I agree. Why go offshore 200 miles unless you are planning for and
Atlantic or Pacific crossing.
In a trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Trinadad & Tobago, the maximum you will
be from land is about 42 miles. Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini, Bahamas 41
miles, Turks & Caicos to Dominican Republic is 83 miles, Mona Passage 80
miles (depending on departure and landfall points), Anguilla Passage,
Virgin Gorda,BVI to St Martin 83 miles, Grenada to Trinidad, 73 miles.
So on a trip of about 1600 miles through the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos,
Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico. USVI, BVI, Leeward and Windward islands
and Trinidad & Tobago, the greatest distance only 42 miles (half the
total miles).
If you want to continue to South America, it's only 30 miles from T & T
to Venezuela.
Kelton
s/v Isle Escape

Rosalie B. wrote:
Why are you doing this?
What do you expect the beginners to get out of it?
What do you three experienced coastal sailors hope to get from it
other than a chance to charter a boat?
What are the sexes of the beginners?
And what relationship do they have to you?


IMHO these are the questions to ask before you ask about equipment.
Of course maybe I missed a post where you said all this stuff, as I've
been coastal sailing.


Are they all women? If you three experienced guys are hoping to
indoctrinate your wives into blue water sailing, I think that's the
wrong way to go about it.

Are you are trying to be an instructor-- I'm also kind of wary about
how well this will work.

" 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


grandma Rosalie