The Big Plan
We are thinking about our next step forward. Where should we go, what should we see, where to start out, what is important to see and do?? So many options!! If you have any great ideas, please let us know!
The first leg of the adventure...
We are looking to finish up working in Australia, roughly August / September / October / November or December? 2015, then the first part of the adventure is to then take the truck and travel around Australia for 1-3 months, depending on how late in the year we actually finish work. The plan is to visit a bit more of outback Australia - the only issue currently is that we will finish up working during the wet season and this will mean heading north and travelling in the northern tropical/ arid parts of Australia very difficult with many of the tracks closed.
Something like this trip but not for as long. http://www.expeditionaustralia.com.au/product/the-big-lap-dvd-series/
Would be really cool to see the sights of Australia, the tropical north really interests me the wildlife, desert, etc. So many places to talk about but really a trip to the top of Cape York, the Kimberley, the Great Sandy Desert are on the top of the list for us.
Then the second leg of our adventures......
We are really keen to do some backpacking in Europe, the Americas and a trip back to Africa if we can fit it in, which I'm sure we will be able to do but we (Michael especially) would love to also sail around, do some island hopping and cruising around... somewhere tropical would be lovely, diving and fishing etc.
The idea is to travel the world (well parts of it) as efficiently and as cost effective as possible, the age old problem with life is time versus money, the longer you take to travel the more options you can have and at a cheaper rate/find the best deal OR do things quickly and spend a fortune. If we can plan the things we want to do well, the better off we will be in terms of getting the best bang for buck. The further you read down this blog, the more you realise that Michael has had a big part to play in writing this, so it will be no surprise to anyone that knows us that he wants to travel around the world on a boat - possibly some of it on a yacht like this??
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| Beneteau Oceanis 473 - nah this is really too expensive! |
The dreaming and scheming begins...
The dreaming and scheming begins...
How about a massive sailing trip like this?? Start in the Mediterranean and almost circumnavigate the worlds' width to end back in New Zealand.
If we were to buy a yacht to so this trip; I think we will need something that is already set up for cruising, but it is still cool just to look and see what is out there. As far as I can see, a well found, strong, simple sea-worthy yacht with the appropriate equipment can go just about anywhere!
The more I read, the more I realise that there is a whole production yacht versus purpose built blue water cruiser and those are two distinct camps. To be fair there is really is a lot to think about, obviously the production yachts are very common and a few people are crossing oceans in them but the old salts think that the traditionally purpose built yachts are the only option. I'm not really sure which is best, as long as you and the yacht are suitably prepared.
But I have found this awesome yacht with some of my preferred features; ketch, pilot house, multiple head sails, but it has a steel hull which i'm unsure on. There are so many different websites to search and review, but as with everything there are positives and negatives.
One thing I have learnt is that the whole piracy issues in the Western Indian Ocean has led to a significant proportion of long term cruisers being stranded in Thailand/Malaysia, due to the unsafe waters to the West. Some more hardy sailors are turning South at the Seychelles and heading for South Africa, by then rounding the Cape of Good Hope then North towards Europe. A significant concern for us and we know that it is a warranted concern by many, so if we just mince about the Pacific Islands or around the Med, then that would still be a good time!
So you can find old but in good condition yachts such as this 37ft Rafiki cutter or
- Roberts 50
- Roberts 36 or this Roberts 36
- Reinke 13m
- Duncanson 34
- Cabo Rico 38
- Peterson 44
- Hans Christian 38
- 43' Wauquiez Cruising Ketch
- Hunter 430
- Hunter 54
- Open 60 (Would need to be converted to a cruising yacht like this Farr 50)
- 60' foot research vessel - could do research while sailing!
Pearson Vanguards, Tritons and Alberg 35's are examples of very well built, reasonably priced earliest production fiberglass boats, or so I'm told. More research has lead me to find a Denison, and this interesting yacht Harmony 47'. I have also been looking at chartering a yacht in the Mediterranean to see if that's a better option if we are unsure on the time.
It is really hard finding good advice on if it is possible to buy a yacht and sail around then sell only after a few months, or if you are just better to hire a yacht for a short period or to just crew on someone else boat. I also spend a fair bit of my time researching yachts (in case that wasn't obvious) and trying to learn about navigation route planning, generally how to sail around the world. Some really cool yachts offering offshore experience include Mahina Expeditions and 59 Degrees North, John Kretchmer this looks awesome and I'm looking into it in 2016 to see if there are a few openings. That could be a go!
Weekend Meandering
While Shahn was at a work conference in Brisbane, I recently ended up visiting a yacht yard in Manly, Brisbane and having a yarn to a old guy and his wife. They lived onboard a junk rigged catamaran, really cool people that have travelled a lot, they really rated the junk rig saying that for simplicity and safety the junk rigged yacht is superior to the conventional Bermudian rig. Then he offered to sell me his yacht as they are getting too old and wanted to down size. I may be dreaming a bit here but just trying to research it and see if we can give it a go, dreams are free!
Having a look at the Pirates of the Caribbean ship, was pretty cool. It was Captain Jack Sparrows boat.
This is the old sailors yacht I was standing on when I took these photos of the Pirates of the Caribbean boat looked cool had a large mast and bow sprit ready to be hoisted. They did quite a bit of filming in Moreton Bay as they received a grant from the Queensland Government so they could film for a cheaper rate than the US.
Having realised that we both need a little more sailing training if we are to plan a large scale sailing adventure, we have started the RYA sailing courses. The courses are a bit expensive but we will see how we go, it would be good to complete our Yacht Masters before we head away. So first up, Shahn and I have booked a whole weekend for sail training on a 40' yacht out of Brisbane - just to test the waters and see how go (there are pictures later on in the blog of the weekend) and if we really enjoy it, I'm really excited where that will take us.....
While Shahn was on call for the long weekend, I spent the Queens Birthday weekend racing in the Wivenhoe Winter Marathon. The Brisbane Valley Sailing Club is based on Lake Wivenhoe, they are a great group of people. The weekend was a good turn out of people, water was bit chilly so I had to invest in a wetsuit.
Sunset on the first day of the Wivenhoe Winter Marathon.
Sailing information I follow, and cool blogs/vlogs
I have a few awesome blogs I read and watch regularly, if sailing is an interest for you and you have not seen any of these, have a gander as they are excellent!
- http://svdelos.com/ or their You Tube Channel
- http://www.yachtteleport.com/ or their You Tube Channel
- Sailing la Vagabonde and some information they put together http://sailing-lavagabonde.com/download/
- And their Australian doppelgangers Tangaroa
- Anne Ford
- Zero to cruising
- Sailing Uma
- Louie Van Pragg
- SV Seeker
- Offshore Odysseys
- Sea Wolf Sailing
- Beyond the West Horizon
- White Spot Pirates
- Sailing Baby Blue and their blog Feeding the Cruising Kitty
A few cool movies to watch on YouTube
- H. W. Tilman and his amazing books on sailing and climbing
Some really good websites for getting information are Offshore sailor, Setsail, Island Cruising Association. For navigation, there are some good apps such as Active Captain, Navionics, Isailor but there are so many different options and I have to say its difficult to see which is the best. So have a look at Best apps and Best boating and sailing apps.
The sailing community have been awesome, these people that are having amazing adventures, one day maybe we can be doing the same. I have found a few websites that can find crew positions if you are interested......
Crew Seekers, CrewBay, FindaCrew, Sailopo, Cruisersforum, Cruiser log, Sailing networks and Ocean Crew Link. One interesting organisation is the World Cruising Club, essentially a fun race for cruising sailors.
Sailing around Morton Bay
As this blog has taken so long to write, we also have a few photos of our sailing weekend in Morton Bay. This was part of the RYA Sailing course we did, it was thoroughly enjoyable and we learnt a lot of random things, like learning how to plot a course on a chart and predict tides using charts and tide rules.
Shahn super excited as we were discussing the route and planning the weekend away.
Shahn, Terry and Christophe route planning
Out on the water, Shahn showing us all how its done. It was a mixed bag of weather, about 15-25 knots of wind and showers all over the show.
Shahn getting a work out on the helm, the smile is to hide the shear terror of how she was feeling, though it was not too windy (between 15-25kts).
Pulling up the anchor after our lunch. Terry giving steering directions.
Michael just trimming the main
The boys relaxing while Shahn does all the work, beating up wind to get to our anchorage for the night.
Looking for channel markers. Dusk is really the worst time to be travelling as the lights aren't on and trying to spot the markers was difficult due to low light. Luckily, Terry had a chart for dead reckoning used alongside his Ipad with Navionics as a chart plotter.
We stopped off at Raby Bay for a hot chocolate and to buy some beers. When we tied up there was a Johnny Depp Movie Marathon playing on a massive outside screen right by the water. The hot chocolates were awesome, the ones we had were like chocolate sauce and almost like the Italian hot chocolate, very nice after a cool night on the water.
Leaving the Marina to head out for some night sailing, this is very daunting but we both feel empowered that we know enough to make it around at night safely.
Having a bit of fun night sailing, Shahn was in charge - I was just standing in.
Watching the channel markers as we made our way out into the bay
Enjoying the rain as we passed the channel markers.
Waking up to find our bum hard aground in the mud, decided to get some study underway. Our overnight anchorage was between Russell and Karragarra islands.
Then we worked out the tide charts so we would know exactly how much time we would be on the hard.
As the tide went out we got our lean on.....
Mucking about while we waited for the tide. One really random thing was while we were aground on the mudflats, a junk rigged catamaran came sailing past, the same yacht I had been on a few weeks ago when wandering around a boat yard. (See earlier in the blog, near the Pirates of Caribbean boat pictures)
The water was lapping over the rail by the end of it.
Shahn showing how much of a lean we got on, I'm standing so that I am upright the correct way. The bucket is there, poised so I could pee - very difficult to pee when on a greater than 45 degree angle.
Shahn making the most of a good spot in the sun to relax.
Finally after a few hours relaxing, eating and telling stories, we were underway.
Finding our way out down the channel
Shahn again, the skipper.
More playing about on the helm during our night sail back to the Manly Marina to get back home.
Christophe struggling to handle the rough weather......
Over the weekend sailing, we had an awesome time with heaps of fun on the water, night sailing was fun and we felt really safe and the yacht was very comfortable. It gave us both a lot of confidence that we can sail a larger vessel together, we will need to work on our communication skills if we are to be better at it. But we need to get on with it now!
