Andrew,
5 or 6?? Full strips to the edge of the cockpit recess. The strips get shorter very quickly, though. On my Guillemot, I had a pattern that broke up the deck, so shorter strips worked fine, with some fitting, of course!
You don't really need full strips. It is not hard at all to scarf the strips in place on the boat. Scarfing will also help when you get confined at the ends of the deck. You can fit up one end, then the other and scarf at a point in the middle. If the strips came from the same board, the joint will not even be noticeable.
Search the archives, there are threads on scarfing...lots of good info!
Hope this helps.
Steve