Experience required to cross the Pacific

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by HuR

I responded about boat type and sailing experience in another of the OP's threads, so will not repeat that here. I will say that I am glad I did, and will soon return to continue from Fiji, basically what he wants to do, sail solo across the Pacific and enjoy the islands and atolls. It was a blast, and I even put some simple videos up on Youtube about it - https://www.youtube.com/@SVSeaChange/videos

Here I just want to comment on the issue of going solo, assuming of course that the OP is serious, which I cannot assess. I chose to go solo because my wife had read too many books about sailing adventures, which in order to sell must have some drama to them, sinking, liferafts, drownings, deaths, storms, dismasting, you name it. She was even given a book by her SIL where a guy managed to get himself into a hurricane in the North Atlantic, a cyclone in the Pacific, and a typhoon in the Indian. I'm amazed he did not manage to find a hurricane in the South Atlantic! When she left Panama the day before I slipped my lines, she was not sure she would see me again. She is a keen sailor, owns her own Thistle dinghy, and loves local racing. For me, that is painful, and I love bigger boats. And there were several nights she would have been very unhappy on the boat, in the thick of squalls or strong winds. My friends who sail and kite with me all are married with kids and often grandkids, and even if they had been keen their wives would have objected. There is no way I would entertain picking crew up somewhere, or online, although I met quite a few boats that did that without issue, mostly.

Instead, I loved going solo and will try to complete a circumnavigation solo. The downsides seemed minor, for example, waking up in a stupor in the middle of the night to find myself in a squall and the boat overpowered racing out of control, and wondering why nobody else would do something about it and eventually hauling myself out of my bunk into the wind and rain and reefing down. And of course, not having my wife or friends to share all the experiences with sucked, but I tend to be a bit of a loner anyway. My wife visited for a week in Fakarava Atoll and will hopefully visit for a week or two each year along the way.

But the upsides are enormous. First and foremost you are not responsible for someone else. This means you can take lots of "risks" you could not if crewed. For example, no need to maintain a lookout, just trust your AIS (and I only receive, would like to transmit but the additional cost of the equipment and power is prohibitive), and hope any other non-AIS boat is maintaining a lookout and will see you or your navigation lights. From past the Galapagos to Nuku Hiva I had no AIS alarms, did not see any other boats day or night when I was up and looking around, and heard nothing on VHF16. That's for 3000+ miles of ocean sailing! It also means I feel free to move about the boat without safety gear, I only clipped in three times when I had to go forward in rough conditions to take the main down completely.

Beyond that, you do exactly what you like, sailing the boat how you like, eat what you like, play music you like, don't wear clothes if you like, swim when you like, etc. And did I say I had a blast? The crossing was everything I had imagined since being a teenager growing up in South Africa and sailing in Sea Scouts. And the islands were beyond even that.

Well, to each his own.

I love traveling solo, but not so much long ocean passages, much less ocean crossings. We were seven crossing the Atlantic last year. Give me a big boat with a skillful crew, among whom there are a few good cooks and a lot of good company -- any day. It's much less stress and, in my book much more fun. It's nice to have people to talk with, shorter and fewer watches so everyone gets plenty of rest, you don't have to do everything yourself.

And quality of watchkeeping is much better. We were sailing at one point through some pretty high slop rolling down from big storms about 10 degrees N of us, high enough that radar guard zones weren't really working. Middle of the Atlantic, and middle of a dark moonless night, one of our guys, who was really keeping his watch well, caught a glimpse of a light ahead. We thought it was a liferaft because it appeared to be blinking (turned out because of the waves). We didn't need to steer towards it -- our courses were converging. Turned out to be an old Halberg Rassey with no AIS. If I'd been solo, and asleep, might well have run that boat down and killed everyone, and myself.

[pbmaise]

Lawnmower,
Like many who already wrote, I began with a small sailboat between mainland and Hawaii. That cost me several grand. I then joined a very large sailboat, Infinity Sea Gypsies, that needed lots of repairs from Thailand to Hawaii, that total investment and experience was a little under $5k including flights and 3 months.

I would consider flying to Philippines where you can pickup both a sailboat cheap cheap and hire a Filipino captain for cheap to teach you.

There are also many places you can go and volunteer your labor to help another sailor while they are doing work on their vessel. Skills like diesel engine fuel lines, and fiberglass repair are very helpful to learn first hand on an actual application.

[aberglas]

I have just bought a 50' yacht, and plan to sail the world. But this year I am just sailing up the Queensland coast to gain experience. Learning a lot about boat mechanics and systems .


One obvious tip, never try to enter a reef unless the sun is high in the sky. If the water is fairly clear, you will then be able to see the dangers. I often sail overnight to arrive at the reef mid morning.



Also be very aware of tidal flow in lagoons, you do not want a 5kt tide behind you pushing somewhere you do not want to go! (In front is OK, you just won't go anywhere.)