I hope the three novices aren't close friends. If they do get seasick,
they will hate you, and never sail again in all likelyhood.
I like the suggestion of another poster...go 25 miles out and sail in
circles...it'll be the same as 200 miles, but if the weather (or crew)
goes sour, you're only looking at 5 hours or so to find shelter.
If it were just the three experienced people, I'd go for the 200
miles.
As far as equipment is concerned..how lucky do you feel?
Norm B

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 01:47:16 GMT, " wrote:

Need some advice on safety equipment for sailing a little offshore. Our
plan is to charter a boat and sail out of New York for about 200 miles than
come back. The idea is to gain some offshore experience but without taking
too much risk.

There will be six of us, three experienced coastal sailors and three
beginners. I have done a little racing offshore (Newport to Bermuda) and
some limited heavy weather sailing but that's it.

The 42' boat will be fairly well equipped with a lifesling, harnesses
etc. but without a few essential items: liferaft, SSB radio, EPIRB, 2nd
VHF. Can we manage without these? We intend to be at sea for only 4-5 days,
so we should have a fairly good idea about the weather but things can
always change.

I expect the biggest problem to be seasickness and fatigue among the
beginners. Any advice on managing that?

Regards,
Sail