Hi Jeremy,

The total weight of personal gear that each crewmember can bring aboard is only 25 pounds... That includes EVERYTHING, all clothes, seaboots, etc, and excludes only that safety gear otherwise required by the NOR, such as life vests, harnesses, and so on... I'm sure glad I'm not bound by such a limitation whenever I do a delivery, there is no way in hell I could come remotely close to traveling that light...

I've been watching the weekly show on NBCSN, and I don't think I've ever noticed the offwatch crew fiddling around with personal electronic devices, or even wearing a set of iPod ear buds... Not to say it doesn't happen, of course... But, given the culture that Nicholson established with delegating pretty much complete responsibility for the navigation aboard VESTAS to Verbraak, I would not expect the rest of the crew would be taking much more of an active interest in their day to day navigation than simply looking over his shoulder from time to time as he sat at his computer...

But I think the other point you mention, the difficulty of keeping a bunch of iPads or whatever constantly charged, is likely the more overriding issue on these boats...

best regards,

Jon