details of long travel!?

[futuresailer]

Hello! this is my first time on here. i was looking for insight on travels around the globe. i have been doing research for about 2 months now and while there is alot of some information there seems to be a lot that is barely touched. i am from Minnesota and have zero sailing experience. i have lots of boating experience though. a brief run through on my intentions are buy a small sailboat (17-21ft) and learn what its about. how to sail, navigate,what to do when etc. this i am confident in learning mostly on my own. in 4 years after i get finish my degree me and my wife are going to buy a bigger sailboat. budget for boat is about 20k and another 10k to have it set up for circumnavigation. i have some of the basics written down in my handbook for traveling this far. but i am missing alot of data. i have huge gaps in my timeline that i simply dont know what part of the waters are safe and when. we would like to take one of the 2 basic routes. either leave from california and go to hawaii skipping across various islands until we reach Australia or New zealand. then going up and around into the gulf of aden and the red sea making the various stops along the way. up into the mediteranean. i know pirates are bad there as well. or. we will go south of africa and go around completely going up to the mediteranean that way. alot of people say going down to south america or mexico before crossing the pacific is also a good way. im not sure, i have no sailing experience remember. haha. what i would like to know is specific routes used and not only routes but actual marinas and cities i would want/need to go to check in to other countries. i also need to know how much visas cost in certain places that is significant. do i travel with american cash a credit card checkbook? as you can see i have no idea what im getting into and was really hoping you guys could help me. i can learn the sea stuff sailing food water etc etc. i just need to know route particulars, currency explanation, timeline for how long it takes to get from place to place and what a visa is and how to get it.... please help! i have 4 years to plan and i think that should be ample time.

[atoll]

your 30k budget will barely get you round the world sailing on other peoples yachts as crew!
you need to add another zero,to budget

[futuresailer]

the 30k is only budgeted towards buying a boat. im sorry i should have said that more clearly. we are budgeting 100k total.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by futuresailer

the 30k is only budgeted towards buying a boat. im sorry i should have said that more clearly. we are budgeting 100k total.

that is a lot more realistic!

i suggest you start by crewing ,buying a world atlas!

check out sites like Yacht crew agency, yacht crew vacancy, sailing crew from Crewseekers

[laika]

I'm from MN as well and also had zero sailing experience prior to a handful of years ago. I moved onto a boat with some friends and cruised the east coast. We had a blast and made lots of really dumb mistakes. You learn fast.

Do a lot more research and above all else try to sail. Sail around the lakes in a dinghy this summer or, as atoll said, crew. There are lots of opportunities.

If you and the wife come to find you still want it, here's a good boat list for your budget (not definitive by any means): Atom Voyages - Good Old Boats List

Good luck man.

Best,

Ryan

[futuresailer]

ok cool! thanks man. its hard knowing what boat is good for what. its confusing at first. we are going out to lake michigan this summer and will be doing some sailing. try to get the hang of it haha. what kind of boat did you and your friends have?

[laika]

It was an '84 O'Day 37. Nice, comfortable boat, but not something that ever instilled much confidence in us. She liked to shudder coming down waves. Looking back on it, the few times where we got caught in decent seas and she felt like she was gonna break in half probably had something to do with my decision to buy an overly-well built little boat next.

Everyone's got their own opinions about what kinds of boats are best for what, and they often differ drastically. Moreover, I would not place my opinion at the top of heap on this forum. There are others with a lot more experience here than I. What I can say for sure though is that it always comes down to a series of compromises, and those compromises become more and more apparent the smaller (and cheaper) you go.

You just don't know what you want/need until you know you want/need it.

[futuresailer]

right that make sense perfectly. whatever boat we do end up with i want to have it gone through and stuff modified to make it better for long distances and heavy seas. not that we ill be looking for them. Im sure whichever we wind up in we will like it and it will come to suit us. thanks alot for your input!!

[Oregon Waterman]

Originally Posted by atoll

your 30k budget will barely get you round the world sailing on other peoples yachts as crew!
you need to add another zero,to budget

You may think that you need that kind of money buto thers may be able to do it quite cheaply. I crewed to New Zealand, 300.00 out of pocket.
I crewed from Brisbane to Fiji, free.
Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii and back to Oregon, free.
My own boat, Coos Bay to Manzanillo, 600.00 INCLUSIVE.
My next trip on my latest boat, maybe 300.00, Coos Bay to Santa Cruz, Ca.
Why people think every cruiser needs 1200.00 a month at sea is beyond me.

YMMV and to each their own, just keep in mind not all of us need to throw money at life to make it fun.

[futuresailer]

thanks waterman. i have read that to be true alot of the time as well. i think its all in the type of person you are and the lifestyle you desire!

[gjordan]

Future sailor, You have enough time in 4 years to pick up a lot of information. Read all of the old classics, and the modern instant experts here on the internet, which can be very informative or a lot of B.S. One thing I would recommend against is making your first crossing from California to Hawaii. So many boats arrive in Hawaii with the wife/crew exhausted from a passage and the wife/ crew gets off and never looks back. If you go to the Marquesas the crew cant get off in the first hours , and sleep at the end of a passage tends to make everything look better. It only takes 7 to 10 days longer to get to the Marquesas, and very few people ever get to see those islands. Any clown can fly to Hawaii. I like Hawaii, but it is difficult cruising and not a very exotic first landfall. Another (of my opinions) point is to not think that spending multi, multi, thousands of dollars on electronics is going to make you safer. Concentrate on your basic seamanship, which will get you out of most jams. If you have 4 years, buy a small boat and sail the hell out of it. Anchor out for the weekends(you dont learn much in a marina) and actually live on it as much as possible, which will make choosing your cruising boat a much easier decision. Like most internet posts, this post is owed 25 cents and is only worth a little more than that,since your knowledge and opinion is worth more. ______Grant.

[robert sailor]

Buy Jimmy Cornell's book "Ocean Passages". Its a planning book with best times of the year and proven routes to sail etc. for the whole world. It should help you while your in the dreaming mode!

[futuresailer]

that Jordan is exactly the type of info i am looking for. I have heard and read a little bit about those islands. you make 2 very good points on why to go there as well. thank you. i intend to do exactly what you said regarding the weekend sailing and staying out for a few days at a time getting ourselves comfortable. the electronics comment you made, i was planning on having lots of equipment on board when we leave. i understand noone can help you out there but yourself. what do you think are the main things i would need? are electronic charts worth spending alot on or are the cheaper ones ok? obviously i will have hard copies as well. i am fairly good at navigating but have alot of interest in making things easier on myself. also are onboard water makers good to have or is it overrated? i have never seen one and do not quite understand how they work. forgive me in advance i have just not gotten to doing the research on them yet.

[chuckr]

futuresailor -- we have been out a number of years now and are full time live aboards - we bought a new Jeanneau DS40 in 2003 and spent some time learning to sail her - the first time we were on a sailboat was dec 2001 -

we spent a lot of time learning and then spent more time getting the boat ready - we put our cost data out there for all to see - 5 years of cost data -- we spend a bit more than some and a bit less than others - but we try to keep our boat in 1st class condition and comfortable -

there is a lot of data on this forum if you were to use the search function - and as someone said get jimmy cornell -- and give it a try first -

we have mentioned this before but we met one couple that had an incredible boat and wanted us to circum nav with them when we sailed with them in maine one year - we declined as we did not think we or our was ready yet - we spent a winter sailing the entire bahamas and came back to the usa and had a lot of upgrades done that we thought we needed - then we set out - we got to the bay islands of honduras and guess who was there - the same boat - and they were headed back to the usa - we contact them later and they had sold the boat and bought a motor home - crusing is not for everyone

[Kevin84]

One thing to think about. Go to yachtworld.com and do a search for boats priced up to about 25k. You're not going to find much suitable for what you want. There are a few out there in that range (the Rawson 30 springs to mind) but they are generally going to be smaller, older boats in need of significant repairs/upgrades. Before you buy a boat, I'd strongly recommend you and your wife go look at a number of boats and make sure you can both be comfortable on board long term. Don't forget also that when outfitted for long distance voyaging, your interior will shrink with your supplies taking up significant room.

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