siren in April with their five children and have spent the confinement sailing along the Channel Islands in California, gearing up to circumnavigate the globe.

Aboard Siren, every Chapman child participates in the careful choreography of delegated family duties. Jace is his father Trevor’s first mate, responsible for hoisting the sails, setting the anchor, and scrubbing the hull. At night he helps keep watch by sleeping in the cockpit.

Cali, 10, and Kensington, 8, scrub the deck, organize and coil lines, clean water tanks, and do laundry by hand. The other two children, 3 and 5, have trash duty and organize shoes. Instead of sequestering a misbehaved child to a timeout, the Chapmans came up with a punishment designed for communal benefit: the arduous job of polishing stainless steel on the boat.

“If someone slacks off, there are real consequences out here,” said Mr. Chapman, 36, who runs e-commerce businesses online. “If you don’t secure the halyard at night, it can cause severe damage. If you don’t throw out the trash, it will hinder the work of the engine.”

While parents relish the extra family time, kids still need friends, something in short supply at sea. This requires planning and flexibility to alter travel arrangements. “We have to put work into socializing in a sense that we need to seek out other kid boats so there is companionship,” said Mrs. Gifford. “Just expecting it to happen is a good way to have lonely kids.”

Her children formed a tight friend group with boat kids from six countries during their time in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia and continued to meet on Google hangouts.

Many kid boat families find each other on a Facebook forum called kids4sail, started by Erika Lelièvre 10 years ago to find playmates for her sociable toddler. “At the time there was no community of boat kids anywhere,” said Ms. Lelièvre, 40, who lives on a boat in Stamford, Conn., with her husband and daughter Lucie, now 11. “We would come to a marina in a dinghy and they’d be like: You just missed so and so by two days. It was very frustrating.”

The regular logistics of life with small children, stressful enough on land, are magnified on a boat. Laundry day, for instance, has been an ordeal for the Chapmans, who don’t have a washer and a dryer on their boat.

During their time in California anchorages, they had to transport giant bags of dirty laundry in a dinghy to shore, retrieve the rental car, and drive it to the laundromat. “I still have high cleanliness standards, but that’s not going to work anymore,” Ms. Chapman said. “Like, your kid’s shirt is not dirty until there’s a full plate of spaghetti sauce on the front, you know?”

Being crammed in the boat’s small quarters with the whole family at all hours can feel confining without many options for an easy escape. Having your moods and rifts out in the open is something seasoned kid boat families say takes getting used to.

“It’s not like you can go in the yard or drive away. You’ve got to deal with your baggage right there, right then,” Ms. LeLièvre said. “There is no place to run and hide. I guess you can go in your dinghy for a couple of hours.”

Such downsides notwithstanding, the Facebook group now has over 5,000 members, including current and aspiring cruisers. The group’s map displays dots for nearly 350 families at sea. Parents share tips on swimming with jellyfish, recommend the best childproof cushion covers and discuss best safety approaches. On the first of the month, families post their location and the ages and languages of their kids, which allows them to meet up in anchorages and plan play dates.

Traveling in tandem with other kid boats isn’t difficult, given the prevailing winds and cruising seasons. During hurricane months, boats hunker in hubs for months, allowing people to meet their neighbors at sea.

This year, the pandemic restricted those interactions, confining families to their boats and even bringing some journeys to a halt. Mike Reilly, 63, and Terri O’Reilly-Reilly, 54, and their two boys, 9 and 11, spent the lockdown in St. Martin and considered returning to the United States, until Grenada, a verdant island in the East Caribbean, opened up. This year, this popular kid boat destination during hurricane season also turned into a refuge during the pandemic.

“Good morning, Grenada, and welcome to the kids’ net!,” a chipper voice comes on the VHF radio broadcast twice a week. Kids chime in with introductions, goodbyes and activity announcements. At “Camp Grenada,” as it is unofficially called by cruisers, it’s movie night at the marina on Fridays and trivia on Wednesdays.

The Reilly boys have sleepovers and game nights with kid boat friends and spend time at Hog island off the southern shore, where little ones roam with a feral air while parents kick back at the beach bar. “It’s like any neighborhood — all neighbors are keeping an eye out for kids,” Mr. Reilly said.

After putting their children down to sleep in Seattle, Genny Arredondo, 40, and her husband Adam, 39, watch YouTube channels of kid boat families at sea. This ritual helps her heal. In March, she lost a nonprofit job she loved. Shortly after, her father died from Covid-19 just as they began to reconnect after a period of estrangement.

In mourning, she decided it was time to act on their wistful fantasy. They are updating their house to put it on the market and scouring the internet for the perfect boat; her husband enrolled in sailing classes.

“For us, this pandemic was a wake-up call that tomorrow is not guaranteed,” Ms. Arredondo said. “If you have dreams or ambitions or aspirations, they’re meant to be lived.”

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SailingEurope Blog - Sailing, Yacht Charter and Beyond

Sailing with Children: Tips & Tricks

Sailing is a great recreation. I mean, you’re outdoors, you’re constantly on the move, you’re on fresh air, you can always go for a swim… What’s there not to like. Plus, you can go wherever you like at any time. For sure, those are some reasons sailing is our favourite activity . But, more and more often we get questions if you can take your whole family onboard, involving small children. In other words, is sailing with children safe?

To be honest, we were a little taken aback by the question. Maybe because we’re so used to kid-sailors that we have forgotten that some people may find it challenging. We often assure them that there’s nothing to worry about and that having kids onboard is a great deal of fun. And in reality, why should your kids miss out on such a great adventure as a sailing vacation?

Sailing with Children

Many people have cancelled or postponed their sailing holidays because “their kids were too small” for it, or sailing with children would be “too exhausting and demanding” for small children. But the truth is sailing with children can be an exceptional experience . A sailing trip can be an excellent opportunity for kids to learn something about the life on the sea, nature and other countries. However, having children on board can be as tricky as it is fulfilling.

Two Things to Keep in Mind

There are two main things you need to take care of, or be beware of, if you’re planning on sailing with kids. Children can get easily bored and need to be entertained. That’s why you need to take plenty of things that make your kid busy. Also, bear in mind that children are curious and they would probably want to explore the boat. However, they can even get reckless, so you need to implement some safety features for your kid to safely examine the yacht.

Keeping those two things in mind will make your sailing trip with children as pleasurable as it can be. Kids tend to be messy and clumsy, but it is all a part of their charm. And by having these two main things in mind, you can make sure your kids will have the time of their life.

But let’s break those two things into pieces and take a closer look at what can you do to ensure your kids are safe and entertained.

Tips & Trick while Sailing with Children

Since there are no regulations on the age of passengers on a sailing yacht, taking children on board is definitely  up to their parents’ decision  and responsibility. Still, there are some tricks and tips which would make sailing more relaxed and easier for both kids and their parents.

Ensuring children’s safety while sailing

Safety first! Being safe on board is important for all the passengers, let alone little kids. As we mentioned, kids tend to be a bit reckless and clumsy. So, the possibility of them getting injured is much higher. It is important for you to make everything possible to lower the chances for that. That way kids won’t get injured during the trip, you’ll spare a lot of unnecessary tears, and you won’t need to go to the land if a kid gets injured more seriously. Also, you will have a perfect sailing holiday and your sailing kids wouldn’t be able to wait for the next sailing trip.

Here are some tips on how to make a sailboat and sailing safe for the kids.

Talk to Your Child Before Climbing Onboard

Much like in your home, there must be rules. By setting the rules, the kids will know what they are allowed and what they aren’t allowed to do. We suggest sitting your kids down and go with them through some basic rules. For example, no leaning overboard or while sailing the kids must be sitting down unless you tell them otherwise. You will probably know more than us.

It all depends on the character of your child and you will know best what ground rules to set before going sailing.

Ask Your Charter Company for Small Life Vests

As there exist big life vests, there also exist smaller ones for the kids. It doesn’t matter if your kid can or cannot swim, the idea of having life vests their size on board is for you to be sure they’re safe if the emergency occurs.

Ask your charter company for vests and they will make sure they are waiting for you on the boat. It is advised for your kids to always wear a vest while onboard.

Put up Safety Nets

For ensuring for your kids not to fall overboard, put up safety nets, especially on the front of the boat; but it’s just as important to put it on the sides, too. That way you will feel much safer. It is because the safety net is pretty tall. Well, not compared to the adult, but compared to the small child, it’s more than half their size. That height will be sufficient and prevent them from falling into the sea.

Bring Plenty of Sunscreen

There’s not much more wisdom to it. Kids’ skin is much gentler than the skin of adults, so they tend to burn up more quickly. Another thing is that they don’t usually take notice in how much time they’re spending in the sun. As long as they are entertained, they can be playing in the sun for the whole day.

So, take a lot of sunscreen with a high SPF factor and make sure you’re applying it to your kids every now and then. Sunburns tend to be pretty annoying and uncomfortable, so you’d simply want to avoid that from happening altogether.

Don’t Forget to Bring Medicines for Flu, Headache, Stomach ache, Seasickness…

You know your kid and you know what tends to trouble them. So, when going sailing, don’t forget the medicine they respond to the best. Especially the ones for headache and stomach ache. Also, bring something for motion sickness. Maybe your child has never had problems with motion sickness and seasickness in the past, but sailing is something different and you can’t know how your child will react.

Entertainment

Entertaining Children Onboard

Entertainment to kids is as important as their safety. If the kids aren’t entertained on board, they will have a bad time and wouldn’t want to go sailing again. Naturally, we want to avoid that and show them all the beautiful sides of sailing.

Once again, you know your kid the best, but we have prepared a couple of tips you might find handy and wouldn’t have thought of. They’re not set in stone or anything, they’re just a couple of advice to keep in mind if your kids get bored or to make sure he or she wouldn’t get bored.

Make Routes Short

In the beginning definitely. You wouldn’t want to shock your kids with the full day of sailing the first day. Make your first routes short and sweet. Take plenty of time to just go to the beach and play on land. It is because kids might find the boat pretty confined which is something they’re not used to.

Once they get used to sailing, spread your sails and sail down wind. Your kids will love it and they will be amazed. Show them all the amazing sides of sailing. You can even let them take control of the rudder for a bit. Under your supervision, of course.

Make a Play Area

It is important for a child to have a play area. And the best play area for a kid on board is the indoor table or their room. There they will have enough room for colouring, playing, watching cartoons and doing whatever they like and want to do.

Sketchbooks and picture books are ideal for sailing! And they can keep a kid occupied for hours. In short, make enough room for your kids to play.

Engage Them in Fun Games

You can engage your child in all sorts of activities while sailing. For instance, you can explain them what each part of the boat is and what it does and turn it into a game. That way, kids will learn something and play at the same time.

Another fun game is to talk to them about the scenery. Play I spy with my little eye or invent a game of your own. Comment on the things you’re seeing all around you.

Since little kids’ attention does not last very long, try to  keep them interested  in what’s happening around them. Explain to them the equipment on the deck, speak with them as you sail, comment other boats and the scenery around you and try to  make the sailing trip as interesting  to them as possible.

To summarize,  children would enjoy their stay on the yacht  as long as they find it  funny, interesting and exciting . I’m sure that their parents would enjoy their sailing trip as well!

1 thought on “Sailing with Children: Tips & Tricks”

Thank you for providing us with this information! These are all very important considerations to keep in mind when sailing with children, and I’d like to add one more, which is “Sufficient Crew”. Not everyone has a lot of boating experience. Furthermore, one individual must devote their complete attention to the children. At least two people must be on board if you know how to sail well. If you are not an expert in the field, it is preferable to sail with a larger group to make the experience safer and more enjoyable.

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How to homeschool children on board your superyacht

As the pandemic forces schools to remain closed, some families are homeschooling their children while self-isolating on board a yacht. We talk to superyacht owners about how to successfully homeschool children at sea.

Homeschooling was already a going trend, but the practice has now become a necessity for many as schools shut down to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. According to superyacht owners, home education can be even more fulfilling than keeping your kids at school. Close encounters with whales or Second World War wreck dives are just some of the rewards available to children who can trade classrooms for real world adventures out in the open sea.

Such experiences coloured the semester at sea enjoyed by  Alan and Ashley Dabbiere  and their children as they cruised the world on board  CRN  yacht  Constance  (a trip that won them the Voyager’s Award at this year’s  World Superyacht Awards ).

"The amazing thing is that every one of my children came back with a passion,” Alan says. “My daughter passionate about diving, one of my sons about photography, another about fishing, and the youngest wants to be a naturalist and fell in love with birdwatching. You want your kids to be passionate early, because passion is what drives you through your life.”

US company Calvert Education was one of the resources Delisa and Tony Mayer turned to when they got ready to take a 15-month journey. In late 2013 they headed to the South Pacific on 42 metre  The Big Blue  with daughter Alexandra (then in seventh grade) and her twin brothers Justin and Nicholas, who are 18 months younger.

On board, the children had structured classroom time with a teacher – 8am to midday four days a week, which put them ahead of their school curriculum halfway through the year. Meanwhile, their time on shore exposed them to unique experiences. Alexandra, now 17, says: “I would be studying World War Two early in the morning only to later go diving on a World War Two wreck. Everything in the textbooks I could apply in the places around me.”

To round out the experience, the children learned about the boat and the crew’s roles. “I did not want my children to have silver spoons in their mouths,” Delisa says. From the stews, they learned how to fold laundry and keep inventory; from the engineer they learned about osmosis, generators and water filters; and from the bosun how to drive the dinghies. When the Mayers discovered that the chef had been a maths teacher, they asked him to take over the maths curriculum. In his galley, the children learned practical applications that made them better students. After the journey, the children are taking advanced placement maths classes, remain on the honour rolls, and Alexandra, now a passionate diver, got into all the colleges she was interested in.

A set school schedule was also a must aboard the 37.5 metre  Fitzroy  sailing yacht  Escapade . Before their multi-year adventure , the owners placed an ad in the  Financial Times , interviewed candidates and hired teachers to oversee the education of their young son while they sailed from New Zealand to the Mergui islands of Myanmar , then east across the Pacific to Pitcairn and on to South America and the Magellan Strait. 

Whenever conditions allowed (they did not always as some of the passages were rough), their son reported to his classroom dressed in his school uniform for daily lessons with his teacher. “The set times were 8am to 12.30 with a half hour pause around 10am. He had to follow that; we thought otherwise there was too much risk that it would become a three-year holiday,” owner Christophe Albin says. “It worked extremely well.” The lesson plan included videos, books and field trips, including a sleepover on Pulau Nangka, a dot on the map in the Strait of Malacca.

The Dabbiere family set a schedule but also carved out time for an Easter break during their eight-month adventure from Florida, south to the Caymans, on to Panama, Costa Rica, Galápagos and Fiji. They had already spent time at sea when their children were younger but wanted to have a chance to do it again before their children flew the nest. “Our daughter was in sixth grade when we started kicking the idea,” says Dabbiere. “You don’t want to disrupt the eighth grade, so her school schedule was the driver.” The trip was set to take place from Christmas to the end of summer and they flew home from Fiji in time for the autumn term. They knew a teacher through their immediate circle and hired a second one through Search Associates, a recruiting agency.

Finding a tutor with the required level of experience and the right personality for the family – and with sea legs to boot – can be a challenge. “I would say the hardest positions to find on a boat are a good captain and a good teacher. It took a long time and I interviewed a lot of people,” Mayer says. “When you have more than one child, one of the challenges is to find someone who can teach multiple levels.”

London-based Sea Tutors is one of the companies that has stepped in to help. A few years ago, Adam Caller expanded his company Tutors International with a specialist placement division. Even with all the experience he had as a teacher, private tutor and then business owner, he soon realised that finding teachers for superyachts requires a special touch.

He remembers the day when a client called with a crisis unfolding on a yacht. The trigger had been that a teacher his company had placed had used a service call button to order coffee. “Can’t you go into the galley and make your own?” Caller asked the teacher. “No, the captain has forbidden me from coming into the galley,” she replied from her cabin. The owner had no idea that the relationship between the tutor and the crew, who had grown resentful of her perceived special status, had become frayed.

“We learned as a company that the tiniest of events can damage relationships,” Caller says. It isn’t enough to find the teacher with the right skill set (which may include a Yachtmaster qualification if the clients so require), it is very important also to discuss living arrangements and the reporting structure. For longer assignments especially, Caller recommends that teachers be considered part of the crew but he leaves it up to his clients to decide.

On board  Constance , there were 28 people, including the family, crew, teachers and naturalists from National Geographic. The 60 metre yacht’s layout allowed for private space for everyone but living in close quarters was a bit of a balancing act, Dabbiere admits. What matters, he adds, is that “it all worked out”.

In spite of the challenges, the unequivocal recommendation from the families who spoke about their trips is to pull the anchor and go. “I can only recommend  yacht owners  to do something like that,” Albin says. “It brings value to your yachting ‘investment’. Circumnavigating Sardinia is beautiful too, but you’ll never have the same experience.”

Superyacht Home School Top Tips

Have the stories of these families inspired you to bring your children on board to see out the coronavirus quarantine? If so, make sure you get a head start with these top tips, courtesy of Harvard Graduate and Homeschool Teacher author Kate Laird

Your immediate circle and children’s schools are a good place to start looking for guidance or tutors. They may even provide a curriculum plan. For older children especially, check out their school’s requirements. “It’s always best to find out from the administrator what they want and put it in writing,” Laird says.

Allow for flexibility

A set schedule helps keep studies serious but you should make time to experience the trip as well. “If you are trying to go through a full set curriculum, you will miss some of the adventure. It’s a balance,” Laird says.

To recruit a professional teacher, Adam Caller from Sea Tutors recommends starting early to find the right candidate. “The golden timing is nine months before the job starts. The larger the application pool, the better the possible outcome,” he says. However, he’s found qualified candidates in as short a time as three weeks.

Spell it out

Be sure to discuss all your expectations of a tutor or teacher and be candid about living arrangements. Communication is key, says Caller, who insists on face-to-face meetings with families, including the students, before he writes a detailed job description for eventual candidates.

It’s never too late

Everyone acknowledges that home schooling younger children is easier – the golden time may be seven or eight years old to 12 or 13. However, teaching older children isn’t impossible, says Laird, who is now overseeing her own children’s high school education.

For more tips and tricks for sailing with the family, get the latest issue of BOAT International sent straight to your door.

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Sailing: How To Get Your Kids Started

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

June 15, 2022

If you've ever wondered about how you can get your kids interested and started with sailing, you are not alone. Many boating enthusiasts want their kids to share their passion early on.

If you already love sailing, it's only natural that you would want your kids to become boating enthusiasts. After all, you want to share your passion with them. When starting your kids sailing you want to plant the seeds of boating appreciation for a lifetime.

This will involve subtle methods of encouragement. You don't want to bombard them but build their knowledge brick by brick. To achieve your goal, you want to provide a rich variety of inspirational journeys. Don't rush things and keep it fun. Take your time and enjoy every minute.

Table of contents

Get Them Hooked

There are a lot of things the kids will enjoy in the water. Get them hooked by doing water-based activities with them, collecting seashells by the beach, paddling or seeing fish at the pet shop. Teach the kids to swim. Remember that water is a natural environment and it can help enormously to introduce them to be comfortable in the water at an early age. Teach them the basics and this keeps them safer in the marine environment for life.

Dine By The Sea

Pick a stunning waterside location and dine on fresh, delicious seafood by the sea. Whether it is on a boat or in a restaurant, the maritime theme is going to keep kids wanting more. Restaurants with fish tanks will fascinate the kids. Talk about marine life and where fish come from. They will want to explore more of the ocean on a boat.

Go Boat-Watching

Expose kids to different types of boats by naming their parts as you spot them on the ocean. Colorful fishing boats are fun to watch. Build up the magic and the attraction with the kids. Go to boating events in seaside towns with sea-themed celebrations, food festivals of boating festivals. Let your kids wear marine-themed clothing and read them books about sailing. Toys boats in the bathtub and clothing with boats are a great way to encourage an interest in boats and the sea.

Watersports

Kids get a great introduction to sailing through watersports. Kayaking, canoeing or stand up paddleboarding are great ways of exploring inland or coastal waters without requires a high level of skill.

Bring Them To The Beach

Who doesn't love the beach? Whet the kids' appetite by paddling and looking for sea creatures in rock pools. Play beach games and go crabbing.

The beach keeps kids entertained for hours. It is only natural for them to want to explore even further by getting on the sailboat with you.

Extremely Rewarding

Starting your kids sailing is extremely rewarding. It is a good way to teach them skills that will keep them on course on the water and in life.

Plus, sailing with your kids can be a great way to bond and spend quality time together. It can even lead to a lifetime's passion for them if you get this right. If you want your kids to enjoy sailing, it is vital to make it fun and as easy as possible right from the start.

When you are starting your kids sailing, patience is key. Remember that the goal is for them to have fun and to develop sailing skills. The skill of knowing how to sail a boat can be exhilarating for a child. It teaches them independence, involves bravery and perseverance. Mastering both the elements and their boat is a thrill they will never forget.

Bring Friends

Make sailing with your kids fun by bringing their favorite friends. This way, they associate sailing with spending time with friends. Use rewards such as winning treasure to help improve their steering and concentration.

Sailing clubs may be available in your area as well if you want to go that route. However, if you already sail, there's no reason why your children can't' start sailing with you and fit right into your regular sailing schedule. Stay local when you sail so that you can sail often and for longer periods. Your child needs to have all the right gear to remain comfortable.

Learn Life-Skills

Nothing in the world packs quite as many life-skills as sailing. In one fell swoop, it packs lessons about ecology, oceanology, patience, history, engineering, and teamwork. Because of this, it is a good idea to start your child sailing as soon as they can follow the rules for safety.

Going sailing with kids will introduce them to a world they won't have access to sitting in a classroom. When you go with them when they are quite young, it is easier to get them used to a boat. The reason is that kids are by nature both curious and portable.

Sailing with kids will help create a balance between the computer world and the natural world. When your kids have too many gadgets, it may be easy to forget there are other equally enjoyable outdoor activities they can do such as learn to sail.

When you take them sailing, this helps balance out all the time they spend in the virtual world. When you and the kids are on the boat, they have no choice but to bond with the family. Laughter, conversation and shared silence are ll natural parts of a great day sailing on a boat.

Decide Together

To start your kids sailing, involve them in the decisions that need to be made before they even set foot on the boat. For example, decide where you are going.

Gather information about the distance, the time you have, the current and the weather for that particular day. Decide who is going to steer or if you are going to take the helm down a narrow channel. Is your child going to take the tiller?

The skipper will have to adjust constantly to the breeze by trimming the sailes and looking a tell tales. They will need to adjust to the environment to maintain the course. Do this with your kids and point out when the wind changes and what to do to stay on-course.

Let your kids stand need the stern to nudge the tiller at any moment with their foot for a crisis to be averted. You can let the kids stand near the tiller and as the month progresses, they can move farther but still within the tiller's reach.

This way, they learn to steer the boat on their own and understand what to do in a change of weather. Remember to check the weather forecasts before you set sail every time.

Safety First

To keep your kids safe, it is a good idea to set the rules. For example, don't let them play on the deck without adult supervision. If they want to go outside, without adults, they need to stay within the cockpit area only. No standing on the cockpit cushions. If they want to go walking around the boat as it sails, they need to hold on to something at all times, preferably an adult.

Drink Water - Make sure the kids drink a lot of fluid before they sail. Give everyone water bottles to drink while out at sea. It is important to keep your kids safe while sailing. A little foresight does go a long way when it comes to kids and boats. However, remember that it is all going to be worth it.

Sunscreen - In the water, the sun tends to be more intense. Kids need to wear sunscreen while sailing and to wear a t-shirt. Bring fever medicine as well as sore-throat meds and painkillers, as well as band-aids just in case.

Seasickness - Kids sometimes feel seasick when they sail for the first time. If your child is feeling seasick, keep them on deck rather than below deck to breathe fresh air and feel better.

Safety Net - Installing a safety net before you begin to sail is a good idea especially if you have very young kids on the boat. Safety nets provide children with protection as they sunbathe or play on the deck. Also, a safety net stops anyone from sliding overboard. For extra safety measures, you can even attach your child to a harness while on deck.

Life Jackets - Every child must have a life jacket on when sailing. Even if they know how to swim and that the waters of the Mediterranean tend to be calm and warm, every child on board needs to have a life-jacket.

Toys- Bring your child's favorite books and toys aboard the boat. If your child has playmates they might want to come along as well. This way, your child will look forward to the next sailing trip and find them to be extremely enjoying right from the start.

Shorter Trips First

When introducing your kids to sailing, focus on shorter destinations in the beginning. This helps everyone get their sea legs and getting used to being on a boat. Attempt bigger crossings later on. Going on short, fun trips is something everyone will enjoy. Everyone will appreciate a quick trip on the water with the kids and the kids will love being a part of it. They may even want to go again the moment your sailboat docks.

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I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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Houthi bomb boats, including some not seen before, are threatening Red Sea ships while the US Navy's aircraft carriers are away

• The Houthis have stepped up their attacks and intimidation efforts with their drone boats.
• In their latest messaging, the rebels shared a new video of a previously unseen system in action.
• The uptick comes as the US Navy lacks an aircraft carrier in the region.

The US Navy is in the middle of changing up its forces in the Middle East. An aircraft carrier that spent months in the counter-Houthi fight heads home, leaving a gap as another one makes its way toward the region to take over.

It has been over a week since the US last had an aircraft carrier on station in the Red Sea, meaning the Pentagon can't depend on the routine combat air patrols and immense firepower having a carrier in the region has provided over the past seven months.

The Houthis have been stepping up drone boat operations, employing small watercraft that can be packed with explosives and detonate on impact. These weapons can be used to strike merchant vessels and cause catastrophic damage, which has already been the case in at least one instance in recent weeks.

Drone boats are not a new capability for the Houthis. They have employed them in years past and throughout their ongoing campaign of attacks on merchant vessels and commercial shipping lanes.

During the first few months of the year, US airstrikes in Yemen destroyed the drone boats nearly every time the Houthis tried to send them into the water. But in June, the Iran-backed rebels managed to launch well over a dozen crafts — far more than they had in any previous month. Last month, one of the Houthi drone boats struck a commercial vessel, the MV Tutor, for the first time since the campaign began in November.

In the June 12 attack, the Houthis used a small, slow-moving boat staffed with two dummies, appearing to disguise the crude-looking weapon as a common fishing craft. Hours after the initial strike, the rebels hit the Tutor with a missile, causing it to later sink.

Related stories

More than a week after the Tutor attack, on June 22, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group , which spent more than seven months battling the Houthis, finally left the region to head home, bringing with it the carrier Ike and dozens of fighter aircraft .

The Ike's eventual replacement — the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group — won't arrive for some time. And in the meantime, the Houthis appear to be taking advantage of the decreased US Navy air patrols and employing more drone boats.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, an element of the British Royal Navy, has reported multiple incidents over the past few days that appear consistent with such attacks.

On June 27, for instance, UKMTO cited one threat as a "waterborne improvised explosive device," and on June 30, it said a merchant vessel was approached by "a mixture of fast boats and smaller kayak-type boats," adding that "some were observed as uncrewed."

On June 30, the Houthi rebels revealed what they said is a highly advanced drone boat that can travel at speeds of 45 nautical mph and deliver an explosive payload of up to 3,300 pounds. The group claimed to have used the drone boat in a June 23 attack on the MV Transworld Navigator and published footage purporting to show the unmanned craft strike the much larger merchant vessel.

Business Insider was unable to immediately verify the Houthi claim. US Central Command said at the time that the Transworld Navigator was hit by a "suspected uncrewed aerial system" and did not mention a drone boat.

In the June 30 video, the Houthis also showed the drone boat going through various maneuvers and training exercises. At one point, rebels can be seen manually operating the craft before they dive off the side into the water and allow it to be remotely piloted.

The newly revealed drone boat is far more sophisticated-looking than the one that struck the Tutor and appears notably larger than unmanned crafts that the rebels publicized and tested earlier in June, underscoring the different capabilities that the Houthis have in their arsenal .

Experts have said that the uptick in drone boat attacks and the Houthis' newfound success in striking commercial vessels with such weapons indicates that they're learning from their many months of attacks and are able to adjust their operations accordingly.

Watch: See the hectic flight deck of a US warship fighting Houthis in the Red Sea

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Philippines says it won’t back down, but won’t start a war, after clash with Chinese Coast Guard

FILE - In this handout photo provided by Armed Forces of the Philippines, Chinese Coast Guard hold knives and machetes as they approach Philippine troops on a resupply mission in the Second Thomas Shoal at the disputed South China Sea on June 17, 2024. The president of the Philippines said Sunday, June 23, 2024, his country would not yield to “any foreign power” after Chinese forces injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged at least two military boats with machetes, axes and hammers in a clash in the disputed South China Sea, but added the Philippines would never instigate a war.(Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP, File)

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The president of the Philippines said Sunday his country would not yield to “any foreign power” after Chinese forces injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged at least two military boats with machetes, axes and hammers in a clash in the disputed South China Sea, but added the Philippines would never instigate a war.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew with his top generals and defense chief to the western island province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, to meet and award medals to navy personnel who came under assault by the Chinese coast guard Monday as they attempted to deliver food and other supplies to an outpost on the hotly contested Second Thomas Shoal .

Videos and pictures of the chaotic faceoff made public by the military showed Chinese coast guard personnel hitting a Philippine navy boat with a wooden bar and seizing a bag while blaring sirens and using blinding strobe lights. The Chinese government said that its coast guard had to take action after Filipino forces defied warnings not to stray into what China calls its own offshore territory, a claim long rejected by rival claimant governments and international arbitrators .

The violent confrontation sparked condemnation and alarm from the U.S., the European Union, Japan, Australia and other Western and Asian nations, while China and the Philippines blamed each other for instigating it. Marcos’s key advisers said Friday that his administration has no plan to invoke the country’s mutual defense treaty with the United States .

“We are not in the business to instigate wars,” Marcos told Filipino forces. “In defending the nation, we stay true to our Filipino nature that we would like to settle all these issues peacefully.”

In Monday’s faceoff at the shoal, Marcos said “we made a conscious and deliberate choice to remain in the path of peace.” The Filipino navy special operations group personnel who came under attack used only their bare hands to push back the Chinese, some of whom pointed knives at them, said Philippine military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.

“We stand firm. Our calm and peaceful disposition should not be mistaken for acquiescence,” Marcos said. “History itself can tell that we have never, never in the history of the Philippines yielded to any foreign power.”

Chinese officials in Manila and Beijing did not immediately comment on Marcos’s remarks.

Marcos praised about 80 officers and personnel involved in Monday’s supply mission, including one who lost his right thumb during the high seas confrontation, saying they “exercised the greatest restraint amidst intense provocation.” He issued an appeal: “Continue to fulfill your duty of defending the nation with integrity and respect as you have done so far.”

The territorial disputes, which involve China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, have long been seen as a flashpoint that could pit the U.S. against China if high seas confrontations escalate into armed conflict. Washington has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces are attacked, including in the South China Sea.

Indonesian forces have also opened fire on Chinese fishing boats in past confrontations in waters off the Natuna islands on the fringes of the South China Sea.

Yemen's Houthis release footage of 'drone boat' attack on Greek cargo ship in Red Sea

The footage shows their attack on the MV Transworld Navigator on June 23, which they allege was carried out by a 'drone boat' 'equipped with advanced technology'.

Monday 1 July 2024 19:06, UK

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Dzerzhinsky in Moscow Oblast Destination Guide Russia

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Dzerzhinsky in Moscow Oblast, Russia

Safety Score: 4,4 of 5.0 based on data from 9 authorites. Meaning please reconsider your need to travel to Russia.

Travel warnings are updated daily. Source: Travel Warning Russia . Last Update: 2024-07-01 08:00:52

Explore Dzerzhinsky

Dzerzhinsky in Moscow Oblast is located in Russia about 13 mi (or 21 km) south-east of Moscow, the country's capital.

Local time in Dzerzhinsky is now 01:28 AM (Tuesday). The local timezone is named Europe / Moscow with an UTC offset of 3 hours. We know of 7 airports in the wider vicinity of Dzerzhinsky, of which two are larger airports. The closest airport in Russia is Bykovo Airport in a distance of 8 mi (or 13 km), East. Besides the airports, there are other travel options available (check left side).

There are several Unesco world heritage sites nearby. The closest heritage site in Russia is Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye in a distance of 7 mi (or 12 km), West. If you need a place to sleep, we compiled a list of available hotels close to the map centre further down the page.

Depending on your travel schedule, you might want to pay a visit to some of the following locations: Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye, Moscow, Cheremushki, Ramenskoye and Vostochnoe Degunino. To further explore this place, just scroll down and browse the available info.

Local weather forecast

Todays local weather conditions & forecast: 29°c / 83 °f.

Tuesday, 2nd of July 2024

30°C (86 °F) 23°C (73 °F) Sky is clear, moderate breeze, clear sky.

Wednesday, 3rd of July 2024

26°C (79 °F) 20°C (68 °F) Light rain, gentle breeze, broken clouds.

Thursday, 4th of July 2024

27°C (81 °F) 21°C (69 °F) Light rain, fresh breeze, overcast clouds.

Hotels and Places to Stay

Master Hotel Kotelniky

Address 2,8 mi Novoryazanskoe sh 5a 140053 Kotelniki Russia

Mini-Hotel Komfort

Address 2,4 mi 2-y Pokrovskiy proezd 12 140055 Kotel'niki Russia

Checkout: 12:00 - Checkin: 12:00 Reception Weekday: 0:00 - 24:00 Weekend: 0:00 - 24:00

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Distances are based on the centre of the city/town and sightseeing location. This list contains brief abstracts about monuments, holiday activities, national parcs, museums, organisations and more from the area as well as interesting facts about the region itself. Where available, you'll find the corresponding homepage. Otherwise the related wikipedia article.

Ugresha Monastery

Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery is a walled stauropegic Russian Orthodox monastery of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker located in a suburb of Moscow formerly known as Ugreshi and now called Dzerzhinsky. It is the town's main landmark and is featured on the . The monastery is known to have existed as early as 1521, when the Tatar horde of Mehmed I Giray reduced Ugreshi to ashes. The old katholikon of St. Nicholas (later destroyed by the Soviets) was built in the 16th century.

Located at 55.6217, 37.84 (Lat. / Lng.), about 1 miles away. Wikipedia Article Russian Orthodox monasteries, Buildings and structures in Moscow Oblast, Christian monasteries established in the 14th century, Museums in Moscow Oblast, Religious museums in Russia, Biographical museums in Russia, Decorative arts museums in Russia

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How one family escaped North Korea in a rickety boat on the open sea

SEOUL — Hardly anyone has escaped from North Korea these past four years, since leader Kim Jong Un shuttered his country’s border with China in the earliest days of the pandemic.

But Kang Gyu-rin and her mother, aunt and a family friend are among the few. To do so, they used a perilous route that has become almost the only option for escape: by sea.

One night last October, the four boarded Kang’s rickety wooden boat — with a rudimentary pumping system for bailing out the water — and set out for South Korea. Or death.

“I was ready to die, so I wasn’t afraid,” said Kang, now 23. “We had to give it our best shot.”

Kang and her mother, Kim Myung-sook, told The Washington Post about their life during the covid era and their decision to flee by sea, offering rare insight into how North Korea has changed in the past four years. The women changed their names after arriving in the South because they are escapees and wanted to protect family members back home. They spoke to The Post on the condition that their new names be used.

North Korea, run by the totalitarian Kim regime for almost eight decades, has long been one of the world’s most reclusive and repressive countries, a dire place in which to live but an extremely difficult place from which to escape.

It was in the late 1990s, at the height of a devastating famine in the North, that waves of escapees started arriving in the South, almost all of them taking an overland route across the relatively porous border into China, then to Mongolia or down through Southeast Asia, where they could fly to South Korea.

Some 33,000 North Koreans had arrived in the South that way. But that stopped in January 2020, when Kim Jong Un slammed shut the borders and then erected new barbed-wire fencing and watchtowers — making it impossible for anyone to cross into China without permission.

Kim has now essentially ushered in a “zero escapees era,” human rights advocates say.

How we reported this story

North Korea has been tightly shut since the coronavirus pandemic began so accounts of what is happening inside the country are rare and valuable. To verify key parts of this story, our reporter corroborated it with human rights advocates who have met Kang and the other three on the boat, and through experts with informants inside North Korea, including in Kang’s home province.

North Koreans almost always adopt new names in the South, and many decline to have their photos taken for fear they will be recognized and their family members in North Korea will be punished. For that reason, we commissioned South Korean artist Mikyung Lee to illustrate this story for an artist’s impression of key moments as relayed to The Post by Kang.

While some North Koreans who were already outside the country when the pandemic struck, such as laborers sent to Russia, have arrived in South Korea since 2021, only 15 or so people have been able to flee North Korea and make it south, according to estimates from defector-support organizations. That number includes Kang and her family.

That makes their account extremely valuable. Yet North Korean escapees’ stories are notoriously difficult to corroborate because journalists can’t reach residents or officials who can confirm their accounts. Kang’s aunt and the male family friend who steered their boat declined to be interviewed.

The Post cross-checked Kang’s account with two advocacy organizations in Seoul that have interviewed her — the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights and Liberty in North Korea — and confirmed that key details were relayed consistently. The Post met Kang and her mother independently of the advocacy groups.

Julie Turner, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, has also met with Kang and was struck by the lengths to which she went to escape.

“The desperation piece has stuck with me,” Turner said, noting that North Koreans are having to resort to boats. “People are still so hungry for opportunities that they’re looking at these much more treacherous routes.”

Escape route

now restricted

NORTH KOREA

Kang's escape

route by boat

SOUTH KOREA

The land route through China carried immense risks, including repatriation to North Korea — and extreme punishment — if caught. But in China, a network of brokers and activists helped North Koreans to safety. It was expensive and dangerous, but it was possible.

Escaping by sea is even riskier: Those fleeing must contend with border patrols on the coast and at sea, as well as woefully inadequate boats and unpredictable weather. Even seasoned North Koreans struggle to fish given the challenging conditions: Battered wooden “ghost ships” regularly wash up on Japan’s western shores, carrying the corpses of fishermen who have starved at sea.

Kang and her mother had heard of other families who fled on boats. It wasn’t until they arrived in South Korea that they realized none of those families made it alive.

If escapees make it to the South’s waters, they risk South Korean patrols mistaking them as hostile intruders — and potentially firing upon them.

The water route may not even last much longer, with North Korea erecting new fencing around its coastlines to try to stop people from accessing the sea.

But for Kang and her family, the sea was the only way out. And they were only able to make the journey because they lived near the coast and Kang had a boat because she worked in the fishing industry.

This is just one family’s story, but it is one that reflects just how difficult it has become for ordinary people to live in North Korea — and to escape it.

New, ‘suffocating’ pressures

Kang and Kim lived a middle-class life in South Hamgyong province on the east coast, although they were far from the border with China, where almost all trade happened. That didn’t matter much before the pandemic because the market economy had well and truly taken hold across North Korea.

But then came the border closures. Then crackdowns on food vendors and the markets that sustain the North Korean economy, they said. Their quality of life deteriorated sharply.

“We talk about how life felt hard in 2019 [before the pandemic], but now that we look back, those were the good years. It will be difficult to return to the way we lived then,” Kang said.

Items that used to trickle into the country from China became exponentially more expensive or disappeared, they said. The shortage of inventory showed Kang just how much her country depended on its northern neighbor, she said.

“Even sewing needles became 10 times more expensive. I wondered why, and of course, they turned out to be a Chinese product. I realized how little my country actually produces,” Kang said.

The Post cannot independently verify her claims, but South Korean officials and reporting from North Korea-monitoring websites have similarly reported on price hikes and cash shortages created by crackdowns.

“There needs to be a flow of products into the markets, either through production from North Korean companies or via China, but neither of those things were happening,” said Lee Sang-yong, director of research and analysis at Daily NK, a media outlet with informants in the North, including in Kang’s home province.

These pressures are “suffocating” residents who can no longer navigate the markets like they used to, said Kim, who is 54. She recalled the famine of the 1990s and the capitalist smarts it took for people to survive it — making, selling or buying items they could trade for food.

“Now, it feels unsustainable even for the savviest,” Kim said. “The government is taking over [the markets], but they’re not giving us anything else in return.”

Kang recalled the summer of 2022, when the North Korean regime first publicly admitted to a coronavirus outbreak . North Korea then claimed it eradicated the “fever” virus in just three months, and that just 74 “fever” patients — about 0.0003 percent of its population — died, which would make North Korea’s covid fatality rate the lowest in the world.

Experts believe it is an undercount of the true toll of the spread of the virus, especially given North Korea’s lack of coronavirus testing kits and vaccines. Kang believes she and nearly everyone she knew caught the virus then. The mismatch between the regime’s version of events and the reality on the ground sowed another seed of distrust.

Kang’s recollections, together with accounts from some other recent escapees, are early indicators of potentially profound shifts that took place inside North Korea during the pandemic, said Sokeel Park of Liberty in North Korea.

The extreme restrictions on movement, coupled with acute food shortages, have torn up the implicit social contract that enabled people to fend for themselves if the government can’t provide, Park said. This raises bigger questions about how North Korean people view their government, he said.

“Different escapees are telling us independently that North Korean people’s sentiment and mentality evolved significantly during the pandemic in a more disaffected and skeptical direction,” Park said.

A chase, then a welcome

After Kang dropped out of college during the pandemic to make money, she bought the boat with her mom’s help — her mother had $4,000 in savings, a fortune in North Korea — to start a small fishing operation.

Business was brutal, she said. Diesel was expensive, the boat kept needing repairs, she had to pay workers even when there was no seafood to catch.

She kept track of inventory and revenue in bookkeeping notebooks, which she brought south and showed a Post reporter. They confronted her with a grim reality: The business was not sustainable.

She’d always known the boat could help her escape one day. But she started seriously planning her escape last spring, mapping out her steps and routes, and put her plan into motion the evening of Oct. 22, 2023.

Preparing for their journey, they packed water, dried noodles, bread, rice and sleeping pills — which they agreed to take if it became clear they would be caught by the North Korean coast guard. They preferred a peaceful death to execution or prison camps.

The waves that night were unexpectedly high, lifting their boat off the water at each crest and crashing it down at each trough, Kang and Kim said.

Still, they were making progress. They were about two hours from crossing the maritime border. Then they spotted a North Korean patrol ship heading toward them.

“They just kept flashing, flashing, flashing their lights. They wouldn’t let up,” Kang said. “I wondered, is it time for the pills? My heart was beating so much.”

Kim, who was comforting her seasick sister, said all she could do was pump out water and pray for survival: “I hoped that the heavens did not send us on this journey just to die.”

It’s unclear why the patrol vessel did not intercept them. The moment they reached the maritime border, the lights disappeared, the patrol boat heading back north, they said.

It was about 7 a.m. on Oct. 24 when blowfish catcher Lim Jae-gil spotted Kang’s boat. He had heard warnings on the radio transmitter that North Korean law enforcement vessels were heading south, and immediately knew this was the boat they had been chasing.

He had never seen anything like Kang’s boat in more than a decade of fishing off South Korea’s east coast, about 35 miles away from the border. It looked like it should have been sent to the scrapyard long ago, Lim, 62, said in an interview.

Lim called the authorities while he steered toward it. When he got close, one of the North Koreans asked: “Where are we?”

“Sokcho, in Gangwon province,” Lim replied. “Are you from North Korea?”

The North Koreans nodded. “Well done,” Lim said.

The four boarded Lim’s boat and waited for the South Korean coast guard. Lim offered the arrivals cigarettes and water. The North Koreans had packed plenty of both, but Kang said they accepted because they wanted to experience the taste of South Korean cigarettes and water.

The man took one puff of the cigarette and flicked it into the sea. “It was so much weaker than the cigarettes we were used to,” Kang recalled.

As for the water: “It was the same. It’s water,” she said, laughing. “But everything felt so interesting at the time.”

A new life in the South

Like many North Koreans, Kang learned about life in the South through its television programs, which she started watching as a teen. It was illegal, but everyone did it.

Kang is among the cohort of North Koreans who grew up after the famine, learning to navigate capitalism and access products from China and South Korea — including TV shows and movies that opened their eyes to life in a rich and free society. They have become more exposed to the outside world and disillusioned with their own government, experts say.

“We don’t believe [the propaganda],” Kang said. “Maybe our parents did way back when but I don’t know any of that myself. … I’ve seen lots of dramas, and I knew life in North Korea was really awful.”

It’s because of this generation’s awareness of life outside North Korea — and the threat this knowledge poses to the long-term survival of the regime — that Kim Jong Un has cracked down on foreign influence, from fashion to slang. In December 2020, North Korea adopted a law “rejecting reactionary ideology and culture,” according to state media .

Tightening controls, down to her earring choices, made Kang feel like a “kindergartner,” she said.

Kang no longer has to worry about such demands. She wears gold-colored jewelry and colored contact lenses, and has dyed her hair reddish-brown. Her smartphone is constantly buzzing, and her drink of choice — like most every other South Korean Gen Zer — is iced coffee.

Now, Kang is preparing for college and hopes to one day study abroad. Her mother, who is looking for a job, worries about the long hours her daughter spends studying.

They brought almost nothing with them from North Korea. But Kang has her bookkeeping notebooks, their pages damaged from the waves, and looks at them to motivate herself through hardships. She also has a photo she took at a studio in the North. Its caption reads: “To a life that is always filled with exciting and happy times.”

About this story

Story by Michelle Ye Hee Lee. Illustrations by Mikyung Lee. Story editing by Anna Fifield. Design by Andrew Braford. Design editing by Joe Moore. Map by Samuel Granados. Copy editing by Kim Chapman.

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