Circumnav prep - 2027

[kgriffithg]

Hello all,

My wife and I are preparing for a multi-year circumnavigation that we’d complete mostly without additional crew. We’d appreciate advice on how to further prepare.

What we’ve done so far:

-I sailed a bunch as a kid, but mostly in small, open boats, racing on the Great Lakes
-My wife has taken taken US Sailing 101, we’ve both taken 103, and 104
We’ve sailed about 20 days a year on boat club boats, including J80s, J105s, J32s, Beneteau 331 and “my” current boat, a Beneteau 351 over the last five years out of Annapolis
-Taken three week-long cruises around the Chesapeake Bay and BVI. So far these have been pretty easy.
-Watched a ton of YouTube videos, read books, and researched many sailing topics online, everything from celestial navigation to sail trim to boat design, maintenance and repair

What we are planning to do over the next few years to continue to prepare:

-2022: Take ASA 105 (Coastal Nav) and ASA 106 (Advanced Coastal Cruising), which will have us doing the DelMArVA circumnavigation over the course of a week
-Continue roughly 20 days of sailing a year, mostly day sails
-2023: Take ASA 107(celestial navigation) and ASA 108 (offshore passage making) which will have us making a passage from Norfolk to Bermuda
-Continue to charter in the Caribbean- likely limited to one week a year
-Eventually take a docking class, sail trim class, and spinnaker class
-Eventually take marine diesel repair, marine electrical and marine plumbing courses
-Eventually buy a center cockpit blue water cruiser in the 44-49 foot range, like a Hylas 46 or 49. Have two years at least to get to know the boat, get it ready for water sailing">blue water sailing (well maintained, structurally sound but also with solar/wind power, water maker, radar, spare parts, etc)
-financially we should be OK (market willing) without having to work while cruising
-Targeted departure: November 2027. I will be 55 at that time, my wife 54. I feel like we will have a window to fulfill this dream at that time.

Questions for the forum (feel free to answer any of these questions):

-What are we missing? What more can we do to prepare?
-What advice do you have to get more blue water experience? That seems to be the largest hole in our plan to be prepared. The challenge is that I have a high-pressure job and can only take off a week at a time.
-Is two years enough time to know a boat well and have it ready for a circumnavigation? We’ve renting boats now which is cost and time efficient, but I’m sure we’d learn a lot by owning our own boat.
-What is the right balance between sailing skills and boat maintenance skills? We’ve been spending far more time and effort on the former but the later seems really important, maybe more important from a survival standpoint. We’d flip to spending much more time on the later once we own our own boat and are closer to departure.
-Health insurance: if one is cruising around the world, what do they do for health insurance? I’ve been covered by corporate plans my whole working life, so I have no idea what insurance costs, how much I would want or need. Since I don’t plan to cruise the US much, it seems pretty worthless but maybe required by Obamacare?
-Should we take a heavy weather sailing class? One that actually gets us out into heavy weather…

Thank you in advance for your replies!

KG

[jdazey]

Originally Posted by kgriffithg

Hello all,


-Targeted departure: November 2027. I will be 55 at that time, my wife 54. I feel like we will have a window to fulfill this dream at that time.

Questions for the forum (feel free to answer any of these questions):

-What are we missing? What more can we do to prepare?
-What advice do you have to get more blue water experience? That seems to be the largest hole in our plan to be prepared. The challenge is that I have a high-pressure job and can only take off a week at a time.

Maybe get a crew position on one of the Newport/Annapolis to Bermuda race boats. Get on a leg of one of Mahaina's voyages or something similar.

-Is two years enough time to know a boat well and have it ready for a circumnavigation? We’ve renting boats now which is cost and time efficient, but I’m sure we’d learn a lot by owning our own boat.

Two years is plenty if you spend it all on the boat Really, time actually using the boat will get you there. You're planning on departing in five years. Owning the boat for two years leaves three years to find the right boat. Don't leave it until the last moment.

-What is the right balance between sailing skills and boat maintenance skills? We’ve been spending far more time and effort on the former but the later seems really important, maybe more important from a survival standpoint. We’d flip to spending much more time on the later once we own our own boat and are closer to departure.

Where the balance lies is up to you. You _will_ learn boat maintenance as you go along

-Health insurance: if one is cruising around the world, what do they do for health insurance? I’ve been covered by corporate plans my whole working life, so I have no idea what insurance costs, how much I would want or need. Since I don’t plan to cruise the US much, it seems pretty worthless but maybe required by Obamacare?

Healthcare is available just about everywhere. You can get something like DanBoat(sp?) that will get you back to the States if necessary. We've never had an issue. In fact we've been impressed with the quality of health care in the French islands in the Caribbean and in Mexico.

-Should we take a heavy weather sailing class? One that actually gets us out into heavy weather…

While I wouldn't bother, you seem to like taking classes. It certainly wouldn't hurt.


Two more things:

WEATHER! Study up on how weather systems work and how they're forecast. Chris Parker's book is pretty good, but there are lots of others. Get a nav program like Opencpn and get comfortable downloading gribs using the weather routing plugin. Look at the local and global weather forecast every day on Windy.com. Understanding weather will give you a better picture of when to leave and which way to go.

Language - Learn some Spanish and French. Even a little bit will smooth things out when dealing with local officialdom and you'll have more fun living on the economy.

[Orion Jim]

Taking courses is beneficial and helps the winter from seeming endless but you already have a Beneteau 351. You can gain tons of practical skills and knowledge by using it to its potential. Make an annual cruise to Bermuda. Head down east to Maine and you can choose to island hop or just head offshore from your home port. Nothing sharpens your skills like several days offshore. We should all have stretch goals but you never know what cards life will deal you. Taking your present vessel offshore a few times will allow you to focus in on exactly what skills need polishing and what to look for in your dream vessel…..someday.

[dcondit]

With your current experience you might consider getting your USCG master license as you likely have more than enough sea days. That might help with insurance when you depart home waters.

[Auklet]

Whenever I see questions of this sort; preparing for a circumnavigation or similar, I wonder what the OP is most interested in learning about. Offshore passage making? Gunk-holing and anchoring? Harbor hopping, etc.? Which direction are we going first? Across the pond to the Med or gunk-holing the Bahamas? Your departure time suggests heading south. The initial skill sets needed differ.

Twenty days a year? By comparison we have averaged between about 40 and 45 days per year over 25 yr, leaving from home port and returning within a few nights, etc. But with quite a bit more time off of work than you mentioned. Still. Self-directed time on the water as skipper is the best preparation. Forty days/nights per year would mean about every other weekend (or comparable) out of the slip; hopefully much of it at overnight anchor with an occasional overnight run. Daysailing is usually done in good or fair weather. Not too cold, not too windy, not too rough. Do you know rough conditions? They can be challenging, especially if a crew succumbs to the mal de mer. Better to find out about that sooner than later. Also, sailing at night is a different experience than during daylight. Some thoughts to ponder. BTW. I like your future choice for a cruiser!

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Taking courses is beneficial and helps the winter from seeming endless but you already have a Beneteau 351. You can gain tons of practical skills and knowledge by using it to its potential. Make an annual cruise to Bermuda. Head down east to Maine and you can choose to island hop or just head offshore from your home port. Nothing sharpens your skills like several days offshore. We should all have stretch goals but you never know what cards life will deal you. Taking your present vessel offshore a few times will allow you to focus in on exactly what skills need polishing and what to look for in your dream vessel…..someday.

It’s not clear that the OP owns the Bene 351. Note the “my” boat in the first post, and subsequent discussion about getting the away boat. In any event, to the OP, the BVIs are in some views comparable to the “Bunny Hill” of alpine skiing in development of cruising skill sets. I wouldn’t advise doing that again. If you do another bareboat(?) Caribbean charter consider the Grenadines; St Vincent to Grenada, and return. AKA the Windward Islands. The most challenging of the Caribbean charter routes folks say. We’ve done it; it’s a great trip. Get some friends together for a 50-ft sloop.

Also. The ASA courses you mention add up to a lot of expense for what you are likely to take away in terms of the preparation you seek. I doubt the Old Salts in here or elsewhere would be impressed. I’d reconsider doing all of that. If you do own that Bene or have virtual unlimited access, then use it. You will develop the skills you need. Learning is doing.

[donradcliffe]

Its hard to get offshore experience in 5 day increments.


Sign up as delivery crew and get the experience for free. For example, in my last delivery my crew got invaluable lessons on heavy air anchoring, and what to do when the anchor chain jumps off the gypsy and bow roller and it all whizzes out. Its probably not in the ASA curriculum.

Most importantly, do all your own boat maintenance.

[Tetepare]

Good idea on the diesel course. Also take one on electrical. And get the book on sanitation systems.

Do a search on banking, that’s been discussed here before.

Check immunization requirements. Yellow fever is a common requirement.

Read up on the places you plan to go. Nothing sadder than leaving a place only to find out you missed something really interesting.

[kgriffithg]

Original poster here. Thanks all, for the excellent advice and thoughts. Some clarification and some additional information may be in order. First, the Beneteau 351 is not my boat. It is part of a boat club, so my access to the vessel is limited. I basically have about 1/7th of the use of the boat, and it is hard to get it for more than 3 days or so at a time, so that is pretty limiting in terms of doing extended cruising. I'm thinking of buying my own boat in 2-4 years, but right now the boat club route works for me financially and time-wise.

Second, yes, the plan is to leave in November of 2027 and sail from Annapolis area down to the Caribbean, cruise the Caribbean for the winter, then go through the Panama Canal, then Galapagos, Marquesas, eventually around Cape of Good Hope to St. Helena/Ascension, Brazil, back to Caribbean. After that we may go to the Med.

I appreciate and can relate to the comments on the unnecessary nature of the classes and the value of practical experience. Part of the issue is that my wife/crew is far more risk adverse than I am, and she is a "show me" person who wants others to show her how to do things in order to learn them. She is already a capable sailor and very handy in general so she will be great crew, especially when it comes to fixing things as she naturally understands how to fix things much better than I do. But she does have an aversion to risk and her family has no history of anything involving the water or even traveling. She has since become a scuba diver and world traveller so she is developing.

A big part of taking the courses is getting her to the point of being comfortable setting off for the voyage. Much of the advice we have received is that at some point you just need to go. I've repeated that to my wife many times. She has basically said that she is OK with everything except for crossing oceans. I've also studied the statistics of sailing, and basically that has convinced me that with proper preparation and boat maintenance, it is pretty safe overall, and probably much safer than say driving in the US. In terms of the cost of the courses, yes, they are expensive, but I can swing it and if that is what is needed for her to be comfortable with making the trip, then so be it. Personally, I'm more of an self-study/experience/learn-as-you-go guy, and frankly I think we will need a lot of that no matter how many courses we take.

I appreciate all of your additional thoughts and replies.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by kgriffithg

Original poster here. Thanks all, for the excellent advice and thoughts. Some clarification and some additional information may be in order. First, the Beneteau 351 is not my boat. It is part of a boat club, so my access to the vessel is limited. I basically have about 1/7th of the use of the boat, and it is hard to get it for more than 3 days or so at a time, so that is pretty limiting in terms of doing extended cruising. I'm thinking of buying my own boat in 2-4 years, but right now the boat club route works for me financially and time-wise.

Second, yes, the plan is to leave in November of 2027 and sail from Annapolis area down to the Caribbean, cruise the Caribbean for the winter, then go through the Panama Canal, then Galapagos, Marquesas, eventually around Cape of Good Hope to St. Helena/Ascension, Brazil, back to Caribbean. After that we may go to the Med.

I appreciate and can relate to the comments on the unnecessary nature of the classes and the value of practical experience. Part of the issue is that my wife/crew is far more risk adverse than I am, and she is a "show me" person who wants others to show her how to do things in order to learn them. She is already a capable sailor and very handy in general so she will be great crew, especially when it comes to fixing things as she naturally understands how to fix things much better than I do. But she does have an aversion to risk and her family has no history of anything involving the water or even traveling. She has since become a scuba diver and world traveller so she is developing.

A big part of taking the courses is getting her to the point of being comfortable setting off for the voyage. Much of the advice we have received is that at some point you just need to go. I've repeated that to my wife many times. She has basically said that she is OK with everything except for crossing oceans. I've also studied the statistics of sailing, and basically that has convinced me that with proper preparation and boat maintenance, it is pretty safe overall, and probably much safer than say driving in the US. In terms of the cost of the courses, yes, they are expensive, but I can swing it and if that is what is needed for her to be comfortable with making the trip, then so be it. Personally, I'm more of an self-study/experience/learn-as-you-go guy, and frankly I think we will need a lot of that no matter how many courses we take.

I appreciate all of your additional thoughts and replies.

My wife and I double hand and left Denmark six years ago - we have been knocking around the world since then. You (meaning the both of you) need to learn what being on a boat 24/7 means. When sailing passage, this means watch on watch (4 hours on - 4 hours off) and also means that both of you must be able to single-hand the boat without having to call the other person up. Are both of you capable of reefing a Hylas 47 down alone while in a squall (believe me - you will have to be able to).

The only way to learn this is to do it. In your case - sail your Beneteau to the Bahamas and back. Spend time learning about weather systems and understand how to read and decipher a Gribfile.

the good news is that most of these things can and will be learned as these situations arise. Women, in general, like to learn through courses, having a teacher etc. Men are frequently content to learn by doing. Both approaches are correct.

Our blog link is in my signature line - there you can read about what we have run into during the last six years. Many of the blogs are written by wife - your wife might enjoy reading them Good luck and fell free to PM me if I can help in any way.

carsten

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by kgriffithg

Part of the issue is that my wife/crew is far more risk adverse than I am, and she is a "show me" person who wants others to show her how to do things in order to learn them.

She has since become a scuba diver and world traveller so she is developing.

She has basically said that she is OK with everything except for crossing oceans.

I appreciate all of your additional thoughts and replies.

Well, diving on SCUBA generally presents greater risk of bad outcome than sailing. The difference would be that to get SCUBA certification one must take and pass a course, which includes a check-out dive; whereas that’s not required for sailing. It’s easy to see how one might wish for certified instruction in sailing as a matter of similar preparation. Coursework with good instructors might lead to appreciating the actual risk as something not to be adverse to. But what are the common cruising risks? Generally exposure, falling or getting knocked overboard, running hard aground, trauma, and becoming ill. But honestly, if crossing oceans is a fear or concern not be overcome by crew, I don’t see how one can realistically expect to complete a circumnavigation. My wife has told me often that she does not wish to be involved in making high seas (offshore) destinations. Most of our cruising has therefore been in or near relatively sheltered locales. Such as along the SW coast of Florida, Southern California (Bight), and the Salish Sea (PNW). I think the greatest “offshore” passage we’ve done together has been Tierra Verde to the Dry Tortugas; only 180 n.mi. But it can be rugged. Folks spend years exploring the sheltered waters of the PNW although it’s not known for great sailing much of the time. There are many cruising & venue alternatives and options.

[double u]

...don't over-think your rtw...
but:
learn maintenance, repair & systems of your boat before you leave! Finding out where cables & hoses run & how systems of a 47' boat are working (and being dismantled & put together) "on-the-go" will detract enormously from your enjoyment. There will be enough "new ground to cover" on your boat once it is subjected to 24/7 use on the water, & you will not find competent technicians everywhere around the world.
Language skills: French & some Spanish will open doors for you you didn't know existed.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, KG.

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by Auklet

But what are the common cruising risks? Generally exposure, falling or getting knocked overboard, running hard aground, trauma, and becoming ill.

And oh yes. Collision! Hence the COLREGS (Collision Regulations) and the requirement for watch standing when underway. That’s actually the biggie. It’s one area where knowledge acquired via course work and certification is fundamentally important.

[Auklet]

Maybe have a look at this prep program if you have not already.

www.skippertips.com