Harry Krause wrote:
Five sailors would be a reasonable and safe crew, with each person
standing a six hour watch and another person "up" to spell the
watchstander and help out with any sudden adjustments of sails. It could
be done with a smaller crew, but then the voyage becomes more of a
challenge and less of a pleasure


I think the exact opposite myself.

Wayne.B wrote:
It could be done with 5, but 6 is a better number on a 40 footer in my
experience.

I'd rather have 4 or even 3, provided that they're good
sailors. A 40 footer is about as roomy as a cheap hotel
room, and people invariably bring too much "stuff." The
cabin becomes a crowded hovel and sleep is almost
impossible. Unless all are seasoned sailors, at least half
will be useless for watchstanding either due to seasickness
or lack of comprehension or both.

Racing is different, it's assumed that all the sailors have
at least the basic skills & also (very important) the
motivation to keep the boat sailing properly.

... Typically we would stand three 4 hour watches at night
and two 6 hour watches during the day. Three people on watch gives
you enough to rotate jobs, cook, cleanup, get weather reports,
navigate, etc.


Only done this once, but the best watch system I know of
(given a good autopilot) is 3 hour watches, each person on
watch alone but the 1st and last hours overlap the next
persons watch. Gives enough sleep, enough company, some time
for 'housekeeping.' If you have 4 or more people, the
captain doesn't have to stand a watch (but is usually up at
least 20 hours a day at sea anyway).

I *really* dislike having a boat that is so crowded you have
to shove bodies out of the way to get anywhere or do
anything. Most people feel differently, maybe there's a herd
instinct at work?


With the boat set up properly, experienced people and a good auto
pilot, you could make a reasonable argument for a crew of two but that
is really stretching things very thin.


Agreed- but that's the way most cruising couples do it...
and also, passagemaking is a relatively rare thing. Even the
people who cruise around the world spend far more time
sailing in sheltered waters than open sea.

As for the original poster, get a clue. Interfering in-laws
are the subject of millions of jokes, for a good reason.
It's like back-seat driving. The problem here is not that
sailing to Hawaii is dangerous, nor that a 40 foot boat is
too small... it's been done in 15 foot sailboats... but that
your son-in-law doesn't know how to sail. His idea of buying
a boat and just going is stupid, like not knowing a thing
about flying and deciding you want to buy a plane and pilot
it across the country. He needs to gain some experience
first. Aside from that, he won't have spent $200K on a boat
and decide after a few days that he doesn't like it after all.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King