[capta]

Very well put. Mind if I quote you in the article?

Nope. Wouldn't mind credit as www.skippingstonesailing.com, but it isn't necessary.

 

[SVAuspicious]

Would you say that the oversight of a rally organizing body is better than nothing? Or that they lend themselves to under-preparation and mistakes?

My take is that rally inspections distract from the two most important elements (1. judgment 2. skill) and divert attention to "stuff" on the boat. The original Salty Dawg Rally had one important criterion: you were supposed to have made the trip before. They've drifted from that since the Knowles sold their franchise but the concept has value. A credit card is no substitute for knowing what you are doing.

Of course people need a way to learn what they are doing. That's why I try very hard to make room for less experienced sailors.

 

[Yorksailor]

My wife and I sailed the 2017 South going Salty Dawg as crew on a good boat with owners who were too inexperienced to be allowed to enter alone...several charters and only a couple of night sails.

The pre-rally talks were good as was Chris Parker's weather info. I found all the commeraderie and SSB chat anoying but all in all they did a good job. For the first 500nm boats were close enough, 5-50nm, to have rendered assistance if needed.

Except for the herd mentality of leaving on a schedule I think the SD does a good job. Even though I think that the timing, after the last hurricane and before the first northern winter storm, is a fallacy.

Today we leave Wellington New Zealand heading for Alaska via Nuka Hiva and Hawaii with one inexperienced crew who has never been out of Biscayane Bay and in Hawaii we pick up 3 more of the same experience level plus someone who has got his Blue water experience sailing on Moon Dancer, the advantage of joining and training at a real sailing club Where Sailors Belong!. My wife will get off in Hawaii. The next crewing opportunity is Alaska to Seattle in September.

For the first time we are using a weather router mostly because we do not have a good handle on the weather systems coming off New Zealand.

Chat in a month or so...Phil

 

[SavvySalt]

The original Salty Dawg Rally had one important criterion: you were supposed to have made the trip before. They've drifted from that since the Knowles sold their franchise but the concept has value.

I'm more familiar with races and every one I've investigated has a requirement like this. Marion to Bermuda states:

This means that enough of the crew to adequately manage the yacht shall have had prior experience with offshore passages or races of at least 250 miles.

I had to submit a sailing resume for Newport to Bermuda so that our boat's entry would be accepted:

a minimum complement of four (4) persons, including a captain and crew who have shown competency in recent offshore yacht races or passages to the satisfaction of the OA.

I glossed over this in the rally docs. Looking at a few rally requirements more closely they don't have a requirement to this end; some have a recommendation about crew and skipper "training". I suppose that's because their market is skippers and crews without the experience.