October 16, 2000
One more, Mr. Vogtman!
My seventh grade class wants to know:
- What is the total crew count as of October 10?
- How many packages of food did you bring on the translantic voyage?
- Have you had any problems with the boat since you've been gone?
- What is the maximum weight the Pride can carry?
- Will you bring any passengers back to the U.S?
Thanks again!
Ms. Lathroum's 7th Period, Stevensville Middle School
Hi Period 7,
The crew count as of October 10 is still twelve and will be all the way
home.
Food for the transatlantic..... this is another tough question! First of
all, we don't really have “packages” or “boxes” of food. Andy (Cookie!)
is responsible for keeping the galley stocked. He generally goes to a
large warehouse style store (like SYSCO, for example) to buy all the
staples for the boat. These include things that we use on a regular
basis. When we're in port he'll buy local foods from the market. His
target budget is $6.00 per person, per day, which is very difficult to
maintain. So, when we arrive in port he knows what ordinary things we
need and off he goes!
The only problem we've had with the boat was with the filters for the
water maker. We have a watermaker on board that filters seawater and
provides us with fresh water. This malfunctioned when we left Ireland,
so we were not able to shower until we reached a fresh water supply in
Lisbon! Wheeeeee! We did have enough for drinking and rinsing dishes,
though!
Pride II really doesn't have a "load carrying capacity" since it's not
designed for anything other than passengers. The Tops'l Schooners were
originally designed to be fast so that they could elude the British
ships in the Chesapeake Bay. The reason they ultimately disappeared is
that they couldn't carry cargo, which made them useless for trade. So
we have a crew of 12 and can carry six additional passengers, but no
cargo.
Yes, we will be carrying some passengers back to the U.S. They will
board in San Juan, Puerto Rico and stay aboard until we reach Baltimore,
Maryland.
Thank you for all of your questions, Stevensville Middle School!
Your Teacher Aboard,
Lee Vogtman
