Friday, February 8, 2008

Divide and Conquer?

At this point we have more offshore crew than we need, and everyone seems pretty serious about going. There are 8 interested.

Madness will have 4 sea bunks with leecloths by the time we leave. This is with the V berth left empty, and two sharing the double in the aft cabin. The double will have two leecloths, one down the center, and one inboard, so nobody will be spooning. With two on watch, that leaves room for 6 total, and that is hot-bunking, which is not everyone's favorite approach.

Bruce and Karl are concerned about the duration of the trip, and would prefer a shorter time away from work due to vacation limits and job resonsibilities.

The itinerary discuusion held on ssca.org (re-published on this site) on NE-Bermuda-VI vs. NE-OuterBanks-VI leads me to understand that the Bermuda route has shorter segments that are not significantly more dangerous and it's longest leg is shorter than the Outer Banks route.

Considering these three factors, I am strongly favoring the Bermuda route with a subset of each team on each leg. What comes to mind is:


  1. NE - Bermuda
    Crew: Walter, Walter, Bruce, Karl
    Duration: ~ 5 days
  2. Bermuda 1
    Crew: Same as above
    Visitors: Guests of above
    Duration: up to 1 week
  3. Bermuda 2 (may overlap with Bermuda 1)
    Crew: Same as below:
    Visitors: Guests of below
    Duration: up to 1week
  4. Bermuda - VIs
    Crew: Walter, Jack, Mike, Martin, Bob
    Duration: ~7 days

I know that Martin, Bob and Walter S are interested in making the whole trip, but that did not include an extended stay in Bermuda. I have not discussed this with Jack and Mike.

This plan works well for me, in that I get to spend a couple of weeks in Bermuda, which should not be tortorous at all. if we get more visitors than harbor bunks (6 assuming 1 couple, 2 couples makes it way more comfortable), there are hotels, and we could rotate to share the experience and the costs.

The down side is that if anyone wants to go the whole way, it could take over a month, or extra airline travel. Also, if people drop out, we are closer to dropping below the minimum. I think three is the undesireable bare minimum, four or five - ideal.

The upside is that everyone gets to go, we have good size crews, I have experienced crew on each leg, we get to stay in bermuda and bring guests, and we have a shorter longest leg.

Please consider whether this plan works for you and add your comments below so the whole team can consider them. I would like to use the site to record the discussion. I am going to try to have it send you an eamil alert when there is a posting or comment, please let me know if you do not want that.

Walter

2 comments:

Jack said...

Leg 4 works great for Mike and I. Good length of time, etc. We don't need to stay in Bermuda, unless you need crew, so that frees up berths for guests in Bermuda.
Jack O'Rourke

Seawater said...
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