Hello guys, First time chit chat poster here. I was wondering if there were some sailors/skippers on my favorite forum. In december, I will make my first great journey across the ocean, from the canarias to Barbados apparently. It will be only me and my father, 3 weeks with daddy on the ocean...LOL I am moderately afraid of it. The main problem is that I am not that much of a great sailor. I have been sailing since I am ten in the meditteranean sea( and a bit of Brittain too ), but I have never really "skipped" a big boat alone, only small hobbycats or 4.70... I know how to adjust sails, be on watch and react though...The other problem is that my father is old( 65 ) and get tired easily... He is a good sailor and spend 6 months out of twelve on the boat. His boat is 14 meters( Jeanneau Sun Kiss from the 80's ), and quite reliable. We will have internet and new navigation tools for this journey. Who sails here? Have you got some advice, stories... for me? I have already gathered information on the internet about things to keep in mind, things not to forget before going... Thanks a lot, guys.
Yep, for sure I will take at least 15 trading books and novels... I never read more than on a boat. I am not usually seasick, only when I stay inside in bad weather. No skippers on ET?
A 14m boat.......3 weeks across the Atlantic. To each his own, but if I'm going to cross the Atlantic, its going to be in something the size of a small city...........bars, pools, dining halls & workout rooms........something bigger than any critter in the ocean and hopefully bigger than any rogue wave. But then some people think I'm nuts for solo backpacking in areas known to have bears and mountain lions.
LOL... I know someone who did the inverse journey alone( from bermudas to azores...more dangerous ) on a 9 meter wooden boat when he was young... It was in the 60's, no garmin and no autopilot ... Crazy guy and still alive...
December is a good time to cross - the weather isn't too bad most of the time. I've done quite a bit of sailing on the west coast (CA mostly) and spent some time on both motor and sail boats off the western coast of Austrailia and all throughout western Indonesia (Nothern Sumatra). It was all for surfing so we stayed within a day or two of a decent anchor at all times... Personally, I find it tough to sleep outside of a decent anchor, especially on sailboats as they tend to be lighter and more rocky even in relatively quiet seas. So I guess bring lots of sleeping pills. Seasickness (if you're prone to it), passes after a few days for most everyone - once you get your sea-legs its not an issue. Many people have crossed the Atlantic/Pacific on smaller boats... 14 meters isn't exactly a pleasure cruise for 2 people though. If you want some fun reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrift_(book) Mike
Wow... Cool stuff, Mike. Those surf trips must be incredible experiences, it may take a different dimension than just cruising from place to place...I've surfed 3 times in my life...LOL... The meditteranean sea isn't the best place for it...I snowboard and skate though. I agree that december is the period to cross, after the cyclones and before the christmas winds around capo verde. For the sleep, I never sleep better than a sailing boat, especially this time since I won't have a smelly noisy engine just by my couch...LOL I won't call your book "fun", but I may dig into it. I already know a lot of things about survival mode, like which color of ice on an iceberg( green, blue or white ) you can collect to produce drinkable water...LOL.I may not use it under the tropics though.
Yeah, some people love sleeping in a rocking bed, consider yourself lucky. As for me, well, I can't handle it. I'm a really light sleeper as it is and when I get tossed in my bed by a choppy sea, I can't fall asleep again. Per the book; I should have put "fun" in quotes (impling sarcasm)...hehe. No, definetely not fun. The guy wieghed something like 78 pounds when the ordeal was over, but he survived. That, and "The Life of Pi" is very good... My last trip was a 4 week boat trip and I read a book every 2 days... its about the only thing you can do other than drink. Oh yeah, forgot to mention - bring lots of booze.
I will read it... when I come back. For the booze, I don't drink anymore but I am sure my dad won't forget to make "decent" stocks of rhum, scotch and beer.
Well, dont you worry to much, because these characters sailed around the world. http://www.bumfuzzle.com/Pages/Miscellaneous/CC NZ Repair.html I read there blog years ago, and quite frankly, its a true miracle they are still alive, at all. http://www.bumfuzzle.com/Pages/Miscellaneous/CC NZ Repair.html You could not pick two more clueless idiots, to sail around the world in a catamaran, but they bloody did it, and it appears, they may be still going. And, why not...... "Bumfuzzle", that was the name of the vessel, might take some searching to find the original blogs, but holy snapping duckshit. A great read, at the least. Clueless halfwits taking on the might of the ocean..........and winning!!!!!! I mean, boo-yah and stuff.