Any Fool can Sail the World Solo. Try Doing it with Family!
01-03-11
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it”
Getting ashore, sometimes an impossible mission with kids
Hardest Geezer
You may have heard of Russell Cook, better known as ‘Hardest Geezer,’ an English endurance athlete who recently became the first person to run the entire length of Africa, from the southernmost to the northernmost point of the continent. Along the way, he endured everything from kidnappings and robbery to food poisoning and probably a few blisters.
We’re practically neighbours back in the UK, both living in Sussex. If I ever bumped into ‘Hardest Geezer’ in the local boozer, I’d tell him, “It’s all well and good doing it solo sunshine, but try doing it with family!”
Russ Cook AKA 'Hardest Geezer' running solo across Africa. © Markus Christ
Of course, I wouldn’t actually say that, because by he’s own definition he’s a hard geezer and I’m not. I’d probably just mumble congratulations, retreat to the back of the pub, and quietly sip my Guinness, hoping he wouldn’t hurt me. That’s just the way I roll.
Why Going Solo Gets All the Kudos
Still, it’s curious how much kudos is attached to doing things solo. Solopreneurs, solo travellers, solo sailors. Robin Knox-Johnston, perhaps the most celebrated single-handed sailor, navigated nonstop around the world in 1968 in the Golden Globe Challenge. He spent 312 days at sea aboard his 32-foot (9.8m) boat Suhaili, often naked (in the warmer latitudes at least), surviving on corned beef, baked beans, porridge, and pickled onions. Each day, he’d end with a cigarette and a nip or two from the 24 bottles of booze he had stowed onboard (in addition to 120 cans of beer!).
Corned beef pie with beans - luxury comfort food when I was growing up in the north of England in the ’70s!
A Knox-Johnson Moment
Now, I don’t want to sound all “Four Yorkshiremen,” from Monty Python, but that was luxury food when I was growing up in the north of England in the ’70s. Yet when I, on occasion have what has become known as a ‘Knox-Johnson’ moment onboard our boat and reach for a nostalgic can of corned beef and jar of pickled onions from the bilge for dinner, you wouldn’t believe the howls of disgust and protest I receive from the family. Especially if, like Knox-Johnson, I’m naked.
Seriously though, Knox-Johnston returned to complete another solo navigation at age 67, setting the record as the oldest yachtsman to do so. He’s now 85 and still going strong, so why the Wellness Movement hasn’t created a Knox-Johnston-inspired nutrition plan is a mystery. Clearly, it works.
But I digress.
Dad caught in a Knox-Johnson Moment - Indonesia.
The Chaos of Family Life
We’ve been raising our kids on a sailboat for over seven years now, circumnavigating the globe. It’s not easy I have to confess. If you haven’t seen Michael McIntyre’s comedy routine on YouTube about leaving the house with kids, do watch it. Because, then you’ll understand that there are normal people who think nothing of leaving the house. Then, there are people with kids. People who can’t find keys, shoes, or phones; people whose youngest child doesn’t want to leave and whose eldest is having a digital meltdown; people who are asked by their spouse to “stop shouting” and insist, quietly, that they’re definitely not shouting.
There are normal people who think nothing of leaving the house - then, there are people with kids.
A Home to Return to - Hopefully.
Similarly, there’ll be normal people who think there could be nothing more magical than lowering a dinghy into a turquoise sea and heading to the beach to explore some exotic shoreline. Then there’ll be people with kids, who, before leaving, need to remember to switch on the anchor and cockpit lights for an unscheduled, after-dark return, lock away water toys to deter theft, turn off the gas and inverter to prevent fires and explosions, set the anchor alarm and check weather forecasts and tide tables to make sure there’ll still be a home where they left it, when and if they return.
Switch on the anchor and cockpit lights, lock away toys, turn off gas and inverter, set anchor alarm and check weather forecasts and tide tables, then you're almost ready to go to shore! - Indonesia.
Kids at Sea, a Realty Check
These same people (let’s call them parents) who have to strong-arm the kids into slipping, slopping and slapping because of unrelenting UV, and when they finally, almost reach that elusive shoreline realise that the fuel tank is empty, the seabed is full of urchins, and the reef shoes have been left on the aft deck.
And just to rub salt into the wound, there’ll be a retired couple sipping a cold G&T on their boat (because they had time to fix their freezer compressor) watching the commotion with misty-eyes, who tell you later how much they regret not taking their kids on such a magnificent adventure when they were younger.
Getting to and from shore isn't as easy at it first seems, especially if you forget to check the tide! - Suriname
The Dream vs. The Reality.
Recently, I was invited to contribute to Jimmy Cornell’s new World Voyage Planner to expand the chapter on sailing with kids. There’s been an uptick in families escaping the rat race and taking to the seas with children, and Jimmy wanted to address the scarcity of advice for these families
Now, there are a few resources available, like Voyaging with Kids by Behan Gifford, (which could use an update in the wake of post-COVID and introduction of Starlink), and the Facebook group Kids4Sail. But authentic, down-to-earth advice is still surprisingly hard to find.
Many family sailing YouTubers, ourselves included, deliver a “You can do it too!” message, but perhaps underplay the challenges somewhat. Family issues don’t vanish when you leave the dock. It’s easy to film when things are going smoothly and create beautiful Instagram posts and Youtube stories, but harder to capture the difficult moments. So, those often go undocumented.
The Facebook group Kids4Sail is one of the few authentic, places to get down-to-earth advice from parents out there, doing it.
When Family Dynamics Meet Life Off-Grid
For instance, we were gifted a compact, expensive camera by a filmmaker to document our Pacific crossing. But when one of our kids started filming another during an emotional moment, it ended with the camera being knocked out of his hand and destroyed.
If sailing families decide to throw in the towel, as is sometimes the case, they usually fade quietly, back to land without any fanfare. But I believe it’s important to communicate both the highs and lows of this lifestyle for a balanced perspective.
Suzanne Heywood’s ‘Wavewalker’: A Candid Perspective
One notable exception to the “dream” narrative is Wavewalker by Suzanne Heywood. It recounts her upbringing on her family’s boat and is a harrowing story of survival, safety challenges, and isolation. The fact that it became a bestseller speaks volumes about the demand for a candid, honest look at travelling with, and raising kids off-grid.
"Wavewalker" by Suzanne Heywood - a notable exception to the “dream” narrative
Practical Advice for Family Sailing Adventures
My advice to anyone thinking of taking up boat life with their family is, ease in gradually and don’t expect it to solve all family dynamics. Embrace flexibility, especially with schooling, since maintenance, weather, and unexpected stopovers will throw schedules to the wind. Keep the kids involved in navigation, chores, and even night watches to foster responsibility and resilience.
If you get Starlink, set boundaries on screen time to prevent losing them to their devices entirely. Social life is key for kids, so seek out buddy boats and family connections when you can, but remember, friendships literally drift with the tides. Lastly, plan for those inevitable boat repairs: nothing tests patience quite like an unexpected boatyard stretch.
The Beautiful, Messy Balance of Family Life at Sea
There are without question moments of wonder, peace and laughter in unexpected places; there are also sleepless nights, exasperation, and a constant need to adapt; where love, frustration, and resilience are tested to their limits.
Travelling with family means sharing the adventure, building a lifetime of stories and viewing the world through a multitude of eyes.
Sailing the world with your family isn’t about ticking off locations (although there is undoubtedly some of that!) but about sharing real adventure, building a lifetime of stories that will always be more than a social media reel. Our own journey has reminded us that, while any damn fool can sail the world solo, doing it with a family means you savour it with different tastes and view it through a multitude of eyes.
But perhaps avert those eyes briefly if Dad has another ‘Knox-Johnson’ moment and decides to reach for the corned beef and pickled onions.
