concept of a post-disaster rescue ship

Thanks for your interest. We are launching our first boat in February and hope to add more as we open up to public donations. At present, the funders are a tight group of people who are dedicated to getting this moving. As you say, there are statistically a lot of disaster relief/rescue (I don't see that it's constructive to get hung up on the relative definitions of those words) needs in, as you say, the "ring of fire" area and that's where our first boat is headed, we anticipate 3 to 4 missions in the first operational year working in conjunction with other agencies. But ultimately, mainly with volunteer crews, we will have a number of vessels strategically located around the world.

 

You forgot to add multi-million dollar budget, helipads, team of doctors, fully-equipped operating theatre, science research staff, electron microscope, submarine bay doors, holodeck or bow-mounted 50 calibre gun.

Tell you what, you set up your organization, we'll continue with ours. I know that we don't have your seal of approval, opinion of what is realistic or specialized expert skill sets...

...but fortunately we actually don't need them.

 

So, you’re saying there are incidences where “formal help” of any kind can take weeks before help arrives. OK, lets go with that. Waitup…Errr..you’re taking at best, by your assessment, 2-4 weeks to arrive. How is your MO any different?

So, you’re based in California. If another earthquake hit say Indonesia or Japan, where I am, you are some 8,000miles away. Your yet to be designed and built boat lets be optimistic (as that is your prerogative rather than realistic) sails at 8knots, speed is not your thing!. You are so lucky that when you traverse the Pacific, every single day of sailing is fair, so no deep depressions, no typhoons, no cyclones or monsoon rains etc thus the journey takes you 41 days. That is 6 weeks. Bit different from 2-4 weeks!

Ok, you claim your boat may carry around 10 tonne of cargo.

So breakdown would be in the order

1st Aid Medicine, say 1.0tonne
Blankets say 1.tonne
Tents and similar temp-shelter say 1.0tonne
Food, say 3 tonne
Water, lets you 6 tonne.

So, again let’s say you arrive in summer time, the amount of water required per day, to survive in such conditions is roughly 2-2.5ltr. So, again, let’s be optimistic and say 2.0ltr.

Therefore you have enough water for 3000 people for one day ONLY. Or for one week that would be 428 people.

So, let me get this straight. You sail for 41 days in fine sunny clear breezy weather across the largest ocean on earth. You arrive at a hard to get location, and funnily enough it also has no strong tides or current to deal with, perfect because your boat hasn’t been designed to cope with such conditions. Thus, when you arrive you can help 428 people for one week or 3000 for one day only.

What do you do after that…sail back home for more water?

 

Ad Hoc, I'm confident everyone sees that your post is antagonistic, which I find a very strange attitude for anyone to take against a volunteer organization that just wants to make a difference, as efficiently as possible, to the lives of people who are suffering, but will at least attempt to answer your questions.

How is our MO (modus operandum) any different - I'm unaware of any rule that says we actually have to be different from any other, but I'll bite.

We are a seaward-focused organization, which hopefully will appeal to boaters, cruisers and those with a nautical affiliation. We are targeting coastal locations for post-disaster help. As an example, the great tsumani early last decade left many communities without support, in some cases, for months.

But the entire cut of our jib is to provide said help by boat, and not big container ships, but by small boats. We may not change the world, but we will make a difference, and plan to demonstrate considerable reductions in survivor per day costs in comparison with other NGO approaches.

 

Ahem. California is the org's HQ, nobody said our boats are going to be based here. Note previous answer that already stated that our first boat is headed for the pacific "Ring of fire" region. In fact, we already have a land-based operative in Thailand who will be providing support there.

 

Ray: you get offended when people with technical background question your plan. The numbers don't lie. Also Ad Hoc was generous on not counting the amount of supplies the crew would need for a two way trip. It would make the available "rescue supplies" dwindle to almost nothing. Small boats can't do it. As for cutting the cost, it will increase it. Transportation costs are directly related to time on route. A larger crew for a longer time needs more supplies. Can you be specific about communities that were left without support for months, or is it only an unsubstantiated claim?

 

Please explain where asking for further details in a claim is antagonistic? That is your paranoid interpretation of a request for facts not opine.

You have yet to answer the question. What do you do after your boat ahs served water to 300 people for only one day of just 429 people for one week…go home?

Please explain this.

So, where is your boat currently based?

 

If the boat is based by the tsunami disaster area, it will most likely be one of the casualties.

 

I was being optimistic, for the sake of putting real numbers to an unrealistic situation just in attempt to lead the horse to water. But seems to have failed. Its gone right over his head.

At least others can read between the lines...

 

First, I don't plan to publish our detailed planning documents, but I do assure you we have thought this through in hundreds of pages. I don't have the time to answer all your questions and I get the impression you could keep your enquiries up for days, so this will just have to suffice.

There are a lot of assumptions there in your quote above, but let's go for the most important items.

* Most of what we will carry will be staple foodstuffs. As an example, 10 short tons of rice and beans = 20,000 pounds. That will keep a sizeable coastal community going for some time, and we anticipate in some cases making multiple trips to coordinated supply depots as they are set up.
* You seem to forget the recent invention of the reverse osmosis watermaker. We will carry such equipment, and just as an example, the Newport 700 can produce up to 2,600 litres per day. I'll let you figure out how many people that can keep alive when water is needed, which is frequently in post-disaster sites.
* Medicine - We do not anticipate carrying a ton of that, antibiotics are not heavy.
* Tents etc - We will not have space for tents, maybe space blankets when we can get supplies.

Will be be able to do everything we'd like to? No. Will we be able to make a difference and save lives? Definitely, our target is up to a coastal community of 1,000 people per boat.

 

Rescue supplies and vehicles need to be far from the disaster area. What they are describing may be used in other missions, but will not be economic or efficient.

 

You wont publish your breakdown of your cargo weights, so how are others supposed to help you…guess/ESP?

That wont go far in heavily populated places like Indonesia (2500 servings for 1 week), or is this a throw away glibe comment or are you actually planning on taking 9tonne of rice? Good luck with your grain certification and stability calc’s. That is roughly 9 tonne. Which leaves you 1.0 tonne for water.

Oh wait…you have the Newport 700. Ok, so where is the 0.75kW required to use this baby on your lean and green boat?

So, where is the boat based..or is that top secret too?

 

Just to put this effort into perspective...
The current design "challenge" thrown out by the U.S. Navy (and others) is to deliver 250,000 tonnes of materiel and personnel anywhere in the world in 7 days, and one million tonnes in one month.
(To keep it ship-related, you can restrict yourself to coastal areas.)

 

Disaster Relief Vessel

Ray Thackeray,

I have been following this thread through all its incarnations as it is a subject (disaster relief ships) that particularly interest me. I am sure most of us admire your motives and the fact you have got up and are really trying to do something about the appalling situations now happening throughout the world.
My comment is purely a technical one in respect to your vessels design. Please, please get in touch with a suitably experienced Naval Architect and note his views on your design and its role. He will save you a huge amount of time, work and money. Most designers worth their salt will give you an introductory no-cost hour of their time for an informal chat and then you are free to take it further if you feel the need.
Whatever you decide good luck with the project.

GW

 

my 2 cents

so true