How We
Hooked The Kids
This mom decided to instill a love of boating in her three little girls, hoping it
would make them enthusiastic about the cruising life. So far, it’s working!
— By Danielle Zartman
“I
couldn’t do it,” my cousin Elizabeth said, shaking her head after
hearing my plans. My husband Ben and I, and our kids, were about
to go sailing for a year. Elizabeth and I had been driving south with
my three daughters, Antigone, 5, Emily, 3, and Damaris, 9 months,
visiting friends and family along the way. San Diego was the last stop. Ben
would arrive in a day or two after having sailed Ganymede, our Cape George
31-foot pilot cutter, from San Francisco around the southern tip of Baja,
California, and north into the Sea of Cortez. I admit, I was a little nervous.
During the past three years that Ben had spent
building Ganymede from a bare hull, I’d done my
best to include Antigone, our oldest daughter, in lit-
tle jobs to help her feel part of our upcoming adven-
ture. Her “help” may have slowed progress down at
times, but in this way the boat became hers, too.
More than a few fiberglass panels and bits of trim
have her crayon drawings on their backsides, and
she was always eager to help sharpen pencils on her
father’s hand-grinder. Nearer the completion of the
project, her sister Emily began to add a helping hand
and the two girls measured bits of wood and turned
the heads of lots of screws. They helped me with
pins and measuring tape while I sewed upholstery
for the berths and settee, and, of course, were espe-
cially excited when I cut up some Bambi-pattern
sheets to fit their own tiny mattresses. When all that
was done, we celebrated by camping out in the boat
right in our own backyard. In the chilly darkness
after supper, we baked cookies in the boat’s oven to
have with hot cocoa and marshmallows on the fore-
deck. It was so much fun that we stayed a second
night before packing up and returning to the house.
