Hi, we are a family of 4 (kids are 9 and 11) looking for our first (and hopefully only) cruising boat. In our search we fell in love with junk rigs, mostly for the ease of sailing, as family cruising is usually short or even single handed. We found a boat that ticks a lot of boxes and would suit us well in many ways, but we are concerned the cockpit is too small/not safe or comfortable enough, which would make it a deal breaker.

The boat is an Embrun design by Maurice Amiet, which is based on Bernard Moitessier's Joshua. Steel blue water cruiser, designed as a junk, which definitely will go where we want to go and the small cockpit allows for roomy cabins and a good sized salon in a relatively small boat, which we appreciate. On the other side there is really no way all four of us can hang out in the cockpit, which means less safety when all of us want to be on deck.

Maya (link to the listing)

Any advice/thoughts/experiences would be very welcome.

The plan is to start with daysailing/weekend trips here at the west coast of Scotland, then take longer cruises to the Med, Scandinavia, Baltic until the kids and I can be away from the UK for more than 6 months at a time and then go voyaging full time for a few years with an emphasis on high latitude sailing, but also some time spent in the tropics.