Richard5,
Thank you for the great questions on preparing for a possible relationship as a Sea Mercy
Captain with us.
With regards to the two upcoming Sea Mercy Captains planning to join the fleet of Floating
Health Care Clinic's (FHCC) in the South Pacific, I will contact them to see if I can release their names at this point in time and perhaps encourage them to post why they have made their decisions (verses me telling you). In the interim, you can visit our
current two FHCC vessel pages at:
Rebelle 44 foot Lagoon Catamaran
Dragonfly 65 foot Custom Catamaran
Both vessels are great examples of meeting the need of the hour, even though they are different sizes. Where
Rebelle can carry 3-5 health care volunteers,
Dragonfly can carry 8-10.
Rebelle will be used for targeted health care rotations (medical, dental or eye) on each rotation, where Dragonfly and their larger volunteer capacity will be used for a combination of the above health care needs.
Preferred Vessels:
Although we believe their is a need and opportunity for both Mono and Cat Sea Mercy vessels in the FHCC fleet, the
Catamaran configuration is proving to be the more functional platform to
work from. Traditional health missions treat/work from shore based facilities they setup up on arrival. This requires a constant need to transport and unload supplies,
equipment and volunteers, setup facilities and
power, protect/secure your
equipment during the evenings and shifts, and then tear down and reload at the end of each rotation. The coordination and workload for the above process can be overwhelming.
Sea Mercy FHCC's operate directly from the
deck of our vessels. This provides us with a more sterile
environment, access to clean
water, power,
refrigeration (medicines), and secure
storage for supplies and equipment at the end of each day. This allows us more control in our
environment, protection of our volunteers, and increase our ability to spend more time treating patients and less time preparing to treat them.
With the above in mind, the best vessel is one that can carry maximum volunteers with flexible sleeping arrangements.
Dragonfly (not counting the owners cabin) has 3 queen cabins and 4
single bunks available.
Rebelle has 2 queen cabins and a
salon area single/double available.
Best layouts:
For smaller vessel configurations like Rebelle, we would suggest a
charter configuration (4 queen cabins) vs. an owner (3 queen cabins). If you have the ability to add
single bunks in the bows, even better (more opportunity to bring on single volunteers not wanting to share a bunk with another volunteer). Larger configurations provide us with more flexibility, and better economies of scale, but the purchase costs to owners for such vessels are obviously higher. Our goal is to
work with each owner and build a program that will work for them and for Sea Mercy.
The larger the
cockpit working area, the better. Some vessels have large
salon areas and smaller cockpits, while others reverse that trend. The more space we have to work with patients, the better. The
Leopard and
Lagoon configurations have some great workspace decks.
What's in it for you?
Although "sailing with a greater purpose" keeps every stop fresh and meaningful, not everyone is independently wealthy enough (we would all like to be) to just donate the use of the vessel. We understand that and our program is designed to make working with us a blessing, not a financial drain.
Our dedicated Sea Mercy FHCC vessels work on owner/Sea Mercy determined 2 week rotations. "Dedicated" means that you are committing to work with Sea Mercy on a set-schedule (12-15 2 week rotations) a year so that they can promote, organize volunteers, ship the necessary
medical supplies, and facilitate operations with the Health Ministry of our island nation partner. In return, Sea Mercy covers all operational costs of the FHCC vessel (food,
fuel,
insurance,
maintenance, etc.) and a captain/vessel use fee determined and agreed upon by both the owner and Sea Mercy. This has to be a win-win for both parties, if it does not work financially for you, we know that you will not be back the next year. If operational costs are too high for Sea Mercy, we will not be asking you back next year.
There is obviously a great deal more to the program (
click here for more info), but I hope that answers most of your questions. If you want to talk specifics about how/if you were to join the Sea Mercy fleet in the future, please feel free to contact me directly. This program is not for everyone, but it is an answered prayer for many who desire to sail with a purpose, but need some assistance to sustain your dream.
All the best to you and your dreams.
Richard Hackett
Founder
Sea Mercy
www.seamercy.org