Child-friendly cruising skills

We hammered along the wild coasts a bit too enthusiastically

- LIBBY PURVES

Wisely, this issue addresses the practicalities of making your boat child-friendly: indeed many sensible adjustments are good for all, since adult humans too get clumsy and accident-prone when tired or sick. A morbid imagination is an excellent thing when installing any gear or system.

But it is exhilarating to reflect that boats are by nature definitely child-friendly. Not necessarily safe, but appealing: it runs from the first bathtime discovery of buoyancy, on through the fascination of pirates, explorers and victories. Any toddler drags its parents towards a boating lake. Some, like the late great editor of this magazine, Des Sleightholme, began their career in short trousers trying to navigate an old door across a duckpond.