edinburgh to brisbane

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sailorjerry

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hi there.

I am a real novice to sailing, but I'm planning a pretty massive endevour. basically, i'm living in edinburgh, and I want to sail back to Australia (home).
The plan at the moment is to buy an old boat, fix it up and follow the coastlines along the east of uk, the west of france and spain, through the mediterrainian, then cross the suez canal, and along saudi araibia ect, along the coast of idia, then on to through indonesia, and hit darwin, and on to brisbane.
Basically, i need some advice on the actual realistic possibilities of this trip. or any tips/ general comments.
I'm looking to get myself a 20 odd foot boat, with sails and motor.
I understand that this will be a pretty "out of my leauge sort of adventure". but it would be pretty hard to convince me not to do it at this point.
planning on setting sail about march.
thoughts?
 
Probably be 'sectioned' if you mention this plan to any normal human being. Not too many on this site or in Edinburgh, so you may be safe. Look at 30' - trust me! March 2010 then!
 
A fellow countryman of yours nickrj is a member of this forum & is from Melbourne. He bought a Contessa 26 . He left UK in 2006 & has so far sailed uk, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Canaries, West Indies, & is now in New York. You might cosult him !
 
[ QUOTE ]
hi there.

I am a real novice to sailing, but I'm planning a pretty massive endevour. basically, i'm living in edinburgh, and I want to sail back to Australia (home).
The plan at the moment is to buy an old boat, fix it up and follow the coastlines along the east of uk, the west of france and spain, through the mediterrainian, then cross the suez canal, and along saudi araibia ect, along the coast of idia, then on to through indonesia, and hit darwin, and on to brisbane.
Basically, i need some advice on the actual realistic possibilities of this trip. or any tips/ general comments.
I'm looking to get myself a 20 odd foot boat, with sails and motor.
I understand that this will be a pretty "out of my leauge sort of adventure". but it would be pretty hard to convince me not to do it at this point.
planning on setting sail about march.
thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

What an absolutely absurd idea!

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Shane Acton went to Brisbane on his circumnavigation and he sailed an 18' Marine ply Caprice however he did take eight years about it, earning his bread and finding a girl friend en route - read Shrimpy by SA.
 
But in all seriousness, it might be a little difficult going the direction you're proposing. While it is technically possible to sail that route, most people insisting on getting to Australia via an easterly course would go around the Cape of Good hope, and then underneath Australia. However, if you're going to Brisbane, you'd be doing a giant loop under Australia and north again... Plus, sailing in the southern Indian ocean in a 20ft boat is probably not going to be particularly enjoyable.

Also, while coast hopping through Saudi Arabia and India might look simple enough, I think it would be a very unusual and treacherous route. In fact, I don't recall ever reading any accounts of such a voyage (which might make it all the more appealing.. Ha!). Also take a close look at the tradewinds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_wind

The most logical route would be west, via the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific to Brisbane. In fact, most landfalls made from the Pacific are via Queensland... There have been many such voyages, and as already mentioned, there are several books available such as Shane Acton's.

Also, not to rain on your parade, but, coming from someone who is more or less doing exactly what you're asking about (I left from Southampton, I am now in New York, via the West Indies), it is very difficult. Any boat capable of such a trip no matter how small is going to be costly to maintain and prepare, making money en route is difficult, being constantly alone can not always be easy etc...

A much more manageable, and potentially more enjoyable way to do this, could be to break up the stress and load of such an epic trip (because, frankly, it is an enormous undertaking) and get a few friends to come along and pitch in. If you got two friends and all put in for a 32' boat, and took on the project together, you could move a lot quicker, and a lot safer. Being alone means you need to learn everything about everything, quickly, cheaply, and without much assistance. Also, preparing, learning, and departing from a foreign country without any support network (friends, family etc) is not easy.

But, if you really want to do it, you will ... There is always a way. Everyone will tell you you're made, but you probably are, so take it as a compliment!

Bon voyage!

n
 
There is an account by Adrian Heyter, "Sheila in the Wind" of a relatively inexperienced sailor, taking a Albert Strange Yawl to Melbourne via Suez in the 50's. Quite eventful!

For this routing, given the amount of windward work, I would consider going for a longer waterline length than 20ft offers. You wont get much more than 100 miles a day in a 20fter. I would suggest you go for a displacement long keeler - much more forgiving single-handed.
 
Nice one Roach - Master of out of publication voyage logs! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I think Stephane in his Contessa is planning to go 'the wrong way' across the Indian Ocean through the Suez... (http://peacefuljourney.ca)

Something is also to be said about spending a season meandering around Europe - My time spent in the Dutch waterways was some of the best time spent on my trip so far. Sailing up into the Baltic would have been special too. The seed idea for my voyage started with an idea to sail the Lofoten Islands in Norway, but somehow I ended up here /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

n
 
Am I alone in thinking that this has got to be one fabulous troll?

It is brilliant, he could only have bettered it by saying he intended to kitesurf from Pole to Pole starting on 1 April and could anyone lend him the charts!
 
Take one port at a time so it is possible?

Need to think about budget,charts, insurance, food,

And maybe sail for a week or two to get the feeel of it.

It is not as easy as flying?

Good luck

Tom
 
[ QUOTE ]
kitesurf from Pole to Pole starting on 1 April and could anyone lend him the charts!

[/ QUOTE ]

Sometimes crazy dreams start with stupid questions...
 
Well Nick. It took you one year from starting your original planning to your shakedown cruise to France. And that was after a myriad of sensible and practical questions, not least about selecting the right boat. I am sure you had many doubts. Even after your achievements you have been modest in referring to the discomforts of sailing across oceans in a small boat - even a well found boat.

Yet this guy wants to 'fix up' a 20 odd footer and set sail the wrong way aound the world beginning in Edinburgh in March! March !! FFS!! I have just spent the past year on a boatbuilding course and I couldn't even 'fix up' a seaworthy canoe in this timeframe let alone venture into the North Sea in it. I have done it, I sailed a 29 footer from Hull to Hartlepool on 2 Jan in the snow once - can't say I enjoyed it much.

I entered the first Jester Challenge and was privileged to meet a number of incredible single handed yachtsmen. The common thread was that of reality. They took nothing for granted. Neither do you, that is why you have succeeded. This guy has the supreme arrogance of stating that it will be difficult to change his mind. That, to my mind, sounds alarm bells.


I can't believe you are really encouraging him to do this!?

I still believe it is a troll.
 
Sure, anteak, maybe he is a troll, and maybe his idea is totally absurd, etc... However, I firmly believe that if he were actually to begin moving down this route, it would become fairly clear how difficult it is as he learns more and more by virtue of the experience itself.

Just by this question, and the response, he has already learned that it is a difficult undertaking, and probably the wrong direction to be sailing. He has also been linked to my website, and informed by someone else about a book which covers the exact route he is interested in. Therefore, by merit of a possibly silly question, he has in fact learned a considerable amount of information, and even got himself in possible contact with someone actually doing what he is proposing.

I'm also not necessarily encouraging him to do it, if I remember correctly, I believed his route would be 'unusual and treacherous'. I also said singlehanding was dangerous and sometimes miserable, and that maybe a better approach would be to team up. Personally, that seems like fairly sound advice to me... My stance on this is, if the guy is serious, and not a troll, is that he should arm himself with the right information, find good people to help him, and god speed.

So what if March is the wrong month? Then someone will tell him June is better. Who cares if it takes two years to find and rebuild a boat instead of one cold and rainy English winter? He will find out how difficult it is to make any boat ocean ready soon enough, while attempting to live aboard with a dozen leaks overhead. Sometimes it's better to shoot yourself down in the act of an undertaking than to be shot down by everyone around you...

I just remember with great clarity my own somewhat blind ambition, and how hard it was to actually find useful information. Yes, it took me a year to pay for, and make my boat ready. And even so, I was in the north sea with a sikaflex gun stopping leaks, cold, sick and wondering what I was doing.

I don't encourage or discourage anything. I just try to tell it how it is, without being too dramatic...

n
 
OK Nick, I take your point about inspiration from others and there are always good experienced hands around.

However, is the posters advice below acceptable?


[ QUOTE ]
Take one port at a time so it is possible?

Need to think about budget,charts, insurance, food,

And maybe sail for a week or two to get the feeel of it.


[/ QUOTE ]


I hope that is a troll too but if it is not and it is taken literally, this bloke is in danger of taking the line of least resistance thinking that it really is as easy as "maybe sail for a week or two to get the feeel of it".

Anyway, if he is having a laugh, he has caught a few of us. If he is not and is serious I really do wish him luck but, on the basis of his detailed planning so far I fear more for the RNLI crews who will be out to rescue him than I do for his aspirations.
 
Mhh, troll or no troll I am always interested in ambitious voyages in small yachts - specially wooden ones - so lets see where this thread leads!

Personally I think this might be genuine. Why? Becuase it is the Ozzies and Kiwis of this world that come up with the most ambitious voyages. Bill Howell could not sail, and in the 24ft Wanderer 2 that he bought from the Hiscocks, he made it to Canada learning on the hoof (no GPS, liferaft or ANY electrics). Then there was Bill Nance - who took his Vertue round the world via the Horn. What about David Lewis in his Ice Bird? All these ideas would have been pooh-poohed online forums were available then.

I know a Vertue in Maldon going for a song, maybe he should start there...

P.S Don't get me started on the French and their voyages!
 
I know a Vertue in Maldon going for a song, maybe he should start there...

**************************************************

If this is PAtience then he follows in good footsteps.
 
OK I will start the 'sensible practicalities' ball rolling, even though I see a full moon shining out of the window tonight...

This is going to be expensive, far far more costly (x 10,20,30?) than a plane ticket and as they say, 'nothing goes to windward like a 747'.

Your route is a bit of a headbanger as initially proposed..

As a former editor of Yachting Monthly said (paraphrasing), 'most of us just go to sea in the boats that we have and not that which would be ideal if money were no object'...

So, a 20 foot grp boat it is, with good sails and a reliable outboard, patience and tenacity.

First bit:
Why go down the East coast of England and then struggle against the prevailing winds in the expensive English Channel ?
You could as easily go through the Great Glen,down the Irish East coast,(Scillies maybe if you wanted a diversion),and south from there to Spain,Canaries,Caribbean,Panama,Pacific, lots of visas, lots of longish passages at sea but lots of downwind sailing...

The east coast uk route would be good if you really wanted to chug through the French canals to the Med and then Suez etc..Red Sea,pirates ?
?, theoretically shorter 'hops' between islands....

You dont say how much experience you have of the outdoors..

Quelle adventure ! Read as much as you can from people who have 'done it' in similar circumstances and constraints and I wish you the best .
 
...follow the coastlines...

IMO one of the first things you ought to do is release your grip on the land. Whilst it's possible (political difficulties aside - Middle east, Burma?) to stay within sight of land all the way from Edinburgh to Indonesia; in fact if you routed via Sulawesi/New Guinea with good visibility on the key days, you may even reach Brisbane without losing sight of land, it's probably not a good idea. There are certain areas, the Bay of Biscay is one that comes immediately to mind, where it's not only quicker, but much safer too, to get offshore rather than follow the coastline around.
 
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