How do seven people fit together for two weeks on a 50-foot sailing yacht?
Very closely. But also very well, if they are the right combination of people. Obviously, such propinquity can lead to some pretty sticky situations. It`s one thing to invite seven good friends over to dinner, let them relax and have at it for a few hours. At the end of the night they go home. Taking those same people on a vacation at a hotel or on a cruise ship for 14 days can be a little exasperating, especially after they`ve been around each other a few days. But asking them all to eat, sleep, work, relax and go to the bathroom in a space the size of large kitchen for almost 24 hours a day and still have fun-that`s a pretty tall order.
Our space on the 50-foot sloop chartered from Caribbean Saling Yachts in St. Vincent was generous by some standards. On that boat there are four cabins, sort of separate. The largest, in the stern, has a separate entrance and its own head (toilet) and shower. The main cabin or salon contains the galley (with sink, refrigerator, stove and storage) as well as the
entertainment center (radio/tapeplayer) and a dining table, which converts into a double bed. A door off the salon leads to a small cabin just large enough for two bunk beds, a little storage and the panel for all the electrical controls for the yacht. Forward in the bow is a double V-berth large enough to sleep two people and allow them to stand and dress, if they do it one at a time. The forward head and shower is between the V-berth and the main salon.
Toilet etiquette may seem like a mundane subject, but it gets pretty important on a boat. First, the head is not a place to hang out in when there are others with the same needs at relatively the same time. Secondly, using a mechanical marine head requires some work; it must be hand pumped about 15 times after each use. Failure to obey the rules of the head (nothing in it but toliet paper and what first passes through your mouth) can result in plugging it up, a nasty problem not always solvable at sea.
Privacy in a small yacht is more a concept than a reality. Crew members grant each other privacy mostly by not looking rather than by keeping doors closed. Space to spread out your possessions is at a premium, especially when you consider that the boat may be heeling to one side or another making any unsecured objects vulnerable to spilling, falling, breaking or bashing someone.
Who`s in charge? Where do we go next? Who`s responsible for what? All those can become serious questions after a few days of living shoulder to shoulder. Personal habits as innocent as vocal mannerisms, let alone snoring, are easy to tolerate for a day or so, but can become extremely irritating to some after a week.
Thus any group had better be pretty good friends or very tolerant people. People who are petty, intolerant, creatures of routine, obsessively neat or dirty, selfish, non-expressive or wont to take themselves seriously need to subjugate those traits or not apply. Mostly it becomes a process of everybody going a little farther than he thinks is necessary to give living space to others, physical and emotional.
On our trip one married couple used the after cabin, the other married couple the V-berth. The single woman used the cabin with the bunks with the empty bunk used for storage of gear for the two single men who slept in the main salon. Other arrangements were always possible, but people settled happily into the routine. Cooking was passed around with several people always eager to do it and the others a little less eager to set the table and do the dishes. The men handled the anchor most of the time, although no one was assigned to it.
Because six of us had sailed together before, each of us did what needed to be done when it needed to be done. That can be more difficult when people don`t know what the requirements are.
If you plan such a trip where you`ll be living close to a group, give it a lot of thought and then pick people with a good sense of humor. When things go wrong it`s good to laugh, especially if it`s at yourself.
