Kernix-

Go down on Friday... It'll help get you adapted to the boat's motion and make seasickness less likely... and besides, it'll be time to get familiar with the boat and her systems... and with your fellow crew.

If being on a boat with total strangers is a problem... don't go cruising..

 

eh, it's part of the experience. Thats like asking, why go camping when there is a perfectly good motel nearby.

 

Whenever we plan an extended cruise with invited crew, I advise our guests to spend the night before onboard. Aside from the reasons stated above, there will be no risk of a late departure due to someone getting to the boat too late.

I like to leave at first light, to provide as much daylight as possible upon anchoring for the night after the journey's first leg.

 

Kernix-

Go down on Friday... It'll help get you adapted to the boat's motion and make seasickness less likely... and besides, it'll be time to get familiar with the boat and her systems... and with your fellow crew.

If being on a boat with total strangers is a problem... don't go cruising..

I can be on a boat with strangers - but I'd prefer to have my own boat and have my friends aboard.

 

Okay - just hope there is plenty of noise - I have tinnitus and I have to sleep with a fan on or the ringing gets so loud I can't fall asleep. I'm fearing that I will have to drive home Sunday after 2 sleepless nights.

 

bring an i-pod or other mp3 and sleep well!

 

Just hope it is windy and leave the halyards attached to the bottom of the mast... the slapping will be enough noise...

 

Out here they always put the transient docks in the noisiest part of the harbor, just like a KOA is always near the interstate or railroad track. Should be plenty of noise, sometimes one of the better places to sleep is the cockpit on a "full" boat. Go prepared and hope the weather cooperates. I was a fireman for 30 years so the phone is always ringing for me also, I sleep better on the boat than on land. Funny, I Hate slapping halyards, creaking booms etc. at night, from the boat I'm on however, and take great pains to eliminate such noises BEFORE crawling into the bunk. Noise from outside the boat is like "white" noise, noise from the boat itself attracts your attention when it's your responsibility, easier to ignore when you are "crew".

 

Okay - just hope there is plenty of noise - I have tinnitus and I have to sleep with a fan on or the ringing gets so loud I can't fall asleep. I'm fearing that I will have to drive home Sunday after 2 sleepless nights.

That's funny... and here I thought I was the only one who carried a "turbo fan" with me when traveling. I need the white noise to sleep. The guards at the xray security stations at the airports always give me funny looks. I've found that these are good for the boat if you stick them close enough to your head so the white noise is there... They run on 4D batteries. West Marine also carries them.

 

Noise from outside the boat is like "white" noise, noise from the boat itself attracts your attention when it's your responsibility, easier to ignore when you are "crew".

Very true... I keep the halyards tied off a good distance from the mast whenever possible. Hate the noise of the halyards slapping... and one of my neighbor's doesn't... and some nights I'm tempted to go over and remove his halyards for him...

 

I cant stand the halyards slapping the mast. Worse yet is the lose PVC pipe in my mast that makes a pretty nasty noise. Try and guess how hard it is to fish a peice of line around 1-1/2'' PVC though an opening in the mast for a halyard to run through.

 

I'm guilty

Very true... I keep the halyards tied off a good distance from the mast whenever possible. Hate the noise of the halyards slapping... and one of my neighbor's doesn't... and some nights I'm tempted to go over and remove his halyards for him...

Yeah, one of my neighbors can't figure out how those bungees got attached to his halyard to pull it away from the mast!

 

Cool - if there is transient noise I'll be okay - I'll go down Friday night then - that way a lot of questions I have on rigging, navigation, etc. can be answered as we're hanging out the first night. Too bad it wasn't this weekend with the great weather finally.

The trip is leaving from Rock Hall, MD (just north of Annapolis) - long range weather report is:

Fri nite: cloudy low of 51
Saturday: mostly cloudy high of 68 low of 50
Sunday: partly cloudy high 69 low 55

Low winds all weekend which isn't good though, but it looks like decent weather as of now.

Now the only other concern I have - and you guys are most likely gonna rip me a new one, so I'll prepare myself - my cat - I've never left my cat alone for more than 36 hrs and I just moved into a new place. Sounds stupid, but I take her camping with me rather than leave her alone - okay, I'll shut up now.

Thanks!

 

By arriving the night before you get to interact with the others and see if there any problems that could terminate the cruise. This way you or someone else has a chance to go home without taking a bus from a different harbour. Or if your realy bad "walk the Plank" and swim for it.

 

Kernix,
A very minor point, but considering there will be 6 strangers trying to sleep on a 34 footer, arriving early may also provide a better chance of calling dibbs on a decent berth. Last guy usually gets crap, like the short & narrow settee by the head, or reefer.

Leave the cat at home, relax and enjoy the weekend. BTW, I also have tinnitus - but more of a stereophonic hissss than ringing. I think I'd go crazy if things sudenly went silent.

 

Kernix,
A very minor point, but considering there will be 6 strangers trying to sleep on a 34 footer, arriving early may also provide a better chance of calling dibbs on a decent berth. Last guy usually gets crap, like the short & narrow settee by the head, or reefer.

Leave the cat at home, relax and enjoy the weekend. BTW, I also have tinnitus - but more of a stereophonic hissss than ringing. I think I'd go crazy if things sudenly went silent.

5 strangers - 6 total - I can't get out of work until 5:00 or so - if I get the worst spot, so be it - I'm the rookie anyway.

The cat has me p-whipped no pun intended - just her being lonely in a new place - I have to learn to let go.

Yeah, extreme quiet kills me

 

Kernix-

Time to take Kitty to a kennel... She won't like being on a boat with five strangers... and I'm sure they don't want to spend the weekend with a cat.

 

Kennel? for a cat? uh-uh, fill the food and water bowls, make sure the litter box is clean before you leave and a cat's good for a week or more. That's why cat are better

 

My favorite cat left alone story is one my friend told me when he took his then fiancée out for the weekend... he had been working on his computer, upgrading most of the components, and left the case partially open. Apparently, his cat decided to piss all over the interior of the computer... so when he plugged it in and turned it on... some really fragrant smoke and sparks came out of it... needless to say, it was all trashed...

 

I also HATE slapping halyards a sad example of seamanship ha ha with six people chances are at least on will snore quite loudly I think noise will be the least of your sleeping problems..........and yes if all of these things are hard to deal with having your own vessel should definitly be a high priority. Probably dont feel like volunteering on a tall ship cruise.

 

I also HATE slapping halyards a sad example of seamanship ha ha with six people chances are at least on will snore quite loudly I think noise will be the least of your sleeping problems..........and yes if all of these things are hard to deal with having your own vessel should definitly be a high priority. Probably dont feel like volunteering on a tall ship cruise.

That would be me...

 

That would be my wife . . . solution - foam earplugs. They muffle the snoring sound - reducing sound up to 28 DBs, not enough that I won't be alerted in case of an emergency.

 

That would be my wife . . . solution - foam earplugs. They muffle the snoring sound - reducing sound up to 28 DBs, not enough that I won't be alerted in case of an emergency.

My sister-in-law used to say that it was proof that her sister truly loved me...that she could sleep next to me without ear plugs...

 

Agreed SD . . . but I'm a better lover when I get at least 6-7 hours of sleep each night .

 

I love sleeping on board, but there is always something loose somewhere in some hard to reach space that makes just a little whisper of noise with every gentle rock of the boat.
I don't know how many times a can of soup has woken me up or some screw rolling back and forth in a drawer.
I have the tendency when I'm a sleep to try and ignore it, after all I don't like getting up in the middle of the night. That works for about 15 minutes till I go mad and have to search for the culprit.