Cruising Committee

The Cruising Committee meeting cake… of the The Cruising Kitty’s dreams

News flash:
The Can Opener has been invited to join the Cruising Committee at the Red Tabby Yacht Club!

What does it mean? Well… actually we don’t know.

They said we just had to show up for 6 dinner meetings in 2013 and maybe do some other committee type stuff. Like research and organising for upcoming events and event planning. 

Sounds pretty ominous to me.

I immediately volunteered to take care of the dinner–eating end of things and the Can Opener can do the research and organising end of the stick. We like to help the First Mate out wherever possible. Especially in the specialist area of desserts.

And we’ll get to meet a lot of other cruising cats which should be great! I wonder if Pussy Galore has signed up…

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

The Delivery Team

The Can Opener took this shot. I, of course, supervised.

Introducing the team (clockwise from lower right):

• Dr. Cross: owner and retired GP 
• Tim: his son and Cambridge rocket scientist
• M: the Latin scholar and hockey-playing ballerina (always good to have one of these on a boat)
• She-of-the-giant-toolbox-and-mesmerizing-head-scritches (even more critical to have)
• Captain Cat
• The Can Opener

A fair bunch of scallywags, but I’m sure I can whip them into shape in no time. 

Look how far the Can Opener’s come.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Regular Crew Team Building

 

More team building – this time with our new Regular Cruising Crew 

Yet another tasty evening out, this time with the new weekend cruising crew we’ve been invited to join. If this keeps up it’s going to offset all the good work I’ve been putting the Can Opener through to get him in shape.

This crew sails on a 35 ft Baltic and the goal is coastal sailing on weekends with some longer passage-making thrown in from time to time.

It’s the group we hope to take our RYA Coastal Skipper Exam with.

They’re a warm and friendly bunch – we like their low key, low stress approach. Racing is definitely not on the agenda. Voyaging and building cruising skills is. We like that.

Even though we have only met them recently (and they’ve all known each other since they were bitty cubs), they made us feel like we’d known them for ages.

This group will probably start sailing regularly in May. It’s shaping up to be a great year! 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

Team Building
Previously: Delivery Crew Team Building 

Delivery Crew Team Building

This past weekend, the crew for the Spain-Greece delivery and their significant others met up at the skipper’s 500 year old farm house for a spot of team building. I took the Can Opener.

We met, caroused and cooked together in a beautiful old kitchen. A bit of hiking (and a bit of teaching the skipper’s odious dogs a thing or two). Some passage planning and a discussion of how the watches will run.

The Can Opener and I left optimistic, invigorated (you get great sleeps in the countryside!) and sincerely looking forward to the voyage and to meeting these guys again.

Not to be underestimated, team building makes a difference.

What kinds of events have you done to build team camaraderie before a voyage? Before any other kind of group work?

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Team Building
Next: Regular Crew Team Building  
Previously: Passage Treats

Passage Treats

Celebrating Passage Milestones

We are looking forward to the upcoming Spain-Greece yacht delivery. Time to plan for success!

Three weeks is great, it’ll be a chance to really get a feel for long passages. It’s also a looooong time for a small group of people to be in constant contact with each other in a constricted space.

So the Cruising Kitty is planning ahead with crew building treats and activities.

I’ve been researching online, on sailing forums and putting my thinking cap on (the one with the feathers). 

Here are the highlights of my favourite ideas so far…

Treats 

• ‘weekly snack bag’* – filled with junk food, candy, savory treats, catnip, etc for the week… for indulging as needed
• drinks or a meal from the cuisine of an upcoming destination 
• balloons, (reusable) streamers and silly hats for celebration meals (see below)
• chocolate always
• cookie mixes*
• cake mixes
• jerk beef, chorizo and sausage sticks
• cheese and crackers

Activities

• cocktail hour – team drinks (which may or may not be alcoholic). One hour each day when the whole crew is together. Even a two-person crew may not see much of each other when running watches. A cruising tradition
• tea hour – a non-alcoholic version of the above
  

• water guns*
• magnetic travel games*
• peg board games*
• temporary tattoos*
• nautical crosswords – still looking for adult level examples of this
• movie night with popcorn
• theme music day* – 50’s, Beachboys/Beach Music, Mariachi, Polka, James Bond theme songs — with coordinating accessories: eg Beachboys with Hawaiian leis, Mariachi with maracas, Polka with polka dots (the Captain’s personal favourite)…
• silly hat day
• holiday celebration meals – any events happening during your passage? Birthdays? Half-Birthdays? Boat anniversary? Valentine’s Day? April Fools Day?
• milestone meals

Timing

• daily for ‘cocktail hour’ 
• weekly for special treats and activities – probably best brought out on the same day each week at cocktail hour
• milestones – holidays, mid-trip and end-of-trip for special meals

‘Course not every crew is going to go wild for the same treats and activities, every group being different and all. But I hope to build up a time tested bank of ‘passage treat’ ideas to draw on. I’ll be testing and having the Can Opener taking my notes as we go.

What passage treats have you tried? Or what great ones have you heard of? How’d it go?

We’re looking for suggestions – the wackier and more creative, the better!

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* Special thanks for these great suggestions to ‘The Cruising Couple’, ‘Ex-Calif’ and ‘drew23’ on Cruisers Forum

Team Building

Next: Delivery Crew Team Building