>From George Nason. Received as a bounce for some reason, which I will look into. Alan Wagner Listmaster _____ From: George Nason [mailto:naso@bigpond.com] Sent: Monday, September 06, 2010 4:06 PM To: passagemaking-under-power-bounces@lists.samurai.com Subject: Passagemaking Ken wrote 'Like you, when Roberta and I contemplated crossing the Pacific, we started by trying to assemble a convoy. I worked for a year and even had 17 boats signed up at one point, only to have all of them bail out, including my own boat. It's tough to get a group together for a major passage, but is the only way I would ever cross an ocean. I can't imagine being Egret, on a 24 day passage, alone.' Well I did the crossing from Galapagos to the Marquesas in 23 days alone at 5.4 knot average with a guy I did not like (just the two of us on a 43 ft Nordhavn). This happened through poor interviewing technique. There is a psyche test somewhere I found out later. I was in a jam and he was recommended by an acquaintance. He was paid crew by the way. If I had done this with some of the crew I have had since then the 23 days would not have been an issue. One of the biggest mistakes people make IMHO in boats this size is taking on too many crew. My wife and I can easily cope with 7 to 10 day passages. Rigid watch keeping periods at night and flexible hours during day seemed to work for us. Good luck with the list George. I will contribute although agree with Ken that it seems to need a 'spark'. Cheers George 'Venture' <www.venture.talkspot.com> PS Fuel here in the marina in Mackay, North Queensland is USD 6.15/USG. 'Egret' may have done a deal but Australia is a very expensive place to fill up.

George: Your negative crew experience brought back memories of all the bad crew experiences I've had, as well as the multitude of horror stories I've heard, and witnessed, from others. My wife and I prefer cruising alone, but usually bring on crew for longer, or difficult, passages. Over the years I've probably had twenty different people onboard as crew (I'm not including friends in this number.) Of these, I count four that were absolute disasters, and a couple more that were borderline. This is an over-20% failure rate. I don't know how this failure rate stacks up against the average. Perhaps I'm just bad at interviewing? I'm somewhat skeptical about personality testing potential crew (paid or unpaid) prior to a voyage. It's tough to believe it really works. Probably the best strategy is to not have anyone along on a long voyage who you haven't run a shorter voyage with. Aside from competency, my #1 worry, in bringing on crew, is: drugs and alcohol. No matter how exhaustively we interview, drug and alcohol problems can arise. I've had more than one alcohol associated 'incident' occur with crew. Historically, I've told new crew that I'd be searching everything that comes on the boat, for contraband, but have never actually done so. Of course, I should actually do the searches, because if drugs are ever found on my boat, by customs officials, they won't care that they aren't mine. It could be 'goodbye boat' and I doubt insurance would cover the loss. My feeling is that if I perceive a need to search someone, they shouldn't be coming aboard. But, that's really a flawed strategy. There's an argument that more young adults take drugs than their own parents know, despite living in the same house for nearly two decades. Identifying potentially troublesome crew isn't simple. Ny current strategy is to limit crew to persons I've used in the past, and if they aren't available, use someone who comes highly recommended from someone I trust. Sleep on a passage is critical, and there aren't many people I trust enough that I feel safe sleeping. As to optimal crew size, on a long passage, I tend to think that 'more is better,' although there is a point of diminishing returns after three people. With three solid competent people, life on a passage is very good. I normally run three-hour shifts, and the short shifts, with a full six hours of sleep, is a real luxury. We maintain this schedule around the clock, and each person decides for himself or herself what to do with their downtime. The problem with having two persons on a long passage is that if one person becomes incapacitated, you have a dangerous situation. Of course, many sailboats have circumnavigated single-handed, so it arguably isn't 'that' dangerous, but powerboats aren't sailboats. Ken Williams Sans Souci, Nordhavn 68 ------ Well I did the crossing from Galapagos to the Marquesas in 23 days alone at 5.4 knot average with a guy I did not like (just the two of us on a 43 ft Nordhavn). This happened through poor interviewing technique. There is a psyche test somewhere I found out later. I was in a jam and he was recommended by an acquaintance. He was paid crew by the way. If I had done this with some of the crew I have had since then the 23 days would not have been an issue. One of the biggest mistakes people make IMHO in boats this size is taking on too many crew. My wife and I can easily cope with 7 to 10 day passages. Rigid watch keeping periods at night and flexible hours during day seemed to work for us. Cheers George 'Venture'