Keeping the boy on the Boat

At all costs, I want to keep L on the dry side of the water. I think that my greatest fear as a parent of a baby living on a boat is that he somehow gets into the water. During the winter, there was little concern as we were shrink-wrapped and there was no access to the water from inside the wrap unless the door was open. We installed a latch high up on the door where it could not be reached and a bolt style lock that could be locked while L. was playing in the cockpit on the warm winter days. However, since removing the wrap we have now had to develop a much more conscientious plan to keeping him safe. We have devised a three part plan to keeping L. safe.

The first part of the plan is to install netting all around the life lines of the boat. Our life lines are about two feet high and come up to L.’s forehead when he stands up against them. So filling in the space between the lines and the deck is a great first step in keeping him safe.

Second, I will install jacklines on both sides of the deck running from the cockpit to the bow. Jacklines are a length of line that is pulled tight between two attachments usually tight to the deck. Then what we will do is use a harness on L. that we will be connected to a tether that is attached to the jackline. (I know – its called a leash. But this is for sailors so we have to use fancy terms.) This will give him the run of the deck on the side he is clipped in on but still keep him attached to the boat. The tether will be about 2 ½ feet long which will allow him to reach the life line but not beyond if somehow he did figure out a way to get through the netting on the lifelines.

And finally – anytime he goes outside, he has to wear a lifejacket. If somehow he gets off the tether/harness and somehow he gets over or through the lifelines and ends up in the water – he will have the lifejacket on to keep him afloat. Eventually, I might add a water warning system to his lifejacket that sets off an alarm if it gets wet. (I saw them on TV once.) Plus we have enrolled him in swimming lessons that again adds to the safety of having a baby on board.

A. and I have really set the rules for ourselves. We want L. to have freedom while living on a boat but we want him to be safe as well. I suppose that a kid living on dirt in the city has a fence around the yard for much the same reason – to keep him safe. This is the same thing – just different. Does that make sense?