Where to start planning a blue water cruise?

[seanfoster]

I've been sailing for a fair few years, never been too far, but after dreaming about a blue water cruise for years, I've decided I'm going to get off my backside and do it! Very lucky that my girlfriend is more than enthusiastic about it too, so it's time to start planning for the trip, hopefully to commence in 3-4 years time.

So in that time we have to (in no particular order)
Buy a suitable boat - (I'm thinking 36-38 ft boat probably around 10-15 yrs old)
Get some miles under our belts
Get our yachtmasters
Learn a lot, probably make a lot of mistakes, save up enough money to leave our jobs for a year or so.

No doubt I'm being naive about a number of things, but I have to start somewhere, can anyone advise me of good websites/books/forums which have lots of useful information for this?

Can anyone recommend suitable boats (I'm looking to spend around £40k)

Any help and advice would be appreciated!

 

[HinewaisMan]

Strewth – where to start…. so here’s our experiences

Peter’s been sailing since the Sea Scouts, dinghy & landyachts in the UK, on and offshore racing in Oz. Jean had never sailed before meeting P.

14 years ago, we first considered the idea of heading off to the horizon (on a sheet of butchers paper covering the table in our local wine bar – it turned into a very long lunch).

Took 6 months out to act as crew to deliver Swan 57 from Christchurch to Bali – proved to ourselves we’d like the life.

Saved for 5 years

Bought a 45ft 18 year old steel boat – c. 50kGBP equivalent – spent 5 years and another 50k fitting her out. Meantime, grabbed any chance to get more experience – racing, deliveries etc. Spent time (unpaid) working with local shipwrights, mechanics, sailmakers, sparkies.

The hardest thing is finally letting that last line go.

The second hardest thing was sitting is Darwin during the Build-up because P’s been dill enough to ride the dinghy into a (unlighted) yacht in Fannie Bay and bust 5 ribs – or maybe it was being belted in a three day thunderstorm in the South China Sea

The best bits – way too many to mention.

Good books:

Advice to the Sealorn – Herb Payson (ISBN 1-57409-002-X)
Slow Travel – Mari Rhydwen (ISBN 1-74114-068-4)
Changing Course – Debra Ann Cantrell (ISBN 0-07-136087-5) – Jean tells me this is a must for your girlfriend to read
Two in a boat – Gwyneth Lewis (0-00-71204-8)

Bottom line – everything will take twice as long as you think – and everything will cost twice as much

But then, today we’re moored off a nice bar in Turkey - with wifi – with 14,000 nms under our belts since leaving Melbourne – and we wouldn’t have missed a minute of it.

Peter

 

[michael_w]

Read Blue Water Countdown by Geoff Pack. Though some of the content has dated a bit, it was quite the most useful when I was planning our escape.

 

[seanfoster]

Peter,

Thanks so much for your advice, so first thing I have been naive about is the amount of time these things take! I know about the cost implications refitting my 19 then 25 then 29 ft boat (and I'm still into sailing so not been scared off yet!)

I have a good friend (who I've been sailing with since I was 16) who took the leap some time ago and has sailed extensively from UK to Canaries to the Carribean (and back) so when I next see him he will be grilled, and no doubt will be a good source for us to do some mile building!

 

[Neil_Y]

Not a bad idea to do as Hainways or however its spelt did, have a trip (longish) offshore on another delivery/cruise first.

We did this in 1994, we were then doing lots of racing crewing whilst working here before buying a 40' boat one September, getting it coded and heading off in October. Had a a good cruise of 10,000nm and came back to sell the boat for more than we'd paid for her, but she was sorted and had a few extras.

First thing is to find out if you like it I think, some other friends found they liked the culture and parked up for a good bit in twons in Europe before selling the boat and returning to dry land. Others find that the boat they buy and head off in isn't ideal and change boats on route, anything is possible, just get out there and try as soon as you can.

 

[SAWDOC]

Hi Sean good luck with your dream. This site has blogs from many cruising people and lots more besides.

http://www.cruiser.co.za/links1.asp