Herreshoff Riviera Trip...thru the fingers, again

[mike hanyi]

Ferry tickets -booked
2 weeks to prepare all final details on the boat, rebuild the trailer, spare hub and bearings, stormsail packed, 2 way radios for supportboat and the Riviera, Charts purchased, road maps purchased, Hotels booked, Departure date next tuesday at 10am. The road to Nice from Finland is 3 hard days drive(about the same as Maine to Texas) Time to finally install the CD player in the van before loading the boat back on the rebuilt trailer, A quick check of email brings this years window of opportunity to a close. My copilot cancels one week before departure date due to his second bankruptcy (He is in the smallcraft business but unfortunatly it could not pay the bills after over 10 years and over 150 hulls produced) So again the Riviera Project to resail Herreshoff's journey thru Europe is posponed for another year...
2005 canceled due to boat not completed
2006 canceled due to not enough planning of trip and too much work on the boat
2007 canceled due to no crew.

Herreshoff was a young lad in his mid twenties when he danced from gunwale to gunwale in this overcanvased rocket, Im forty and starting to doubt I will ever complete my 6 year dream of resailing this trip.

Crewless in Finland

Mike

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f394/rivieraproject/IMG_3786.jpg

[StevenBauer]

Oh man. Bad news. Is there no chance of finding another to take his place? Check with sailing clubs or adventure clubs? ClassicBoat forum?

Steven

[mike hanyi]

Well it also a question of who you trust under pressure.

my teammate was the best traditional smallcraft sailor I know, And believe me after 6 years of organizing raidfinland I met alot of people who sail very well.

Being French and having a good sense of humor has also something to do with it. My late crew did snore awfully so there is some possibility of improvement.

A week to go is pretty short notice to get to know someone.

This was a pretty ballsy trip even in 1874, heard of things called mistrals??!! from 10kts of wind to over 40 in less then one minute with very little notice. A friend lost his mainsail on his authentic viking ship this way, they blow for up to 3 days after they start.

[Michael s/v Sannyasin]

Oh man, I wouldn't give up that easily. If you've got a little time (even a few days), I'd advertise on all the crew boards, send a letter to Latitude38 (www.latitude38.com), they would probably write up a blurb for you. France is full of sailors, maybe head on down with the boat and pick up crew as you start out. I'm even tempted myself, after having read about that trip in L.Francis' book (but, well, I've gotta work).

I found some great crew to help me sail my boat up from Florida on a crew board and they were awesome.

[mike hanyi]

Well as Bruce said

"the doors open but the ride aint free"
as we were to stay in Hotels along the way there is expences, of which Im not footing the bill for, I have invested over 20k euros in the boat a a grand getting her there, Im not going to support a freeloader to enjoy the cruise with. I figured about 1500e will cover most expences of lodging and food per person for a week,(this is the med at high season)
I was to camp 2 nights also.

remember the mention of Hotel de France in St. Raphael? I own the actual reciept from their visit.....
the mention of the race in Cannes with the snowstorm in the morning? I own Lewis's letter home to describe that race( he is blind but he could write!)

mike

[Michael s/v Sannyasin]

Well, you just have to state the rules up front.

My trip was going to be from Daytona Florida to NYC non-stop. The deal was that they had to get themselves to Daytona, and home from NYC, but I'd pay for meals (accomodation on the boat) and all boat expenses, which I was going to have to pay anyway.

Since your trip is an excursion, not a delivery, I'd expect people would be willing to pay their own way, since you're opening up an opportunity for a truely unique experience.

In any event, I posted before I saw your other response, and yea, it is probably not hard finding "someone" to go, but often what you really need is finding the "right someone" to go. In my case, I didn't have much choice, so I took a wild shot and it worked out great! Just meant to say that sometimes you get lucky.