Safety between Suez and India

[Tupaia]

Mention the word typhoon in any bar or restaurant and it will go quiet and everyone will make you the centre of attention. Filipinos live in the present they don't talk about past events they happen all too often.


Check out www.typhoon200.com.ph they don't have a list of years with typhoons they have a summary of typhoons for each year.

[moseriw]

Sorry but I would look for a boat 36-40 ft to be comfortable. Everything below is a problem with waves an extraordinary movements of the boat.

Piracy Somalia: look at noonsite.... there are no reports in the last years

[cooper1991]

Thanks. Yes 32ft + will be more practical.

Re the piracy reports - (1) maybe no-one survived to make the reports or (2) maybe people just avoid that way completely. I heard of some boats in the past going in a group and staying close to allied warships but even those stories were varied in outcome.

[Night_Sailor]

Originally Posted by cooper1991

Looking to find out if anyone has recently gone down Suez through Red Sea and crossed Gulf of Aden past Dijbouti/Ethiopia/Yemen etc.

I'm going to attempt to sail from Scotland to Philippines next year and as an inexperienced person think this is less risky than crossing Atlantic and Pacific. I am buying a 26ft Hunter 26 with 9.9hp engine.

Any suggestions or knowledge of Red Sea/Yemen/ Oman route safety or tips?

I'd like to take a life insurance policy out on you.

BAD IDEA. Three strikes, and you are out. I give you a zero chance of making it.

1) First you need experience, lots of it. You are inexperienced. You don't seem to know how bad your boat is for such activity. Go take some lessons from someone with a deep resume for teaching sailing. Sail on some real boat. get some offshore experience with someone who knows what they are doing.

2) Second you need to go downwind not upwind. You are planning on going against the tradewinds. Double the amount of time needed, or more. This exposes you to still more storms. You would need to set a para-anchor to keep from losing all your gains. Many people have sailed around the world on smaller boats. Typically they beef up the standing rigging and sail downwind with a double headsail rig, and sail downwind. Few have the ability, patience, and skill to sail upwind in small boats. I know many sailors that set out upwind only to give up and turn back. When you have light winds and current against you. You will sail sideways back and forth and make zero progress. Big waves will slow you down. Extra mass helps punch through. You will be too light and easily pushed backwards.

3) Third you need a faster boat. That boat is too small, meaning you will be caught in storms. Slamming into waves, the hull would oil can to the point of failure. Do you know how tiring it is to bail and endless ocean of water? Need to fight some current? You need boat speed for that. Your hull speed, due to a short waterline, will be pathetically slow. Most people have a 40-50' boat for this reason, and of these many would prefer a 70-80' boat if they could afford it because they are faster to cover more ground.

4) That boat is build cheap and not for the ocean. It will fall apart. Break your mast and then your outboard runs out of gas, then what? Call for help?

5) Aux Propulsion: An outboard is pretty much useless. You won't be able to carry enough fuel to matter. Personally I'd rather ditch the motor completely if that was my only option. I'd rather have the space and not need to carry the fuel which will run out quickly. A diesel motor and a good sized fuel tank to give you some range under power would be important to me. Why? For the times you need to clear a point of land, for charging your batteries, for getting out of the way of shipping, as well as in and out of harbors, for the times you need to motor for a few hours in a lull, just to make port in a dead calm, and for the times you are dismasted.

6) Pirates. Can you afford a $5 million kidnapping insurance policy?

Other options:
a) Put it in a shipping container.
b) Trailer it to Hong Kong. It's only 8000 miles.
c) Fly there and buy a boat already there."]

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Night_Sailor

I'd like to take a life insurance policy out on you.

Take out the policy now, don't tell them about your plans, ahhh you have been on here so the insurance won't pay out, they don't cover suicide.

[Night_Sailor]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Take out the policy now, don't tell them about your plans, ahhh you have been on here so the insurance won't pay out, they don't cover suicide.

It was a joke. Meant to convey the serious risks of what he proposed. That is all. I would never want to profit from someone elses misfortune.

[cooper1991]

Thank you for your contribution. If you had read subsequent messages, you may have been better informed as to my plans to get experience, a bigger boat and a different route. Sadly you didn't. End of.

[Night_Sailor]

Probably a good idea to avoid the Suez, Somalia and those areas. go downwind, much nice and you make progress every day/

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Night_Sailor

It was a joke. Meant to convey the serious risks of what he proposed. That is all. I would never want to profit from someone elses misfortune.

I took it as a joke, black humour.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by cooper1991

Thanks. Decent size robust boat at a ridiculously cheap price. Wonder what work it needs.

Are watermakers worth the investment?

Spend some time watching Barry. He is doing the trip you plan at the moment. Good choice of yacht for a solo sailor by Phil (Boatman61) as always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyB2...XRxc8PTJsPXOSs

[capblasters]

I see everybody (but one) is failing to answer the question in this post. While I am sure all boat size advice is appreciated it would be nice to read more posts that respond to the question:
"Looking to find out if anyone has recently gone down Suez through Red Sea and crossed Gulf of Aden past Dijbouti/Ethiopia/Yemen etc."

[michaelkcowan]

Was contemplating such a trip myself...in an Ovni 36...but from Europe to Australia...the Red Sea did not look like a good option...but an interesting set of posts...informative and helpful...will turn 70 next year...so will settle for exploring the many coastal areas of Queensland in a yacht with a retractable keel..

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by cooper1991

Got it !



Time is no problem and I can take whatever time I need to gain experience in calmer waters.



I take it you may think 26ft is not a big enough boat?



What about safety on the route down Red Sea etc?



Thanks

Size of the boat is not the issue but the details of the boat.
There are 3 versions that are about 26’, 2 have water ballast with a centerboard and would be inappropriate. They are both also marginal for sail area.

The fixed keel model looks better.

I’m less up on European boats than the US but a couple come to mind:
-Contessa 26, 2
In UK for $10k or less
-Albin Vega 27 $10-15k Greece and Italy
- Westerly Centaur 2 in UK
-Dufour Safari France $7k

[Buzzman]

The idea that one *must* have a large boat to travel solo is absurd.

John Guzzwell circumnavigated in 20' Trekka, for example. Serge Testa's Achroch Australis was 12', and he circumnavigated in 1987. And let's not mention Lyn and Larry Pardey's boats Serrafyn and Taleisin, both of which were under 30' and both of which circumnavigated, admittedly, double-handed. And as many have pointed out, Albin Vega's are renowned for the number of circumnavigations and ocean crossings sailed in that sturdy little 27' craft.

The general rule of thumb is buy the smallest boat you can live with, as EVERY boating expense increases with hull length. Bigger engine required. Larger sail area. More sq metres to paint and anti-foul, etc etc etc. As the route you're proposing is essentially extended coastal sailing, ocean-crossing store-carrying ability is not so much of an issue. At 4L/day, two jerrycans of water will last 10 days, and don't take up much room. But I do agree with the comments about the transom-fixed outboard - not a great option. Useful for exiting a marina. That's about it. A small inboard diesel is a better bet, but even some 25' yachts have these.

One question I'd ask myself is: what sort of boat do I want to sail about in once retired to the Phillipines? If the missus won't sail with you, and moorings, lifts, typhoons etc all add to the cost of boating in the Phillipines, then perhaps a smaller boat will, ultimately, be more economical and, in which case, putting up with smaller and slightly slower to get it there, might be a price worth paying, as it will be (you said) a one off 'delivery trip'.

A smaller boat would be fine around the coast of Britain and Scotland. One of the pioneer 'small boat cruising sailors' was artist Robert E Groves in his original Sheila, 25' on deck (28' with 3' bowsprit) launched 1905 and in which he sailed (and painted) his way around the Hebrides and Highlands, documenting his travels in the Humber Yawl Journal. He is one of the reasons our pursuit is what it is today. A pioneer of 'small boat cruising'. When he crossed The Minch in 1907 fishermen in Stornoway told him his was the smallest boat they'd seen cross The Minch. Period.

So be not afraid of "small" as small is (often) beautiful. In more ways than one.

That Rival Phil pointed to looked a very smart and competant yacht for your purpose, and at the right price point. But it might be too big for cruising the Phillipines waters. I've not been there myself, but from what I've read, much if it is shallow, which is probably why catamarans are so common so in that neck of the woods.

All boat-buying decisions involve compromise. Probably if you could afford (and handle) a 50' cat with all the fruit, your missus might grow to like sailing. But it's a big chunk of change to find out that she might not! lol

One thought I had that might be of assistance in your planning, and someone else flagged this by saying 'put the boat in a container' - this is *perfectly* feasible to do with a boat under 40', although a bolt-on keel might be essential, and in which case you could truck the boat overland from Port Said via Jordan and Saudi to the Gulf states, probably Bahrain..?? and then sail south from there, hugging the coast around India and making a 'weather window dash' across the Bay of Bengal from Sri Lanka to Yangon and down the Mallacca Straits to Singapore and so to the Phillipines via Indonesia.

Very do-able, I'd have thought. And savings made in buying a smaller boat initially (i.e. one that would fit in a container) would offset the cost of shipping across the Saudi peninsula. Note that I have avoided suggesting the direct route via Haifa, Israel, as the Arab states often look askance at passports (never mind boats) entering from that country. Avoid offending.

It's possible to get a ferry from Sinai to Jordan and avoid Israel entirely. Were it not for the devastating war there, Turkey-Syria-Jordan-Bahrain would also be an option, alas, not at this geo-political moment.

So yes, buy your boat in UK, sail Scotland and the Irish Sea for a few months, take some lessons first, and by the time you get to the far end of the Med, you ought to have a handle on the point A to point B stuff.

And fear not the naysayers!! Good luck. Report back.

[Buzzman]

BTW, if anyone is remotely interested in Robert E Groves, or either of his boats (Sheila and Sheila II) I attach a well-researched article on them I did for a magazine several years ago.

The second boat was the same Sheila immortalised by Adrian Hayter in his seminal journal, Sheila in the Wind, of his six year journey in Sheila II from UK to NZ via Suez and Australia. It's long been out of print, but does pop up on eBay now an again. Great read.

For several years during the late-Edwardian period, Groves supplied a prose version of Sheila's log of her annual trip (his summer hoildays from his job as Headmaster of St Albans School of Arts and Sciences) in the Humber Yawl Journal. See attached 1909 trip report.

He also visited Morocco and the Med, so somewhat appropriate in light of the OPs chosen route.