Crew

Ever since I bought the boat, I've been trying to get it setup for singlehanding. However, since I don't have a ton of experience and have only sailed Aurora a couple times, I'm a little concerned about taking her out alone. Once I get her in the water, I do plan to shake her down for about a month before I take off.

However, I have had a couple of people offer to crew for me, so I've been thinking about taking someone on my initial trip South. The only problem with that scenario is that you never really know what you're going to get. Since I'm not from here, I don't know these people or have any way of checking them out. Also, I still don't know when she'll be ready, so I don't have a departure date or initial destination -- destination will be somewhat dependent on the date, as well as the weather.

Anyway, I'm leaning toward not taking any crew at this point. I don't plan to take any chances, but an unknown crew seems like a bigger risk than relying solely on myself. Over the years, I've become aware of the huge difference in skill level and competencies of people in all sorts of activities and professions. I have a good idea of what I know and and what I don't know, but it's really hard to tell about other people unless you spend some time with them, and time's not something I have a lot of right now.

I've also found it sort of amusing what people consider as must haves for sailboats. I spoke to a guy a few days ago who claimed to have over 30,000 sea miles who was adamant that I must have a generator, water maker, and radar. The generator is required because the water maker and radar use so much power. I've already decided that I don't want a radar -- my AIS is probably better -- and as long as I don't have a lot of crew, I can carry plenty of water and replenish my supply while at sea during rain storms. People sailed long distances long before generators, water makers, and radars were invented.

I plan to keep it simple. The less you have, the less that can go wrong or break. Obviously that goes for equipment, but I think you can apply it to crew as well.

Zoe watch:

We're both beat, so we've already had our walk and are ready for bed. I'm listening to the Yankees game and following the Stros on my phone, but since the Yanks are winning big, and the Stros loosing big, I'm not sure how long we'll make it -- Zoe's already lost interest and is about to fall asleep.