Suggested Routes For Circumnavigating West to East?

lyralicious

lyralicious

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Thailand. Recovering from what felt like the longe
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We are currently in Turkey looking at the possibility of heading eastwards, rather than the usual westwards... We're looking at heading through the Red Sea, then to Thailand, via the Maldives, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands.

Has anyone any first hand experience of a route like this? Or can you suggest any blogs/websites that cover such a route. I have World Cruising Routes, but can anyone suggest any other useful literature?

Also I'm getting conflicting information on the best time of the year to undertake these different legs...

Any advice at all would be gladly received!
 
Most yachts cross from Red Sea/Maldives/Sri Lanka/Thailand in Jan/Feb. On the NE wind but usually light conditions apparently.
Some info in Heikell's Indian Ocean pilot, although I don't get the impression he enjoyed it.
Quite a few Oz boats take this route home and I did some research while my brother lived in Perth WA. He's moved to NZ now!!
The most dangerous part is leaving the Horn of Africa without encountering pirates!!
Many skippers leave from Eritrea and don't stop in Yemen or Oman.
Somalian waters must be avoided.
 
The new "Ocean Passages and Landfalls" by Heikell/O'Grady indeed notes that both times are possible: For the Red Sea to Sri Lanka passage: seasons Dec-March and Aug-Sep with "best time" Aug-Sep. The Sri Lanka to Thailand route is described as seasons Jan-March and June-August with "best time" Feb-Mar.

On the note of Piracy, this is the opinion of Heikell/O'Grady: "our best estimate is that yachts that have encountered pirates in the Red Sea and off Yemen is reported to be 1-1.5% of yacht passages over the last five years. Even some of these could be questionable. Certainly, the experience of one of the authors (RJH) leads him to conclude that curious and impoverished fishermen are often confused for pirates when they are nothing of the sort, however raggle-taggle and piratical they may look." The authors then goes on to indicate that the area to avoid is the Somalian coast and that many more yachts have been lost on the reefs in the Red Sea than to piracy.
 
take look at:
www.vascodagamarally.nl
leaves kekova, end september 07 heading towards goa, india 7th april 08. this is a cruising rally with many side visits like the pyramids and the nile.(its all on the web site)
several uk boats joining/leaving at various ports enroute. my entry is "Atlantis"
might see you their?
 
"Seraffyn's Oriental Adventure" by Lin and Larry Pardey is an interesting account of half of their first circumnavigation: Med, Suez, Red Sea, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Japan, Canada. The other half is described in earlier books. They used "Ocean Passages for the World" to plan that successful circumnavigation, and did it without engine, SSB, satnav, watermaker, etc. in a 24-footer.
 
We had originally intended this route as the boat will be in the east Med/Red Sea by the time we set off.(Boat now in Greece) After reading up we decided not to sail against the trades/prevailing winds as those who have tried advised against it. We would gladly change our plans the arguement was a good one. I know the Red Sea well as we dive there twice a year and I have been moving drilling rigs there for years. When are you expecting lo leave. Interesting article on the Andermans in the Telegraph today.
 
We're not expecting to leave until 08/09. But, it depends on our final decision regarding timing. Lady Jessie's information on Rod Heikell's book is good (looks like this might be my next present to myself), If January is the best time (and I've heard this from a number of sources) we would leave Jan 09, but if it's August, then I guess we'd think about August '08.

So many things to think about when making this decision!

Can't get the Telegraph in Icmeler (nr Bodrum)!
 
August in Egypt and Sudan would be pretty hot!!
I think most boats on this trip leave the eastern Med at the end of the season and aim to be Eritrea or Djibouti for Xmas. Then cross to Sri lanka in Jan and on to Thailand in Feb.
An OZ skipper in a cat with whom I corresponded, left a bit later and got caught on the outskirts of a cyclone while crossing to Indonesia in April. He (after four days lying to sea anchor!) passed south of Indonesia and carried on to Darwin.
A few boats do it every year and you should be able to find them either electronically (maybe on noonsite) or on passage. Good idea to have a bit of a convoy leaving the gulf of Aden.
Almost everyone one else will be gong the other way!!
 
[ QUOTE ]

Almost everyone one else will be gong the other way!!

[/ QUOTE ] That might be so, but it is such a LONG WAY from Turkey to Thailand the other way.

I have no firsthand experience of this route but got really interested after having recently met two British delivery skippers based in Phuket, Thailand. They told me that they regularly take yachts from the Med to Thailand and that it is a very pleasant experience. They mostly do it in the Jan-April timeframe. The Indian Ocean has so many "stepping stones" that it is probably one of the easiest ocean crossing experiences either way, provided you pick the right time. Would love to hear from more cruisers that have done it eastwards.

I am also leaning towards doing this route in early 2009, so see you in Kuah, Langkawi in April 2009 Queenie! I will be at one of the bars within the ferry dock terminal. Beers on me!
 
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