Floating Doctors

[joethecobbler]

J. Hawkins - funny I was thinking /hoping they would abandon the voyage a bit earlier, maybe south florida or even haiti !
Of course I would have to add a mizzen , as I could never afford to feed those two diesels. And having been aboard and seeing how the interior was chopped up , and at 7 foot of draft I might have to cut off 3-4' of keel to make it more ICW friendly, it might be more work than it's worth.
I would be interested to know what if anything they paid for the vessel to begin with , as they had it at the dock of the original owner in Palm coast FL. for quite a while as the "re-fit" it for there purposes.

[NCountry]

Just a thougt. I know there are people on this site from Florida. Wouldn't it be a worthy and honorable thing to help these people out. There are people all over the world that need help and judging by some of the comments I read here I'm sure some of this sites members have the resources and or knowledge to make some sort of (not monetary) contribution. Heck, even offering to take this guy out on a sailboat for a day or two would be a good thing. It's quite possible you might actually gain something meaningful from the experience.....

[joethecobbler]

I think the "Beatles" said it best in one of their songs. "ask me for a contribution, well you know, we all want to save the world" or something to that extent.
But it was nice of you to suggest that someone else make an effort to assist based on your perception of their financial ability and the percieved worthyness of their cause.
I initially tried to bite my tongue but . . . well, I think a major motivation for many of these not-for-profit individuals and groups with far flung ideas is just a way to get others to fund their travel interests (certainly beats working for a living).
Based on my own observations of this particular effort and the level of planning(or lack there of) I think maybe it won't "float" long and I'll be suprised if they even get to Haiti there first intended stop !
I recently found another "Craig's list" add soliciting assistence for this effort asking for basically anything you can offer (lawn chairs,dinghy boat,etc.)
If this effort was anywhere near getting ready for a Nov. 2009 departure (as indicated on their websight) I would have thought they would have most, if not all the small stuff handled already.
What initialy sounded like a good thing is beginning to sound like a failed attempt due to poor planning and unrealistic expectations and a complete lack of proper funding and sponsorship .
I hope I 've got it all wrong, time will be the ultimate judge .

[Cruisingdad]

I have reached out to the organization and am having some discussions with them. From initial discussions, they appear to be a group of folks doing the right thing for the right reasons. If this turns out to be true, we will try and support them in their efforts.

- CD

[joethecobbler]

CD- who is "we" and in what manner, aside from moral support, do you intend to "support" them ?
just curious.

[Cruisingdad]

Just to be clear, I have NOT endorsed this organization yet. I am still checking them out.

[gtod25]

When I saw their earliest posts, and so far I managed....... but... shouldn't the project be called "Floating Doctor" as only Dr. LaBrot is a qualified MD.
Lots of "phlebotomist" aka an individual trained to draw blood. Lots of "pre-" somethings. Nick's Army service helped but it did not mention any VFW experience.

As most of us here know, traveling by sailboat is probably the dumbest and most expensive way to get anywhere, unless you are doing it for fun.

I wish them well, however, but as I have had some experience of watching well intentioned but misguided aid missions in a variety on countries including, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Guatemala it makes me just a little cynical. But, I have been wrong before and would be delighted to be proven wrong in this case.

[joethecobbler]

CD-shouldn't be too hard to "check them out" as I suspect they'll still be tied to the dock for a while, I base this presumption on personal obsevations and the fact that they are still soliciting for basic items , I made reference to in an earlier post.
Or you could always just sail here to east coast florida and visit w/ them!

[tdw]

In defence of their 'green' stance.....their website is more comparing the fuel usage of a motor sailor to the fuel usage of a jet.

All in all however, I'd rather donate to something like this and find my money down the drain than be ripped off by the likes of Bernard Madoff.

[CrazyRu]

In my opinion, this project
EYE of the World
is a lot more qualified for our help and donations.
They bring the world into US classrooms, instead of spreading our grandness on other countries.

Guys are young, but they are experienced sailors, they have sound SAILING boat and they still need a few things...