We are making the most of our time in China and doing some exploring. While on a trip to historic Guilin I sit down to have an in-depth conversation with our captain, David Flood.
I have a ton of questions, but I'll spare you most of them and just ask straight away; Why hire a Captain at all? I can think of obvious reasons, but as a person who first thought of traveling the world with your wife and kids ( dogs,) as someone who has extensive sailing experience why relinquish the helm to a captain and not bring along a First Mate, instead? I have heard you speak about always wanting to leave an able body on board as you see the sights, so I understand additional crew. I know that you built crew quarters, I don't know I just assumed that if you ever charter or bring extra guests that you might have moved out of the master suite while those paying guests got the royal treatment? I/we just don't know enough about you to know what it is that you are looking for beyond traveling the world with your family.
That is a good question. There are many benefits of hiring a full time captain. The principle one is liability. This means that I/we don't have to worry about the boat at all. If we get to a certain destination and want to do a 2 week road trip, we can, and not worry about the boat. If we are under a long passage and feel ill for whatever reason, we are not required to do a shift. It really boiled down to personal freedom. As far as paying guests on board, we will never cross paths with them. I would hate to see how some people abuse the vessel. That is another reason for having a personal full time captain that understands what our expectations are.
@@sketchtosea3750 Interesting how dipping your toes into the charter world can benefit the vessel tax-wise and Visa-wise and liability insurance-wise and overall security wise and right about now my English Teacher would be rolling over in her grave for writing this answer-wise. Since you can afford the freedom then it absolutely makes sense. You seem like a very nice couple so more power to ya. How has the land based living with your captain been unfolding? That's a smart idea to work out the bugs on land prior figuring it out at sea. I do have a question about HH Catamarans that doesn't apply to your situation, but could easily be an issue with the smaller boats. Lighter boats rock n roll at anchor more than heavier boats, is there any benefit to using some sort of ballast-bags to weigh the vessel down while at anchor only? The engineers part of Sketch To Sea fascinates me. What do you think of having a very small fin/daggerboard forward of their normal placement in order to help point at boat more up wind? Definitely thinking outside of the box, I know. Any thoughts on new designs?
