Buddy Boating -- A Fresh Take

Buddy boat Utopia in the Anegada Passage.

A few months ago, I wrote something that I'd like to retract. I said that, "the concept of 'buddy boating,' which sounds great in theory, almost always falls apart in practice."

Since then, we've had several experiences that have proved my earlier assessment premature, if not plain wrong.

From Luperon on the Dominican coast to Samana on Hispaniola's eastern side, we traveled as an eight-boat flotilla of varied design and vintage: a Catalina, a Vagabond, a Fast Passage, a Hylas, a Topper Hermanson 44, a Beneteau and two Tayana 37s, including Symbiosis. For the most part, the group was able to stay together during a combination of sailing, motor sailing and motoring, although with that many boats, we tended to break out into two or three discrete squadrons. Even as we spread out, we were able to keep in VHF contact through relays; we were also able to keep in touch via AIS (although, Symbiosis and several other of the vessels had receive-only capability.)

We also managed to keep it together for the Mona Passage, in which a somewhat smaller flotilla, comprising many of the same boats, made the approximately 30-hour run.

And, in recent weeks, we've traveled in company with Utopia, a Caliber 40. Typically, Utopia leads and we follow simply because she's a faster boat, particularly under power (which sad to say, has been our mode of travel more often than not).

If you're committed to the buddy boating thing, it can and does work. The important thing is that it doesn't become a race. That's easier said than done, especially once the sails go up and the engine is shut off. It's then, too, that the relative capabilities of the vessels and the crew come into play and it's natural for one to get out ahead of the other (or others) and "pull a horizon job."

I think you probably ought to know how serious the other boat is to staying in visual (or at least AIS) range. We've made it clear to Frank and Diane on Utopia that if they get ahead of us or we lose contact, they shouldn't be concerned. We're fine on our own and they are too. In any case, it's not been an issue, as we are pretty good at keeping a tight grouping.

AIS helps a lot. In our case, as mentioned above, we only receive. It would help a lot if we had a transceiver -- something that when I installed the system a number of years ago seemed like an undue expense.

It's one of those items that goes on my "if I had it to do over" list.