Keep Your Head in the Game: The Importance of Visualization

Cheap umbrella strollers with simple stroller connectors were a well-thought solution for twin travel

"Wow, you sure think a lot." My mom and I taking the girls on a walk and I was verbally working out whether or not a collapsible wagon should or could replace our umbrella strollers (that we make into a double stroller with these great stroller connectors) when we head back to the boat in October. "I mean, the wagon is more practical," I started. "I would be able to cover more terrain and it'd be great for the beach and lugging more gear..." I paused, playing the scenario through in my head. "But then again, when I'm getting the girls off the boat and onto the dock, I do this one at a time, and grab the other from the boat after the first one is clipped in." I stalled, thinking further. "So if we do get a wagon, we'd need one that I can clip the girls into so that the one in the cart cannot get out while I'm going to the boat to load up the other one."

I have more thinking (and research) to do.

Would something like this make sense? Hmmm....

Scenarios like this one are constantly going through my head. If there is one thing that both cruising and children teach a person, it's the importance of staying one step ahead of the game. When it comes to kids and boats, things can go from hunky dory to hell in a matter of seconds, and the secret to preventing this (or at least making sure it happens with less frequency) is preparation. There's no way around it. You don't prepare, you're going to have problems. Period.

Bringing three toddlers to live on a 44 foot sailboat requires a tremendous amount of forethought. It's not a matter of just packing up the kids aboard and winging it (though no matter what there will be a trial and error "learn as you go" aspect). With fewer or no kids perhaps you can be more cavalier (we can tell you emphatically that cruising as a couple and cruising with only one young child is infinitely easier than cruising with three) - but given our experience of being outnumbered by babies, I am here to say that it is totally do-able, but requires planning. I am 100% positive that the last eight months on the boat would not have gone nearly as well if we hadn't prepared as thoroughly as we did. But, like anything cruising and parenting, no matter how much you prepare - you're going to get caught with your pants down once and a while. Shit happens. Mother Nature takes no orders and children cannot be programmed. Things don't always go to plan.

But - and this is a big one - having a plan will greatly lessen your chances of bedlam in both babies and boating, that is for certain.

"I have to think like this," I explained to my mom. "A professional athlete doesn't win a game by hitting the field and simply trying their best" I told her. "The most successful athletes are strategists - they envision a game before it's played, work out their moves, and visualize different scenarios and their reactions ahead of time." I realize I am far from a professional athlete, but this visualization process is something I remember from my days as a varsity runner and has helped us tremendously in our cruising life. Sure, my nighttime sleep might be compromised (these scenarios often play out when I am lying in bed) but things like infant dinghy seats and awesome twin v-berth bunks result from these sessions.

This awesome and innovative dinghy seat (we're patenting it!) was the result of LOTS of visualizing and planning

Take now, for example. Our girls are more mobile, curious and rambunctious than ever. Because of work commitments (more on this later), we are going to be based in a marina when we return down island (with weekly excursions to sail and anchor out). Docks frighten me WAY more than being at anchor or at sea with our girls and I know that I am going to have to be super vigilant about making sure they are safe. Which brings me to the current conundrum I am tirelessly thinking about and researching (aside from the wagon): what is the best and most practical floatation device that can keep our girls safe while running around a marina, but not so cumbersome that it makes them miserable and inhibits their ability to climb and play? While I think I may have found a solution (it's in the mail), I am open to suggestions. Either way, I have faith I that I will figure something out. Necessity is the mother of invention, which is yet another lesson brought to you by both boating and parenting.

If you are dreaming of doing something, anything, I say: start visualizing. Read books, blogs and articles that can help shape the accuracy of your mental picture. It's this imaginative blueprint that is the first step in making things happen; from the great ("Let's cross the Pacific!") to the mundane ("Let's get a collapsible wagon!"). Hopefully, for us, we start leaning more toward the "great" again...when our kids are a little older, that is. Visualizing crossing an ocean with three toddlers looks a lot like hell in my mind!

To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan... believe... act!

- Alfred A. Montapert