Choice of boat for Bluewater

[BurnitBlue]

haha. Have a look at the WorldARC site which gives a more detailed schedule. Also essential reading of course to make sure you avoid their party circuit.

Thanks. Their route is 15 month RTW. I thought you did it in less than one year, taking into account Phineous Foggs date line fudge.

Only three month difference but well worth it to crib the sums.

Crumbs, they organise a lot of parties. Did you ever find a way to Gate crash some of them? Tips on disguises appreciated.

 

[tcm]

Thanks. Their route is 15 month RTW. I thought you did it in less than one year, taking into account Phineous Foggs date line fudge.

Only three month difference but well worth it to crib the sums.

Crumbs, they organise a lot of parties. Did you ever find a way to Gate crash some of them? Tips on disguises appreciated.

Hummmm crashing the worldARC parties won't be top of your list. Bear in mind that the W/ARC isn't run by fun uber-skippers with loads of experience in crew motivation and ocean safety. It's run by very dull accounting-type people with only a modicum of ocean/boat experience, and whose often part-time staff hold the experience, not the company itself. Instead of an inspirational hoop-whoop encouragement of the skippers and crews, expect the very dullest of dull speeches that you have ever heard, sometimes translated into cringingly bad Spainsh or French, and weird communications such as their invitation to call emergencies on Ch16, or alternatively call their office in Cowes and leave a message.

So anyways, the parties are on a budget okay? That means instead of a PAARTEEE!!!! it's some more cheap nasty wine, again, and probably some bread and cheese maybe. You'll get a bottle of rum when you arrive st lucia but the stuff is only a dozen dollars. Then you're geting ready to go on the world ARC.... BUT you have to reprovision in St Lucia. Solveable a bit by going to Martinique I suppose but whatever. San Blas coconut islands and then Panama, and then a dull trudge through the Pacific, to a schedule. At no point can you say Hey, this is rubbish let's move on right now! (like in poxy Mauritius frexample, when Reunion is just a few hours away and best go now instead of after the Friday sodding party...) nope, you gotta stay, really. And when you DO get to Mauritius (or Reuniion, or S Africa or lots of other places) you gotta remember that budget and how it affects the Warcies - the biggest cheapest discount-offering marina is where you'll be, every time. After a while you'll be more independent about moving the hell out of the WARC-chosen marina and find out or er praps read blogs from other boats (or so it seemed!) and follow their lead into a nice place in Cape Town, instead of that quite-manky fishing port 20 miles outside the city. You always meet the same old people, again and again.

The date line fudge only costs/wins a day btw . I would go from St martin (with ace provisioning and boat fixing) to Cartagena cos it's a fab walled city for a week, then San Blas just a short while cos it's a errr coconuts... then Panama, get lotsa fuel at Flamenco Marina, forget Las Prlas cos urg it's cold and brown murky water, Galapagos is sold as wow amazing eco but meh, bit carp and v expensive so having been once you'll never go again at $1000 dollars to check in and out the thieving ragbags, likewise Marquesas bit hohum, much the best to head straight for Tahiti ...cos that's when your 3-month limited stay in Frencg Poly starts, tick tock tick tock. Use the agency CGA-CGM or join the Puddlejump Rally (free, google it) to avoid having to pay a £££bond on arrival in FP. Get a load of fuel (which you can't buy in Marquesas...) and head into the Tuamotus, mostly-empty islands, all a bit amazing for 2 months. Then a month back to tahiti and moorea and all that.... then Palmerston is a few days sail and a single day visit....actually go wherever you fancy, just make sure you see Bali and Reunion en route Cape Town, leave Cape town whenever you like to return back to Carib. A year is plenty of time, but you can hang out in CT for longer, or visit Brazil etc. So it's a year or a bit longer rtw , but it's more like 2 years starting and finish from UK.

 

[BurnitBlue]

Well I am relieved in a way that I don't have to ignore the screams of merriment from the WorldARC parties. Outside looking in sort of thing.

I have just Googler the Pacific Puddle Jump and I will sign up for it. Thanks for the tip. Being free there is no pressure to stay with it to get moneys worth and all that. It does seem fun though and would be a great contrast to going it alone for a while.

I fly out to the boat in March and set off for Martinique after finishing off some jobs. The boat is ashore in Greece. I really like the idea of a fast RTW to inflict maximum punishment on the boat because I hate the thing. I only bought it two years ago and I have no bloody idea why. It is my fifth boat and I should have known better. I could never sell the thing because my glee and Commanche war dance of happiness would put any buyer off.

I look forward to scraping the sides of the Panama Canal, then perhaps running up a few coral heads. No maintenance except just enough to last out a year of abuse.

 

[contessaman]

contessaman I hope you'll keep this thread updated with your thinking on boats that you are considering for this trip. I hope to be in a similar position in a few years time. I like Rivals and would consider a deep keel Rival 34, but depending on visitors/crew and budget I need to look at the Rival 38 and maybe even Bowman 40 in the meantime if finances permit. I'd also be very interested in your choice of dive compressor!

Well the compressor is the easy bit! looking at all the overpriced junk on ebay it has to be to be a new one of these:

http://www.divers-warehouse.co.uk/index.php/cPath/1696_1697_1699?osCsid=1sv3sjarls6ac881d50ukjae20

I currently dive a manifolded set of twin 12's with an OMS wing. Given the plan is to sail to warmer climes I would like to switch to twin ali 80s as these would be safer than the heavy steel tins when im in a wetsuit and dont have the reserve buoyancy of a drysuit. so i'd need to store the compressor, spare filter stacks, my twinset and at least two more single tins onboard - visiting friends who fly out to meet me wont be able to bring a tin with them...

So far have looked at a fair few boats.. if I was sailing alone and sailing for sailings sake I, like you, would naturally be thinking rival etc. but they are too cramped below for what I want I have in mind I have already ruled out a long keeler with big overhangs. seen a few moody 41 / / 419s. these were solid but to be honest felt too big given I intend to do some of my trip alone. both examples I saw were looking a bit tired too. Saw a lovely moody 376 which so far is the benchmark to judge all others. the size felt good. managable but plenty of room for wife and kids/ dive chums and kit. A huge cockpit locker which would swallow the dive kit... sounds perfect?

but alas, the headroom is not good for me. even the berths are pretty tight. Im sure others on here who have spent far more extended periods afloat than I have can advise if this headroom issue will be a niggle or will come to ruin everything. Im still not put off the 376 as it ticked all the other boxes and the 419 still didnt have enough headroom.

when you are 6'3" like me I guess I will always struggle until I get to newer AWBs and their vast headroom. I saw a nice looking sun odyssey 40. plenty of headroom. My worries with those boats were centred on the long term suitability of the bulbed keel for ocean sailing. As it turned out she had a recent survey reporting keel movement and leakage around the bolts. I'm put right off.

what I really want to see now are two boats that straddle the middle ground of the moody 376.

bavaria ocean 38 - does the extra room below, headroom and bathing platform warrant the risk of crossing an ocean in a boat with an AVS of 118 degrees? Of course I dont know the AVS for the moody 376 but since it has a higher ballast ratio and less beam it must be a greater range of +ve stability.

HR 38 or HR 382 - Unquestionably very seaworthy, encapsulated ballast. But how much space does that cost me down below? Will I be happier walking like Neanderthal man and diving from the tender or a ladder knowing that I have such a solid craft? Also, coming in right at the top of my budget, will the cheaper ones available actually be in a fit condition or will they have leaky teak decks? would I be better off with the best example moody 376 I can find and having plenty of money left to renew rigging, sails, fit a hydrovane and a watermaker?

I'll be closer to knowing when I have viewed the above two boats. Luckily theres only 1 of each on the market and im looking at falmouth and north scotland.... still, a few tanks of fuel in the car is better than buying the wrong boat eh?

cm

 

[tcm]

Well I am relieved in a way that I don't have to ignore the screams of merriment from the WorldARC parties. Outside looking in sort of thing.

I have just Googler the Pacific Puddle Jump and I will sign up for it. Thanks for the tip. Being free there is no pressure to stay with it to get moneys worth and all that. It does seem fun though and would be a great contrast to going it alone for a while.

I fly out to the boat in March and set off for Martinique after finishing off some jobs. The boat is ashore in Greece. I really like the idea of a fast RTW to inflict maximum punishment on the boat because I hate the thing. I only bought it two years ago and I have no bloody idea why. It is my fifth boat and I should have known better. I could never sell the thing because my glee and Commanche war dance of happiness would put any buyer off.

I look forward to scraping the sides of the Panama Canal, then perhaps running up a few coral heads. No maintenance except just enough to last out a year of abuse.

Ah excellent, much the best is to get the trip done and not be in lurv with the damn boat. Also the WARC wants you to have a stupid long-range radio, more cash to burn, and of course it's 15grand or thereabouts, and there's not a fat lot they do (if anything) that you can't do yerself. You can go again of course once you know the bits you like.

I would hang about this side of Panama until you're pretty much ready (time and weather wise) to fuel up and get provisions and go from the Panama side cos it's not too nice in one of the nasty marinas nor in the anchorages (cos loads of pilot boats whizz around all day and night).

Yeah the Puddlejump thing, i never met up with any of them haha. But the hook-up with CGA-CGM is very useful.

The Marquesas I found a bit meh, unmanageably huge and steep mountain-islands really, with some nice french people all very keen to get some sort of govt job. 800nm to Tahiti much nicer. Blog "Irie" have recently bashed around the area for a couple of years, very thorough.

I didn't bother stopping at Australia - the short amount of time there isn't really worth the heavy-handed customs hassle.

Anyways have a good trip, mebbe start a new thread for more on this.

Erm , for others... you need the longest boat possible with nice downwind sails cos it's not a load of weekend-style bashity bash, it's living on a boat on easy passages with just a lot long time between putting fenders away and getting them out again. Boat-fixing ability is FAR more important than sailing skills - being carp at sailing means you'll take an extra day here and there. Whereas busted boat mean you might need to divert or stop for weeks etc. It;s propbably comfier on a catameringue which is what I did.

 

[lone1rival]

I know this is pulling up an old thread, apologies if that is bad form on here or if it is irrelevant because you have found the perfect boat or decided against this whole thing in the intervening time.
(Don't ask what internet rabbit whole I went down to get here, just about anything is more interesting than studying for finals right now.)

I don't have much experience for suggesting specific boats, but as someone who spent quite a bit of my childhood ocean cruising I do have a few suggestions for considering family life on board.

How old will the girls be when you leave? Presumably not teenagers close to exams if homeschooling is a possibility, but if its before the age when an iPhone with Facebook is more interesting than legos, whatever than might be in 2020, it seems to be getting younger and younger, you'll probably make an easier transition. Then again maybe by 2020 maybe satellite data will be cheap enough to have wifi on board mid ocean and they can be bloggers or youtube vloggers.

Unless the kids are going to be at the age of being a useful member of the crew (take a day watch on their own in good weather: keeping a lookout and plotting a fix while everyone else is asleep and waking you up immediately if the sea, clouds or sails change at all) its mostly a case of getting them to put up with it to start with and they'll soon adapt. Is your wife a reasonably experienced sailor and the hesitation specifically about the long term nature and raising the kids or is it down to general inexperience? If it is the latter are you hoping to convince her to become [almost] as confident you will be dealing with a boat mid ocean, or would you be pleased with 'willing passenger'?

If it ends up being just the four of you crossing oceans you might still want something you can pretty much single hand unless you are confident of the families all weather-ness. It doesn't have to be a horrible storm to send people to their bunks, but if its a bit uncomfortable for more than about 24hrs before everyone really has their sea legs you might find yourself with everything to do, no one wanting to cook more than a pot noodle, and without the pragmatism of actually being alone. If you go big enough you can't handle it alone then I guess there is room for extra crew, great if the buddies are good family friends, a careful choice if you were picking from crewfinders!

I know someone speculated about the pressure on the marriage if you go and leave thing ticking over at home, thats not my area at all, but depending on the kids' age and confidence reiterating that 'no mummy and daddy are not separating but he is thousands of miles away for quite a while (weeks? months? depending on your flight budgets) and its not really like your daddy's business trip' to their classmates/teachers/classmates parents could be a bit tricky, the idea of all of this can be pretty hard to communicate to land lubbers without sounding crazy. Then again I know some families that have circumnavigated almost entirely in the school holidays with dad only away a couple extra weeks at the beginning and end of each to get the boat ready or put away, and occasionally make long passages that are very limited by the seasons.

I can't think of anything better than setting off in a boat with your family, and I appreciate this is the sort of timespan you need to start planning for it. Considering my first memories are ocean crossings it seems normal and obvious to me, all the more so because both my parents had done something similar before and agreed on a family trip as soon as news of me arrived, but I can see there would be a lot for everyone in a family coming into this later to adjust too, either way you decide to go