05 avr. 2010

 

Assignments

Watch:

Port or Red

BOR: Jaffar, Santiago, James

Rtn: Michael L., Eric

Watch:

Starbord or Green

BOR: Paul (Watch leader), Mike, Jon

Rtn: Ed, George

Shore contact Chad

Collect public domain weather data and sent it to us by email twice a day. Talk to us at pre-established times and dispatch the information by email to our relatives and friends.

Communications & Weather forecast James, Jon, George, Eric

Talk to Chad and exchange email and data with him. Get additional data with Ocens Weathernet and by VHF in the Bay. Talk to other boats and to the race committee.

Navigation & Log keeping Jaffar, Santiago, Mike, Michael L., George

Define a route and input waypoints into the navigation computer, the Nexus system and the handheld Magellan GPS. Keep an hourly log on the digital voice recorder and transcribe it on the computer and on paper.

Strategy Jaffar, Jon, Paul, Michael L., Ed

Eastern shore or Western shore down the Bay? How far to deviate from the Jenifer Clark optimized route if the weather does not conform to forecast.

Food Mike, James, Michael L., George

Coordinate food preparation and groceries purchase. Assign daily kitchen chores (mostly reheating of frozen meals and preparation of sandwiches) on a rotation basis.

First Aid Mike, James, Eric, George

Be prepared for a medical emergency prepare the medical kit and stay in touch with our medical assistance MMA.

Safety Jon, James, Eric, Ed

Bring the safety aspect in all tasks during the preparation and the race. Review safety equipment and procedures. Review and practice safety maneuvers (MOB, heaving-to, etc.). Prepare a ditch bag. Bring the liferaft from its storage place in front of the mast to the cockpit in case of emergency and getting it ready.

Helm Jaffar, Santiago, Paul, Michael L., Ed

Everybody will get his share of helm time, unless we encounter difficult seas or heavy weather.

Foredeck James, Mike, Ed

Decide if it is safe to use the fore hatch for hoists and douses.

Sail changes Paul, James, Ed

Prepare the maneuver verbally and make sure that all tasks are taken care of and each person knows what to do and when. Double check everything before a hoist, douse, reef taking or headsail change. Then direct the execution.

Sail trim Jon, Santiago, Michael L.

We need constant attention to sail trim 24 hours a day during the 5+ days and nights to be competitive.

Movie Santiago, Chad
   

The Preparation

Personal gear:

Here is what comes to my mind. See also: http://www.bermudaoceanrace.com/faq.shtml#crew3

- Breathing 'ocean-', 'offshore-' or 'coastal-' rated foulies.
- Boating shoes. I do not like the regular boating boots because you cannot swim with them. I prefer to use my snicker-type deck shoes with neoprene socks, if necessary if we have blue water on deck or four continuous days and nights of thunderstorms, like we had during the 2002 return trip.
- One good set of middle layer clothing, like polartec, for protection against the cold nights.
- Two or three sets of good underwear and additional socks.
- Remember to avoid cotton in ALL clothing items (particularly underwear) because cotton looses all thermal properties when wet.
- Gloves, hat, sunglasses, rigging knife, sun block, chapstick, one individual small waterproof flashlight, preferably the headlamp type with a red screen
- toiletry items, towel, swimsuit
- sleeping bag and pillow case (to be filled with a piece of soft clothing)
- weight is a major performance factor for us, so remember to pack light
- earplugs and sleeping mask (important because the boat is noisy when you try to sleep)
- small camera, MP3 player with headphones

Additionally:

- I will have 400 pills (two packages) of Stugeron, the best European medicine against sea sickness (the preventive dose is one pill of 25 mg every 6 hours). We will try it during our practices. However, you could also ask your doctor for a prescription for the seasickness patch, although it did not help us too much last time. If you prefer seasickness wrist bands or anything else (ginger-based food or drinks, for example), please bring them. Seasickness may be our biggest risk.
 

   
From Jaffar

To: team

Subject: Return assignments

Sent: 02 Jun 2004

Team:

It is time to discuss assignments for the return. I need volunteers for the various assignments below that are an extrapolation and simplification of what we are doing for the race. I assume now that my friend Billy is not coming and that we will only be five, which is still a good number for us. It makes us slightly lighter (and thus safer offshore) but complicates the watches a bit and will necessitate more often waking up the off-watch team for sail changes or spinnaker hoists and douses. We will have two watches of two people and I will be off-rotation, balancing my time between the two watches. We were five for the return last time and it
If anybody feels a particular skill is not used properly, please let me know.

The watches will be:

- Port or Red: Michael L. (watch captain), Eric
- Starboard or Green: Ed (watch captain), George

We will rotate watches at 12 noon, 6 pm, 10 pm, 2 am, 6 am and 12 noon. Each watch will have a helmsman, a sail trimmer and the jobs will rotate periodically within each watch in order to maintain attention. The main meal will be around 6 pm.

Positions at the start and at fully crewed sail changes:

- Helm: Jaffar
- Main trim: Michael
- Genoa and Spinnaker trim: Eric
- Mid-boat: George
- Mast: Mike
- Foredeck: Ed

Specific assignments will be:

- Shore coordination and contact point: Chad

Collect public domain weather data and sent it to us by email twice a day. Talk to us at pre-established times and dispatch the information by email to our relatives and friends.

- Communications, weather forecast: ?

Talk to Chad and exchange email and data with him. Get additional data by VHF in the Bay. Talk to other boats and to the race committee.

- Navigation and log keeping: Jaffar and ?

Define a route and input waypoints into the navigation computer and the handheld GPS. Keep an hourly log on the digital voice recorder and transcribe it on the computer and on paper.

- Food coordination and stores: ?

This is an essential job. I need somebody to help me purchase frozen food and groceries in Bermuda. During the return, we will rotate daily kitchen assignments (mostly reheating of frozen meals and preparation of sandwiches). If you have any special diet requirements please let me know.

- Medical and First Aid: Eric

Be prepared for a medical emergency and stay in touch with our medical assistance MMA.

- Safety: ?

Bring the safety aspect in all tasks during the return. Review safety equipment and procedures. Review ditch bag and emergency assignments. Bring the liferaft from its storage place in front of the mast to the cockpit in case of emergency and getting it ready.

- Helm: Everybody

We have no autopilot. Everybody will get his share of helm time, unless we encounter difficult seas or heavy weather.

- Foredeck: Ed

Decide if it is safe to use the forehatch for hoists and douses.

- Sail changes: ?

Prepare the maneuver verbally and make sure that all tasks are taken care of and each person knows what to do and when. Double check everything before a hoist, douse, reef taking or headsail change. Then direct the execution.

- Sail trim: ?

We need constant attention to sail trim 24 hours a day during the 5+ days and nights to be competitive.

- Movie: Who can bring a video camera? (Santiago will bring his camera back with him. The deck camera will stay onboard but have to be connected to a VCR)

Please let me know your preferences and what you think you are comfortable doing.

Jaffar
From Jaffar

To: team

Subject: Assignments

Sent: 01 Apr 2004

 

Team:

I have been working on this email for longer than usual because I did not find the perfect combination of watch and duties assignments. I have talked to many of you and changed several assignements in the process of putting everything together on paper. I want to have two balanced watches and to balance the assignments between the people and the watches.

Here is the result of my cogitations. This is not final and needs to be optimized, in particular during the practices. If anybody feels a particular skill is not used properly, please let me know.

The watches will be:

- Port or Red: Jaffar (skipper), Santiago and James
- Starboard or Green: Paul (watch leader), Mike and Jon.

We will rotate watches at 12 noon, 6 pm, 10 pm, 2 am, 6 am and 12 noon. Each watch will have a helmsman, a main trimmer and a genoa-spinnaker trimmer and the jobs will rotate periodically within each watch in order to maintain attention, one major key to a silver finish. We will use the red shift after the start and the green shift will take over at 6 pm. The main meal will also be around 6 pm. When off-duty the priorities will be 1) feeding, 2) sleeping, 3) making a positive contribution to stability (meaning ON the rail), which can also be combined with 1).

Positions at the start and at fully crewed sail changes:

- Helm: Jaffar
- Main trim: Jon
- Genoa and Spinnaker trim: Santiago
- Mid-boat: Paul
- Mast: Mike
- Foredeck: James

Specific assignments will be (first name is the leader):

- Shore coordination and contact point: Chad

Collect public domain weather data and sent it to us by email twice a day. Talk to us at pre-established times and dispatch the information by email to our relatives and friends.

- Communications, weather forecast: James, Jon

Talk to Chad and exchange email and data with him. Get additional data by VHF in the Bay. Talk to other boats and to the race committee.

- Navigation and log keeping: Jaffar, Santiago, Mike

Define a route and input waypoints into the navigation computer and the handheld GPS. Keep an hourly log on the digital voice recorder and transcribe it on the computer and on paper.

- Strategy (down the Bay): Jon, Paul

Eastern shore or Western shore?

- Food coordination and stores: Mike, James

Coordinate food preparation and groceries purchase. Assign daily kitchen chores (mostly reheating of frozen meals and preparation of sandwiches) on a rotation basis.

- Medical and First Aid: Mike, James

Be prepared for a medical emergency and stay in touch with our medical assistance.

- Safety: Jon, James

Bring the safety aspect in all tasks during the preparation and the race. Review safety equipement and procedures. Review and practice safety maneuvers (MOB, heaving-to, etc.). Prepare a ditch bag. Bring the liferaft from its storage place in front of the mast to the cockpit in case of emergency and getting it ready.

- Helm: Jaffar, Santiago, Paul

Everybody will get his share of helm time, unless we encounter difficult seas or heavy weather.

- Foredeck: James, Mike

Decide if it is safe to use the forehatch for hoists and douses.

- Sail changes: Paul, James

Prepare the maneuver verbally and make sure that all tasks are taken care of and each person knows what to do and when. Double check everything before a hoist, douse, reef taking or headsail change. Then direct the execution.

- Sail trim: Jon, Santiago

We need constant attention to sail trim 24 hours a day during the 5+ days and nights to be competitive.

- Movie: Santiago, Chad

Comments are welcome to optimize the matrix.

Jaffar

 

 

This site was last updated 09/03/07