seivadnehpets
Active member
Dear Doge,
I've dipped in and out of this thread, and I think I can see where you're coming from. I also have no car, live some way from the sea, I have a good appetite for risk, but I don't have sailing in my blood except for a great grandfather who escaped 2000 miles across the Indian Ocean after his steam ship sank.
I might not be as determined at crossing oceans as you, but last year I set my heart on a knackered Fantasie 19 that I saw on ebay for sale up on the west coast of Scotland. I was saved by the pandemic, but somehow I ended up crewing for an old lady in a vintage 33' Swedish boat on a crossing to N.Ireland and then up to Isla and Jura.
That was a lesson and a half. I had been dreaming of cruising around the inner hebrides visiting Colonsay and Jura from Loch Linnhe, using the outboard only in and out of port, and carrying very little fuel. I had miss calculated the achievable speed enormously. In the larger, faster boat, we could only occasionally drop the iron top sail as sail power alone would not see us into port before bedtime. I would still like to sail the Western Isles engineless, but I would need crew, as we'd need to sail round the clock.
I know this is not the kind of sailing you have in mind, I expect you are zooming out on windfinder and you are right, if you can get your boat in the stream you'll be sure to get there, and out on the open ocean who needs to keep watch?...
But my experience was a narrow escape from what would almost certainly have been an embarrassing disaster, even if I'd never got as far as actual danger.
Do yourself a favour, make time, sail in company and build some experience.
