Kids' feat and other adventures at sea
Teenage solo round the world!
Dutchwoman Laura Decker, barely 16 years old, completed her circumnavigation in just 366 days on board Guppy, her 37 foot sailboat. A feat that run into trouble from the onset, as a court of law deemed that safety conditions were not met and prohibited her voyage. After a legal wranglings, the parents were given the responsibility to let their daughter commence her trip.
Showing great resolve, the young woman describes herself as foremost a sailor (albeit stubborn!). Born on board her parents’ yacht, she helmed for the first time at 4 years old! At 8, she started dreaming of ocean passages and thenceforth nothing could stop her.
“All I wish is see the world, taste foreign cultures and experience life” was her comment to the press. When not sailing or at school, Laura busies herself with boat maintenance and repairs. Obviously her life’s course is set.
Fair winds dear Laura!
Laura Dekker à bord de son voilier Guppy.
Bunch of kids go to sea.
A merry gang of children from Paros’ sailing school was seen revelling in the Kyklades islands in July 2010.
9 kids tested a Pahi catamaran during an entire day of pure boating fun. Upgrading from a 9’ Optimist dinghy to a 53’ oceangoing catamaran was for most of them an incredible experience. Merrily abiding to the captain’s orders, they toiled with sails and controls, mastering the beast, on a 7 mile long reach to the “Blue Lagoon”. Sworn to secrecy, lest others would discover the hidden spot, they were given liberty to party at will on the spacious decks and in the turquoise waters before beating back to base in 20 knots of wind!
The cruise of the Dazzler
Jack London
Joe could no longer blind himself to the facts. His mind was in a whirl of apprehension. If he had done wrong, he reasoned, he had done it through ignorance; and he did not feel shame for the past so much as he did fear for the future. His companions were thieves and robbers--the bay pirates, of whose wild deeds he had heard vague tales. And here he was, right in the midst of them, already possessing information which could send them to prison. This very fact, he knew, would force them to keep a sharp watch upon him and so lessen his chances of escape. But escape he would, at the very first opportunity.
from 9 years old
The Archipelago on Fire
Jules Verne
Nicholas Starkos, captain of the Karysta returns to Vitlyo, Greece only to be denied entry into the home where he was born by his own mother who denounces what he has become. In the late 1820's the Greeks and Turks were at war. Lt. Henry d'Albaret of the French navy, along with other Frenchmen has joined the Greeks in this conflict. Henry is wounded during a battle and after his recovery meets Hadjine Elizundo the charming daughter of his banker. Plans are put into place for the two to get married, until Nicholas Starkos comes to the banker making demands of his own for Hadjine's hand in marriage. Hadjine wants nothing to do with Nicholas Starkos and discovers the secret that Starkos holds over her father.
from 10 years old
Isaac the Pirate
Christophe Blain
Isaac is a talented artist with no money but with a wonderful lover back in the 18th century. He runs into a rich Captain who is taken by his abilities and hires him with a handsome stipend to come along in his voyages. It turns out he’s a pirate. Isaac went to make some quick money and come back and marry the love of his life but has embarked upon a series of at turns hilarious and dark adventures on the high seas from the Caribbean to the icy North, with apparently no end in sight. Meanwhile, his girlfriend is getting attention from another.
from 10 years old
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?
from 9 years old
Planning a family trip to Greece? Think twice before you buy this toy!
"My family was planning a vacation to Europe, so I purchased this item to teach my twins about what to expect at the airport and hopefully, alleviate some of their anxiety. We also downloaded the actual TSA security checklist from the American Airlines website and then proceeded with our demonstration.
Well, first we had to round up a Barbie and a few Bratz dolls to play the other family members, so that cost us a few extra bucks at the Dollar General and it is aggravating that the manufacturer did not make this product "family-friendly." Of course, since the playmobil Dad could not remove his shoes or other clothing items, unlike the Barbie, the playmobil security agent became suspicious and after waving her wand wildy a few dozen times, called her supervisor to wisk the Dad into a special body-cavity search room, (which incidentally led to quite an embarasing and interesting discussion with my twin daughters about personal hygiene and a slight adjustment to the rules we had them memorize about touching by strangers). But worst of all, since the suitcase did not actually open, the baggage inspector made a call to the FBI and ATF bomb squads which then segregated the family's suitcase (which btw was the only suitcase they provided for our educational family experience) and according to the advanced TSA regulations, had to blow it up, (since they could not otherwise mutilate the luggage, break off the locks and put one of those nice little advisory stickers on it), which we had to simulate out in the backyard with a few M-80s and other fireworks. The girls started crying. They became so hysterical by the whole experience that we could not even get them in the car when the time came to actually take our trip, and so we had to cancel the whole thing at the last minute, losing over $7,000 in airfare and hotel charges that we could not recoup do to the last minute cancellations. We've now spent an additional $3,000 to pay for the girls therapy and medication over the past year since this incident occurred, and the psychologists have told us that this will affect them for life, so much for their college fund and our retirement.
Then, to top it all off, when we tried to use to playmobil phone to call the company to ask for reimbursement, as you might expect, of course the damn thing didn't even work; neither did our efforts to e-mail them using the computer screen on the baggage checkpoint; and our real-life efforts to contact them to obtain re-imbursement have also likewise been ignored.
Worse yet, we had the product tested and found out that it was positive for both lead paint and toxic chemicals, having been manufactured in China by workers holding formerly American jobs, so now we all have cancer and have been given only another year or so to live.
My advice - educating your kids about airport security with this toy may actually be more harmful to them than just packing them in the damn luggage with some bottled water & hoping they survive. :)"
Bareboat charter 
Aventure books and other pirate stories.