How Do You Prepare to Become a Full-Time Cruising Family?

We are Jumping in to the Deep End and Becoming a Full Time Cruising Family!

When thinking about what it takes to prepare for our upcoming transition from our current life to living and cruising full time aboard Summer Kai starting this June, I think I can sum it up by saying it takes a big dream, gumption, determination, and lots of preparation to make everything happen. It also takes some (okay a lot of) guidance from those who have done it already. It seems odd to me that all four of us are excited yet calm about what awaits us when we move aboard Summer Kai. I think that's because we have found the idea of simplifying our life liberating. However, the logistics associated with casting off seem complicated and overwhelming. That’s where having support and advice from other cruisers comes in handy.

There are several sources of information that have been helpful for us. At a time when we were searching frantically for any snippet of information about transitioning to a full time cruising family, we came across manual of sorts for exactly what we were planning on doing. The book is called Voyaging with Kids and it has become our go-to guide for becoming full-time cruisers with kids. 

After reading this book, our biggest hurdles suddenly became easier to figure out: homeschooling, receiving mail, boat provisioning, safety, etc. We had the pleasure of spending time with one of the authors of Voyaging with Kids, Behan Gifford, at Cruisers University in Annapolis last week. Behan has wealth of knowledge about cruising full time with kids. She has been sailing around the world on her sailboat Totem with her husband Jamie and her three kids for the past 9 years. Talk about an inspiring family! (check out their website - it's fun to read about their adventures) 

Behan and Pam Wall (another inspiring sailor), and the other presenters at Cruisers U offered up some very helpful and insightful information. I can honestly say we left Annapolis with a newfound excitement and a lot more confidence about our upcoming adventures. And as an added bonus, a wonderful new set of friends who have the same dreams as we do.

As we prepare to wrap up our land lives over the next few weeks, we know that our adventures aboard Summer Kai will be filled with new experiences and the quality family time that can be difficult to find with all that comes with living on "land". We are thankful to the many people who have cruised the waters ahead of us and have blogged or written books about their experiences. We look forward to sharing our experiences too! If you are interested in hearing about our adventures, you can sign up to follow our blog. Fair winds!