New member headed to the South Pacific

[Liese]

Hello all,
newbie here, beginning a sabbatical year and planning on learning how to sail in the South Pacific starting in July. Is it realistic to fly to Tahiti and hope to make it to Australia by November? I will be looking to crew on boats heading West..ish.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Liese.
not likely.
minimum sailing time/distance, from French Polynesia to Australia is about 80 days, 4000 nautical miles.
See also ➥ https://tahititourisme.ca/en-ca/covid-19/

[kiwin]

Most boats will have to be in Australia or New Zealand during November in order to avoid the South Pacific cyclone season. Many insurances dictate that the vessel must be out of the cyclone area by November.

[kiwin]

And 4000 miles is only 4-6 weeks sailing for most smaller vessels. Most 40 ft plus boats will do 1000 miles/week in trade wind conditions.

[JPA Cate]

Is it realistic to fly to Tahiti and hope to make it to Australia by November?

It sort of depends on what your goal really is. If you were wanting to cruise the Societies and all the other island groups, once you leave them none of the other groups save Fiji is open now. None of us knows when any of them will open to yachts. For that reason, those who are hoping to visit the Cooks, Niue, Tonga, and Wallis and New Caledonia, they will try to leave their boats in FP, and wait for more openings.

The smaller cruising boats are couples, and there is little need, by the time you have got to FP, to take on crew, so what you will be looking at is larger boats (for whom the 1,000 n. mi. per week will be a piece of cake, who may want to ease their watch schedule or want and have room for company. Limit your luggage to two, as small as possible bags: few cruisers will have much room to stow your clothing, etc. Bring your own swim clothes, shore clothes, sunscreen, and a sun hat. Polaroid sunglasses, for seeing into the water. With luck you will learn a little about crewing. If you choose a couple with children, you can really help as an au pair. We have some friends who paid an au pair from Panama to Australia.

Ann

[Liese]

Thanks for the replies!


As far as my goals ... my priority is learning how to sail, and to fly as little as possible. In a perfect world my sabbatical would have started earlier and I could have hopped on somewhere in Panama and sailed to French Polynesia, but I am a teacher, and that means I start in July.

I have a visit with friends planned in November in Australia (partially with the beginning of cyclone season in mind), so to me that meant trying to take advantage of the season in the South Pacific from July until then and try to move West as much as possible. I chose Tahiti as a starting point because I figured it was a popular stop off/boat work/provisioning point for cruisers coming in from the Pacific crossing. Was that errant thinking? Is there a better place to try to begin this adventure? Maybe Fiji? So much may still change until July as far as openings...hard to say, I figure.

Once I leave Australia in January, the plan is to head up to Indonesia/S.E.Asia with Hong Kong as the next set destination sometime in April/May. I'm hoping for sailing options then as well, but much from Thailand to Hong Kong may be overland travel.

(Even though I am boostered, I assume that Covid closures/quarantine requirements will influence some/much of my travel as I go, and I have given up planning for openings or closures more than a month in advance.)