Solo cruising - am I being realistic?

LadyInBed said:
What of those aids I mentioned do you feel that you can comfortably be without on a long solo passage?
What length of passages do you do solo?

I would say that for the odd passage of less than 24 hrs where you can rely on a decent weather forecast the only thing you really need is a reliable autohelm but to do longer passages to destinations previously unvisited, with the aids I listed any angst diminishes and the feeling of well being correspondingly rises, making for a much more relaxed passage.
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. Done a few 600 miles solo. I think nothing of a 100 miles whether in my 21 footer or my 38 footer. Self steering is essential, but sail to tiller steering is quite effective. The rest are toys (and nice toys, I do like them!), but in no way essential. How else did people sail before fancy electronics?
 
Quiddle said:
Alternatively, give it a go and be prepared to abort en route if OP or boat fall short of the task. One thing's for sure, berthing costs aren't going to rise once he's left the Hamble.
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"Giving it a go, being prepared to abort en route" is a viable option along the south coast, but becomes increasingly dangerous as you approach and pass Lands End. There are lots of safe harbours, marinas and accessible anchorages between Dover and Dartmouth, but they begin to get fewer and further spaced as you turn round the end and start heading north. An inexperienced sailor in a small boat can easily get into trouble and be several hours from a safe stopping place. It's only a few years since Mary Unwin tried that passage and her body has never been found.
 
Sandy said:
I'm planning an anticlockwise circumnavigation of the British Isle, with a wee hop up to the Faroe Isles, including several long hops, Plymouth - Ramsgate, Ramsgate - Edinburgh, Edinburgh - Faroe before enjoying the trip south at a slower place and taking in several distilleries. I am letting friends and relations know my plans and they are welcome to step on and off the boat at any port of call.

Fundamentally, the boat is being setup for single handed sailing, including a Hydrovane self steerer. For me the key to the whole voyage is preparation of the boat and, more importantly me, I have plans next summer of doing several single handed trips starting with short day sails through to non stop multi-day trips.

Make sure you have an insurance company that allow multi-day single handed sailing and talk to them about what you are planning to do. "Y" have a time limit of 18 hours (there are times I can't get from Plymouth to Roscoff in that time). Another issue I found was most insurance companies limit you to 12 miles offshore unless "on passage"; crossing Lyme Bay is OK as long as you are heading from Dartmouth to Portland, but just going to look at the Channel Light Vessel is not, unless you have an agreed limit, e.g. 40 miles offshore.
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Surely not expecting to go Plymouth to Ramsgate in one hop without sleep?
 
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graham said:
ross84 said:
Thanks all!

Solent to Liverpool would be regarded as quite a challenging passage for an experienced yachtsman with a crew.

There are long bits of it with no safe harbours to head for several headlands with critical tide times for passing safely.

It's not impossible but not sensible for a novice in an unfamiliar boat singlehanded In my opinion.

I bet there's a great boat for sale in Liverpool right now that would suit you and allow a more gentle learning curve.
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"challenging passage for an experienced yachtsman with a crew".

Why?
Its simply a longer trip than the usual, so split it up into manageable parts, don't get stressed by looking at it as a whole. Remember, the way to eat an elephant, is bit by bit.
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scotty123 said:
Is "risk assessment", a covoluted way of saying "I just have a quick look around"?;)
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I was a safety officer for a few years when I had a proper job. I really hate risk assessments! Most of them were common sense and provided useless idiots (like me..) with employment on total BS matters.
 
mbroom said:
I’ve been doing it wrong all these years!
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Me too :encouragement:
A radar, plotter and AIS are essential? I wish I'd known that before..

To the OP, you should get some practice in before the passage, or get a boat closer to home, as said above, good luck.
 
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maby said:
"Giving it a go, being prepared to abort en route" is a viable option along the south coast, but becomes increasingly dangerous as you approach and pass Lands End. There are lots of safe harbours, marinas and accessible anchorages between Dover and Dartmouth, but they begin to get fewer and further spaced as you turn round the end and start heading north. An inexperienced sailor in a small boat can easily get into trouble and be several hours from a safe stopping place. It's only a few years since Mary Unwin tried that passage and her body has never been found.
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I did Padstow to Newlyn (S/H) in a rather unforgiving northwesterly.
With a fin-keel it was go on or turn back once I was past Trevose Head and clear of Quies Rocks. I felt very vulnerable, knowing it was turn back to Padstow with not enough water to get back in, or hope Land's End passage was to be kind.
4m-5m swell down the north Cornish Coast.
It was a very long, very anxious morning before clearing past Pendeen and finding conditions were easing to near perfect.

I was very,very lucky that day. I wouldn't count on being so lucky again.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Me too :encouragement:
A radar, plotter and AIS are essential? I wish I'd known that before...
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OK, maybe I overstated it, I used to sail with just A/H and RDF, then got DECCA which made life much easier and less stressful, then I got caught off Cap de la Hague going South in thick fog. No chance of turning back with 1GM 7HP engine, the DECCA saw me through to St PP but it was extremely stressful so I decided that RADAR would be a good thing to have, so when I changed my boat from 22 to 33ft it was high on the list of things to fit. Technology moved on, Selective Availability was ditched so GPS became reliable then Chart Plotters became affordable especially when you compare the cost of charts to an equivalent coverage cartridge then AIS became affordable, whats not to like? No more guestimating if a ship is going to run you down or change course. Result - stress free sailing.
 
You might be interested in this account of my solo trip from the Solent to North Wales undertaken when I first bought my current boat.
http://www.mountainadventures.co.uk/seabear/from-solent-to-the-menai-straits-part-1-may-23rd-25th/
and there is an earlier account of my circumnavigation of Ireland in and earlier boat
http://www.mountainadventures.co.uk/Dansa/logs/roundire.html
You might pick up some time from these accounts
I am currently cruising singlehanded in Vanuatu in the South Pacific
Chris
 
LadyInBed said:
OK, maybe I overstated it, I used to sail with just A/H and RDF, then got DECCA which made life much easier and less stressful, then I got caught off Cap de la Hague going South in thick fog. No chance of turning back with 1GM 7HP engine, the DECCA saw me through to St PP but it was extremely stressful so I decided that RADAR would be a good thing to have, so when I changed my boat from 22 to 33ft it was high on the list of things to fit. Technology moved on, Selective Availability was ditched so GPS became reliable then Chart Plotters became affordable especially when you compare the cost of charts to an equivalent coverage cartridge then AIS became affordable, whats not to like? No more guestimating if a ship is going to run you down or change course. Result - stress free sailing.
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There's a degree of risk in everything we do. Some people enjoy the buzz that comes from extreme danger and others, like me, are pretty risk averse - you choose your lifestyle and activities to match your risk appetite. Men have been crossing oceans for a long time - long before the invention of GPS and radar - even long before the invention of chronometers and sextants which allowed them to know their location even to the accuracy of a few tens of miles. The thing is that quite a lot of them died doing it!

Personally speaking, I go sailing for the pleasure of moving in a relaxed manner driven by the wind. I'm not looking for the buzz of risk, and I would not consider crossing oceans. I want my boat fully loaded with technology to minimise risk. Others may take a different attitude, though I'm willing to bet that the majority of those here that decry technology are not actually far less risk averse than me - they just don't think it will happen to them!
 
maby said:
There's a degree of risk in everything we do. Some people enjoy the buzz that comes from extreme danger and others, like me, are pretty risk averse - you choose your lifestyle and activities to match your risk appetite. Men have been crossing oceans for a long time - long before the invention of GPS and radar - even long before the invention of chronometers and sextants which allowed them to know their location even to the accuracy of a few tens of miles. The thing is that quite a lot of them died doing it!

Personally speaking, I go sailing for the pleasure of moving in a relaxed manner driven by the wind. I'm not looking for the buzz of risk, and I would not consider crossing oceans. I want my boat fully loaded with technology to minimise risk. Others may take a different attitude, though I'm willing to bet that the majority of those here that decry technology are not actually far less risk averse than me - they just don't think it will happen to them!
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Good point(s).
I agree with your commonsense attitude, and would add that on anything other than a "Sunday afternoon sail around the bay" I would make full use of my plotter, AIS (no radar on Khamsin), echo sounder, log, VHF and a hand-held Garmin GPS device.
But for fun, and good-practice I hourly update my chart with dead-reckoning checked by GPS read-out and plotter positioning - just in case ;)
 
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