Sailing Adelaide to France/England in time for Christmas

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Here you go.. if the hull passes survey you can sail as soon as the paperworks done and she's in Adelaide
https://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for...e-steel/249572

There's your boat !!! Next ???

[JPA Cate]

I am not aware of a 30 hp BMW, fresh water cooled. You may want to check if it is a BMW D 35, which was a raw water cooled engine. Sturdy, and long lived but needing to have the salt encrustations cleaned from the engine's head on about a 6 month schedule.

You'll want to have a sailmaker check the sails, and you'd have to plan where to stop for re-provisioning. You need to keep on top of where you are allowed to stop, and if they're like Australia, you're held responsible to know whatever applies--even when their web site has it wrong. If your plan is to go straight through all the way to Great Britain, it is going to be a lot of water and food for two people. Be sure there's enough storage volume for it.

What I don't know if you know about is minimum stuff to bring to fix things, one really does need more than a roll of gaffer tape and a can of WD40.

Finally, be sure to get a steel boat surveyor. This wouldn't be the first metal boat with a beautiful coat of paint but failing welds. She may be fine, I'm not knocking the boat, it is only a *concern*.

Your main problems are going to be with Covid19 restrictions.

Ann

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

I am not aware of a 30 hp BMW, fresh water cooled. You may want to check if it is a BMW D 35, which was a raw water cooled engine. ........

The pictures show two water pumps. One clearly is a raw water pump and the other is apparently a fresh water pump. Maybe a custom job??????????

[Bomoh]

There is a yacht in Melbourne that is perfect for long passage making.
It is an S & S 51.
See Ensign yacht sales.

[Yellowbeard83]

As I said before, thanks all for the feedback. We all know its totally out of my depth. I got carried away as usual. But I certainly did learn a lot from your comment and I will come back to this thread often for reference.

P.S. The whole point of the mission was to get around travel restrictions because **** this fabricated virus hoax - the "plandemic". But alas there's no getting around it. Just have to wait it out

[Wotname]

For the naysayers - you might want to remember Ann Gash.

In the 1970s at the age of 55 with very very limited sailing experience and no offshore experience or navigational skills, she carried out a east to west solo circumnavigation in a plywood 25' Stella class folk boat; Sydney - UK - Sydney.

Yellowbeard83, it is a big ask but if you extend your time frame by 6 to 9 months and accept the hardships which were the norm 50 years ago, the costs go down considerably and it is doable. Actually it is much easier now than then.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Here you go.. if the hull passes survey you can sail as soon as the paperworks done and she's in Adelaide

https://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for...e-steel/249572

Ok... there’s ONE boat in Adelaide capable of the journey.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Yellowbeard83

As I said before, thanks all for the feedback. We all know its totally out of my depth. I got carried away as usual. But I certainly did learn a lot from your comment and I will come back to this thread often for reference.



P.S. The whole point of the mission was to get around travel restrictions because **** this fabricated virus hoax - the "plandemic". But alas there's no getting around it. Just have to wait it out

Ah, I now see the level of thinking that has gone into this idea.

[Yellowbeard83]

Originally Posted by Wotname

For the naysayers - you might want to remember Ann Gash.

In the 1970s at the age of 55 with very very limited sailing experience and no offshore experience or navigational skills, she carried out a east to west solo circumnavigation in a plywood 25' Stella class folk boat; Sydney - UK - Sydney.

Yellowbeard83, it is a big ask but if you extend your time frame by 6 to 9 months and accept the hardships which were the norm 50 years ago, the costs go down considerably and it is doable. Actually it is much easier now than then.

Thanks mate that is quite uplifting. I won't give up the idea completely

[Yellowbeard83]

Originally Posted by GILow

Ah, I now see the level of thinking that has gone into this idea.

And thank you especially Gaylord for contributing not one useful thing to this thread but rather adding an extra page of crap that I have to wade through every time I wanna come back for reference. I can see now the level of boredom that pervades your life. For your information that Van De Stadt is not the only boat in Adelaide capable of the journey.

Duncanson 35 cutter sailing yacht / sail boat,
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/nort...oid_VIP_sticky

[Arion1234]

Originally Posted by Yellowbeard83

What about this one? https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/nort...oid_VIP_sticky

Hi Yellowbeard. You must forgive the facetious answers from some members here. Some people are always ruder on internet forums than they would be in person, according to research I have read. I am sure they are all nice folk when you meet them. You asked for constructive advice so I will attempt to give it to you. That Duncanson 35 can certainly sail to Europe, and looks to be a particularly well-fitted out vessel, including the self-steering windvane and the dyform rigging, though the owner did not say how old the rigging was. I suspect you could get on this vessel and sail with minimal preparation of the boat. The current owner might assist you, being an engineer. How much of a shakedown you'd need only you can determine.



Your proposal to get to Europe by Christmas, however, seems a bit ambitious. If you left in early September and sailed non-stop from Adelaide to Cape Town, but going up into the SE tradewinds in the Indian Ocean, passing south of Cocos Keeling and Mauritius, then diving down to Cape Town, you might get there by sometime in November. If something broke, you could divert to the islands enroute. If you were tough, a week in Cape Town could see you on your way, say late November, but you'd still arrive in Europe after Christmas, probably January or February, which are often the stormiest months, I am told, though a landfall in Portugal might ease the pain.



You would still have missed Christmas, though, so perhaps you'd consider 'Christmas in July' as a compromise? You'd still need to leave Adelaide soon and sail non stop across the Indian Ocean, to get south of Madagascar and out of the cyclone belt by the end of October, but you could stop in Durban or Richards Bay, then go on to Cape Town in January, a better season for rounding the Cape of Good Hope. It is not a fun place in early spring. Depart Cape Town in late February and make landfall in Europe late May or June, sailing via St Helena, and the Azores.



There are two things to consider when planning an ocean voyage, the seasons and the prevailing winds. You want the wind aft of the beam as much as possible on a small boat, hence the suggestion to sail up into lower latitudes in the Indian Ocean and catch the SE trade winds. In the Atlantic, you would take the SE trades again until crossing the equator at about 25 degrees west, then beat to windward across the NE trades until meeting the westerlies that will take you to Europe via the Azores. That way you avoid the tropical Indian ocean in cyclone season and the northern Atlantic in winter.



Some might say it is too ambitious a voyage for sailors without blue-water experience, but only you can decide if you are tough enough. Such a long voyage with minimal stops does add to the challenge. But if you made it to Durban intact, I think the rest of your voyage would be a pleasure.



You will need to be resilient and resourceful. I have met people who succeeded in similar challenges, but consider them to be extraordinary people. The cruising world, is full of extraordinary characters. Perhaps you will measure up, nobody on this forum can say. Only you. It is your decision and you have to accept the ultimate responsibility for your safety. The ocean teaches one that quickly. Modern communications can keep you in touch and even attempt rescue, but essentially you are alone and have to be tough enough to deal with it. Some parts of your route are very remote and you might perish, if your ship goes down, before rescue can be effected. Accepting this risk is part of the adventure.



I salute your sense of adventure and wish you luck.


PS: On this sort of boat you can expect to average about 100 miles a day at sea, over the course of a long voyage. So, about 12,000 miles to Europe equals 120 days at sea.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Wotname

The pictures show two water pumps. One clearly is a raw water pump and the other is apparently a fresh water pump. Maybe a custom job??????????

Actually there was a later version of the D-35 that had a factory fitted heat exchanger. Maybe called the D-35-2... can't remember, but it was available.

Our D-35 was indeed raw water cooled with all the issues that entails, but it was otherwise a great engine. Nowadays parts will be very hard to source, for IIRC BMW long since stopped supporting these mid-80s engines, and Hatz diesel, the parent company, did not make the marinization parts.

Jim

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Well between you and the Havana Club, it is a reasonable plan.

While I would not endorse doing a dodgy exit, it wouldn't be too hard to achieve.

respect your opinion, but beg to differ. there is a whole lot more surveillance out there than most folk realise, and even if you get out of this asylum, you won't have port clearance papers when you arrive somewhere

cheers,

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Yellowbeard83

And thank you especially Gaylord for contributing not one useful thing to this thread but rather adding an extra page of crap that I have to wade through every time I wanna come back for reference. I can see now the level of boredom that pervades your life. For your information that Van De Stadt is not the only boat in Adelaide capable of the journey.

Duncanson 35 cutter sailing yacht / sail boat,
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/nort...oid_VIP_sticky

Know the boat in question and I've sailed on many Duncs. That particular Dunc is about 300 meters from me.

Doesn't change my opinion of its suitability. They were a very good knockoff of a S&S design (I think that was determined in court, but I may be wrong) and go through chop like a hot knife through butter, hence they are very popular here in the Gulf St Vincent. But the buggers lean on their ear in the slightest puff off wind and round up like a cow in a following sea.

I'd go with Boatie's suggestion. That's a very nice bit of kit. Most of the VdSs I've sailed on were bullet proof, if a wee bit wet.

Who's Gaylord?

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by chrisr

respect your opinion, but beg to differ. there is a whole lot more surveillance out there than most folk realise, and even if you get out of this asylum, you won't have port clearance papers when you arrive somewhere

cheers,

True, especially in the northern and north western approaches.

Unlikely to end up in jail in the UK though possible to be deported back home to a world of hurt.

Life is a gamble