What about you, would you raise your children on board?

Eleven years ago Bruce and Tiffany Halabisky decided to give up their everyday life, buy a small 1952 wooden boat and sail around the world. Today, after two having also had two daughters, strictly born on board, they still have not stopped. A story that made our editorial staff fall in love.

A COURSE 11 YEARS LONG
The Halabisky family set sail from Canada in 2004 aboard Vixen (a 34-foot wooden vessel designed in 1950 by John Atkin and launched in 1952), after spending about two years getting it in order. She has not stopped since. “We visited over thirty countries and met countless people. Our longest stop was a year and a half in New Zealand, where our daughter Solianna was born. In 2010 our second daughter Seffa Jane was born instead as soon as we reached Brazil,” says Bruce in their blog. In recounting this adventure on our website We asked if you would have your children born and raised on board. Result? You have really divided yourselves! Let us know what you think!

YOUR COMMENTS
– Without judging those who do it…I wouldn’t have done it
Marco Shock

– Thinking back now to the difficulties inherent in such a choice I think not.
Gianni Pisanu

– The children learned more on that trip than going to school. Then they are always on time. Indeed!
Marco Francini

– Yes, through difficulties and experiences, you grow more than many books!!! And the boat is a very good example.
Maximilian Martelli

– I honestly find it a bit limiting for a child.
Sira Sylla

– Hats off to this family!!! I do not fully understand all the implications of such a choice, but my hat is off to you either way! And what a boat they did this with.
Alessandro Iacono

– Yes, without any doubt. I have a son who has lived on a boat for years, and I am proud of him.
Maurizio Maritati

– What I have noticed from knowing families living on boats is that the children are more mature than their peers living at home. True as well, that they have no companions to compare and share emotions. Too complex and very subjective discussions.
Maurizio Montanari

– Yes a little would be good. But then they should be with other children to socialize.
Roberto Delconte

– With 40 years less, definitely yes. My son got on the boat at 9 months old and my daughter at 40 days old. But that time going to live on a boat was very disruptive, and for two earthlings we were already original like that.
Daniela Marabini

– A child confined to a cabin cruiser breaks his balls after an hour, has no friends to play and socialize with, no fields to run on, is always with his parents, and does not interact with strangers… result: misfits.
Mario Rivale

– I am 18 years old, and I can assure you that despite my boundless love for the sea and sailing, I could not live without interpersonal relationships with my peers. Only in this way can a person prepare to face life. Life in society is not an innate gift; it is learned from childhood by practicing it.
Riccardo Rinaldi

– I apologize but there are a number of inaccuracies. We are talking about “boat-born” children, so that is the environment that imprinted them, not the land. The boat is their world. Second, there are two of them and they keep each other company (like mine)….
Daniela Marabini

– It is a matter of deciding what is normal. The child will choose when he grows up. What about those who live in the mountains? Normal are our cities polluted?
Daniela Marabini

– A child cannot choose what he has never experienced.
Above all, he cannot adapt to doing a job for which he has not studied. Doing a classical or scientific high school in the middle of the sea is almost impossible as well as a technical college….Other…
Riccardo Rinaldi

– In fact, their longest stay was in New Zealand-a year and a half-where daughter Solianna was born, and in 2010 their second daughter, Seffa Jane, was born after landing in Brazil. To me they are “Heroes.”
Antó Stoduto

– You are outraged if a child is not sent to school, but for these it is okay. Hypocrites.
Carmela Rosano

– Unbelievable! I read tremendous comments. Deprivation of freedom, constraint! Lost human relationships! But you guys are crazy. They are children only a few years old. Mah now I understand more and more why we are in such a world of M..
Marco Francini

– They would raise these children, much better than many, when they grow up they could teach other children, much more than many teachers….
Fabrizio Vecchioni

– Absolutely not! I waited until it was big before I went out to sea! I have seen children on the one hand overgrown and on the other eager for companionship but struggling!
Vincenzo Napolitano

– It is simple and pure selfishness. I would like to, but I wouldn’t feel like forcing my children to give up so many things, friends, grandparents, and group sports in order to ultimately live like gypsies. Some choices have to be made in the first person.
Gianfranco Orecchio