world cruise without fuss...

[Wansworth]

A swiss friend of mine has just returned from his 2 year world cruise via the west indies and the Suez canal.I went out on his boat a standard Nic 32 /1974 for a day sail round the ria.There was no additional stuff apart from a gps and Monitor vane gear.He sailed from Ccanaries to the W.I in 16 days under reefed main and poled out reefed genoa as the wind were blowing most of the toime 25 knots. The boat was immaculate for its age.I foud its interestig as many of the yachts calling in always seem lummbered with stuff blocking up the decks or extra rigging gismos.I forgot he did have a removeable innner forstay and s jib.

 

[Lanzarote]

I think, that he really had a very good luck

 

[ShipsWoofy]

[ QUOTE ]
I think, that he really had a very good luck

[/ QUOTE ]

Why luck?

 

[Blueboatman]

He bought the right boat and sailed it conservatively,perhaps.

I bet his time in port was spent doing anything other than maintaining and repairing overpriced gear and electricery (speculation m'lud) /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Brian_B]

This is a good example of KISS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle
It's a conundrum many people face and not just on a world cruise.

 

[Slow_boat]

Whe buying for theboat I make myself ask;

1. Can I do without it?

2. Can I fix it/replace it/ bodge it?

3. Do I really need it?

4. Have I got somewhere to stow it?

I believe very much in the KISS principle.

 

[Wansworth]

He did remark on the fact that he endeoured not to take stuff he could not fix and chucked out stuff ,unlike myself who has a strong tetency to horde stuff that MIGHT come in handy.From the way he controlled the boat and had thigs organized it was obvious he had perfected the art of kiss .He did run into pirates who grabbed hold of his trailing generater but they lost interest and he got away! He didnt carry a gun and as he said a gun is pretty useless against a Kalashnicov.

 

[Bajansailor]

Your Swiss pal sounds very similar to my Breton pal Matthieu - he bought Natine, a little 24' S & S designed sailing yacht in New Zealand a few years ago, gave her a good re-fit, and headed west..... sometime later I received a phone call from Matt in a call-box in Cape Town to say he was about to set off on his voyage to the Windies, after having an enjoyable cruise singlehanded across the Indian Ocean.

Natine pitched up here in Barbados 47 days later after a text book singlehanded non stop passage up the South Atlantic. Nothing broke or malfunctioned, mainly because there was not anything complicated on board to go wrong.... Natine has no engine, just a big Breton sculling oar.
No autopilot, but a very dependable wind vane.
A solar panel provides electricity for cabin lights, the VHF radio (only used to talk to passing ships, and on arrival here), and the GPS, although Matt preferred to do astro - he turned on the GPS when approaching Barbados just to make sure he was in the right area...
If he wasnt catching and drying fish every day, it might almost have been mundane....

All in stark contrast to a 50' (I think) lavishly equipped American sailing yacht that crossed from the Canaries to Florida at the same time, took the same passage time (47 days) and had all sorts of problems along the way - everything that could go wrong (fridge, freezer, air conditioning, electric furling, you name it) did go wrong. They were not happy bunnies when they arrived on the other side.

Matt subsequently sailed little Natine back to Brittany (still with no engine) via the Azores, although he was double handed on this passage. And again without incident.

Just one query - did your Swiss pal really take 16 days from the Canaries to the Windies? He would have had to put in a good few 200 mile days (ie averaging 8+ knots) to acheive this. Nonetheless, his RTW voyage is still a remarkable acheivement.

 

[Lanzarote]

As I unthertood,
He sailed a standard Nic 32 /1974 with no additional stuff apart from a gps and Monitor vane gear and a removeable innner forstay and s jib.
OK, maybe are my own ghost, (even in my boat, I don´t have any thing which I can not repair with my tools.... so no one electronic and either a compass)
But a boat like this is no designed for this constant effort.
He started with good luck crossing Canaries- W.I. in 16 days on a 32'.
The minimun I would do is over size the rings and their reinforcement inside

 

[Wansworth]

The nic 32 seems to be ery well built and fast,I would have thought able to be kept going i the rough stuff and making progress with lighter winds.The only annoying feature to my mind is the tiller needs almost constant attention,ok with a vane gear but tiresome under power or just letting t6he helm free to attend a cup of tea! Odd in a British designed craft!!

 

[Slow_boat]

Why does the tiller need constant attention, is the boat a bit twitchy?

 

[Vara]

I wouldn't describe a Nic 32 as particularly fast, steady would be a better description.

Without an auto helm they will track very well with a string/bungee arrangement (poor man's Tillermate).

But most Englishmen would heave to for Tea and Dinner, other meals can be taken on the hoof!

 

[Wansworth]

Tea may well be taken on the hoof ,but what does one do with the saucer? I was suprised that the Nic didnt maintai a course for a limited period,no time to even take a swifter without deviation,still it sailed round the world so must have some redeming features!!

 

[webcraft]

We have just been away for a year in a standard 33 year old Albin Vega 27.

OK, it wasn't a round the world cruise, but we did nearly 6000 miles and came back from the Canaries via the Azores. Longest passage was 900 miles.

We had a new engine and sails and a Navik windvane, but nothing much else very special. We did however sail the boat very conservatively (always exceeding 100 miles per day though) and studied the weather carefully, waiting as long as necessary before setting off on the longer passages.

Nothing broke and we had a great time . . . it's not rocket science.

The Nic32 will probably be our next boat if we can raise the money.

You can read about our trip here: Fairwinds Goes South