New England Seabirds
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Planning A Dedicated TripPlanning and executing a dedicated boat trip is
not easy. You need to protect yourself and your bird club from financial loss
and your participants from disappointment. These are suggestions. Your
experience can help this page improve. Send us your comments. Date | Boat | Contract | Cost | Cancellation | Weather Forecasting | Refunds | Registration | Expectations | Chum | Trip Leader |
The date you pick will determine the species of birds you have a chance of finding. In our area, trips early in spring and after the middle of September run a greater risk of cancellation due to sea conditions.
Please avoid scheduling your trip on the same day as another dedicated trip. There are too few dedicated trips in the area and it is a shame to have two on the same date. The best way to determine other clubs trips is to check the trip schedule in New England Seabirds. Be sure to announce your trip to the webmaster so that your date is advertised to others.
Find A Boat
New England Seabirds has a list of available vendors. Help us enlarge this list. If you know of a boat that might be available for dedicated charters send us mail. You should take a tour of the boat or better yet take a whale watch or fishing trip on the boat to make sure it lives up to expectations
The perfect boat does not exist. You will have to tradeoff one advantage for another. Some important considerations for selecting a boat are: PA system, the captain's nature watching skills and attitude, location of the naturalist, rail space, physical condition of the boat, performance of the crew.
PA System
The pa system is vital. It must be loud enough on all parts of the deck and in the cabin with the boat running. Also the trip leader must be able to stand at the front of the boat with a wide view and a hands free microphone. It is impossible for the leader to use binoculars to identify the bird and hold the microphone.
Captain's Ability To Position The Boat For Nature Study
Thes is very important and requires that the leader have good communication with the captain. It is important whenever possible to put the boat between the sun and the bird. The bird needs to be to the side of the boat. Captains who "know their birds" are better at this since they need to recognize the important bird and position the boat for it.
Some mistakes are keeping the boat pointed at the bird so only a few people can see it or putting the bird between the boat and the sun. Captains with experience on whale watching boats are usually good at this.
The captain's attitude is important here. Remember most were "born to fish". Bird watching is a new idea. Do they think outside the box?
Leader's Position
The trip leader or naturalist should not have to fight for rail space with the participants. The leader needs a spot in front of the wheelhouse where he or she can move from side to side with an unobstructed view. Another alternative is that the leader stand on the roof of the wheelhouse, but he or she must be able to communicate with the captain. And this is not a viable position in rough seas or inclement weather.
The leader must be able to see forward and on both sides of the boat. When the boat is moving, the leader needs to see birds coming up, inform the captain so he can position the boat, and get the participants ready when it comes close.
The leader cannot be watching the wake. A second person with radio communication to the leader needs to watch the wake. Some times birds catch up to the boat and dolphins of ten approach from the rear.
Rail Space for Participants
Rail space and the ability to move from side to side are vital to the participants. Usually moving across the boat on the lower level means running through the cabin. Upstairs you want an open deck with free access to both sides. Open space is more important than benches.
Physical Condition of the Boat
Boats require a lot of maintenance. If obvious things on the boat are not being maintained, it may indicate poor maintainence overall and you may be in for an unfortunate breakdown at sea.
Performance of the Crew
The performance of the crew is important to the success of the trip. Do the crew members follow the captain's directions? Of course the crew is not expected to work non-stop on a 24+ hour trip. If the crew is well trained, the captain shouldn't have to go around yelling at them. Do not expect the crew to be bird watchers and most of them too were "born to fish". They may really think bird watchers are pretty silly, but you are the customer and they should keep their attitudes to themselves. The performance of the crew could become all important if there is an emergency.
Fishing
Some captains expect to fish during the bird watching trip. In most cases the fish they catch will be theirs and not shared with trip participants. You need to have a clear understanding about the fishing issue. The best situation is an agreement that the captain and crew do not fish during the birding trip. If the captain insists on fishing at least have a clear understanding that the trip will not be delayed by the fishing activity and that fishing will not interfer with the birds surrounding the boat. I participated in trips off the North Carolina coast with a captain who had a fishing line in the water during the entire trip without interfering with the birding. On a trip from Wollongon Australia the captain and one crew member fished for an hour while bored birders fummed.
Get It In Writing
The captain will probably require a deposit of from $500 - $1000. This is not unreasonable, but you need to be very clear about the conditions under which the deposit will be forfeited. Not many bird clubs will be willing to forfeit $1000 more than once.
Get a letter from the captain stating the terms of your contract. This should cover the following points: Cost, Cancellation Policy, Deposit and conditions under which the deposit is forfeited by the group, chum, destination, time of departure and return, fishing.
Cost
The captain may charge you a set cost for the trip or a cost per person with a minimum number of participants required. Make sure you have a firm agreement on the cost and don't get suckered in with demands for fuel surcharges. They never lower the price because the cost of diesel fuel goes down.
On the other hand, the captain should make money on the trip. Driving too hard a bargain may turn out not to be the best in the long run if it causes the captain to cut corners because they don't value your business. In a good business deal everyone profits.
Cancellation - Weather Related
Weather conditions are a risk of the boat captain and you should insist on a full refund of your deposit if the trip has to be cancelled because of the weather.
The boat can sail in rain and fog as long as the sea conditions are safe. Do you really want to take 100 of your best friends out on the cold ocean when rain and fog are predicted for the next 24 hours. You may want to cancel the trip yourself. In this case you should prepare the participants to forfeit their share of the deposit. For example, if the deposit is $500 and you have 100 participants it is worth $5 a person not to be miserable. Work on your cancellation policy and make sure you advertise it to the participants and that the captain agrees.
It is unacceptable for the captain to declare the weather good, sail out of the harbor and then announce the sea conditions too dangerous to proceed to the destination. Sailing around the outer harbor or Cape Cod Bay for 7 hours is not a pelagic trip.
Your best protection is to know as much as possible about the weather conditions before you start the trip. The science of weather forecasting has improved greatly, but it is still a risky business. In the long run however, the captain has the advantage. You need to deal with an honest, experienced captain. It may pay to educate the captain regarding the fact that if people have a bad trip, they don't sign up for future trips and your base of participants shrinks.
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Weather Forecasting Tony Vazzano is an enthusiastic pelagic birder who is also a professional weather forecaster for the state of NH and the ski resorts in northern NH. He is willing to be contacted by pelagic trip leaders for weather forecasting advise especially if he is going along on the trip. Contact tony by email.tvazzano@ncia.net |
Cancellation - Trip Not Filled
You cannot expect the captain to tie up his boat for your group and then have you cancel at the last minute because you don't get enough people to sign up. Your best bet is to set a date 1 month before the trip date for a full refund of the deposit if you have to cancel. Then cancel the trip if you do not have enough subscriptions by that deadline. Unfortunately some people want to wait until the week before the trip to sign up. The only way to break this habit is to leave them on the dock a few times.
You should count on at least 10 last minute cancellation out of 100 people. You are not going to feel good about telling someone whose mother just died that you cannot return their money. You can handle these cancellations by signing up a few extra people thereby running the risk of overcrowding the boat or by pricing the trip to cover expenses with less than the required number and then have to refund the extra money. You can also have a standby list. However, if the weather looks iffy, don't expect the standbys to be anxious to go.
Refund Policy
You fill the trip, the deadline to cancel has past and now you have people wanting to cancel. How do you protect yourself and your club? The only answer is a clearly stated refund policy.
As an example is the policy advertised for the 2000 Cashes Ledge trip. (July 21 was one month before the trip and the date at which we could cancel without forfeiting the deposit.)
| "You may cancel without penalty before July 21. After July 21 you may cancel without penalty if a replacement is found for your space. If no replacement can be found and the trip sails without you, your payment is forfeited." |
Here is some wording for the situation where the organizer decides to cancel the trip because the weather conditions are expected to be uncomfortable, but not unsafe.
| "If the trip is cancelled by the organizer because of adverse conditions and the captain feels he has earned the deposit, then you will receive a refund less your share of the deposit. ( $500 /100 = $5 per person.)" |
Registration
Advertise your trip as soon as possible. You are invited to list your trip on New England Seabirds. You can have a simple announcement or a full page description with a sign up sheet. You should also announce the trip on MassBird, NHBird and other internet discussion groups.
Consult your organization's legal advisor to decide if you need to have participants sign a release in the case of accident or injurty. In most cases, you will be advised to do this. New England Seabirds will be happy to publish your release form. Participants can print the form, sign it, and send it to you by snail mail.
Develop a process to accept reservations and to send out responses. The simplest procedure requires the participant to send a check and a stamped self-addressed envelope. Checks are usually not cashed until the day before the trip.
Finally figure out how you will return all money if you have to cancel the trip after the checks are cashed. It happens.
A better method would be to use charge cards, but few bird clubs are able to take charge card payments. In some cases the captain may be willing to handle the sign up process and to use their credit card acceptance procedure for you. This is a good deal.
Set Expectations
Be wary of first time pelagic birders signing up for overnight trips. Under getting started there is a page about overnight trips. You may want to print it and send it to all participants. Some people have no idea how bad sea sickness can be. Make sure to state that the boat will not return because one is seasick.
All participants should understand that they may be 4 or more hours from any medical help.
For overnight trips make sure people understand the sleeping arrangements. We are not talking about staterooms, but rather sleeping bags on the deck or on a plywood bunk in a damp hold. Yes, it rains.
Trip Leader
Your trip leader is most important to the success of a dedicated trip. The leaders must of course know their seabirds and be able to make rapid identifications. Just as important is the ability to give directions to the birds, work with the captain, and provide an enthusiastic and informative dialog over the microphone. We are very fortunate in this area to have many experienced pelagic trip leaders. One way to pick a trip leader is to look at the results of past trips to find experienced leaders.
For day long trips you should perhaps have two leaders on board. This is a good opportunity for a willing but inexperienced leader to develop their skills.
Chum
Chum is not usually free. Arrange with the captain to obtain fish chum. If you expect the crew to do the chumming you should tip the crew members. See the page on chumming for ideas.