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Heading out!

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Yorksafloat, Oct 9, 2009.

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  1. Yorksafloat, Oct 9, 2009
    #1
    Yorksafloat

    Yorksafloat New Member

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    We're at the 3 week mark before departure! After more than 2 years of preparation (and learning how to handle our first boat!), we are preparing to depart on a planned circumnavigation. We'll be heading south from San Diego and then through the Panama Canal and east from there.
    We have a website up (www.yorksafloat.com) if anyone wants to follow us on our trip. If history is any predictor of the future, it should be lively!
    The website is still somewhat under construction and will be evolving a far bit over the next few weeks and months.
    I hope to see some of you on the way!
    Jim

    M/V Antipodes
  2. NYCAP123, Oct 9, 2009
    #2
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    You write well, the boat looks great and it sounds like Lara is quite the adventurous one. I look forward to following your journey. Don't forget to post some video. DK about anyone else here, but I'm feeling a bit jealous. ;) Calm seas and fair winds.
  3. Yorksafloat, Oct 9, 2009
    #3
    Yorksafloat

    Yorksafloat New Member

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    To say "Lara is adventurous" is like saying the Sun is lukewarm..... :D
    I am indeed a lucky man.
    Jim

    M/V Antipodes
  4. KonaLA, Oct 9, 2009
    #4
    KonaLA

    KonaLA New Member

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    jealous...envious....could go on. Looking forward to living vicariously through you.
  5. GFC, Oct 9, 2009
    #5
    GFC

    GFC Senior Member

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    Ditto to the above comments about living vicariously through your blog. Godspeed on your cruise.
  6. CaptTom, Oct 9, 2009
    #6
    CaptTom

    CaptTom Senior Member

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    Jim,
    Let us know when you plan on cruising to southeast Florida. Maybe if it's a stopping point for you we can get a few YF members to come over and say hello. May be an opportunity to photograph your ride too.
    I know others who have done long excursions to invite folks to ride along on certain legs. Any plans for that?
    Like NYCAP, I'm jealous too. to many hours in the office and airports.
    Keep us informed. Calm seas ahead.
  7. catmando, Oct 10, 2009
    #7
    catmando

    catmando Senior Member

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    Wait this is your first boat and you're doing a circum?? How much boating experience do you have?
  8. NYCAP123, Oct 10, 2009
    #8
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    They did a 2 month bare boat sail and have owned this boat for 2 1/2 years. A boat like this can give quite an education in that time. Innocent but not babes in the woods.
  9. Yorksafloat, Oct 10, 2009
    #9
    Yorksafloat

    Yorksafloat New Member

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    CaptTom - I don't think we're heading to FL (although cruising plans are by nature somewhat flexible!). We're currently planning to head up the Caribbean island chain after Venezuela and end up in the Antigua/Barbuda area before making the jump to the Madiera Islands next April/May.
    As for people joining us for passages, we are certainly open to that but we already have a pretty long list of friends and family members "signed up." We have also been surprised at how difficult and stressful it really is to have guests on a boat! That was our original intent but you would be surprised (or maybe not!) to learn how few people really understand what's involved in joining up with a boat for a passage. It requires a degree of flexibility that most landlubbers don't understand or cannot accommodate. As with anything in life, it never hurts to ask. As you follow our travels, email questions and we'll see if crew opportunities will work out.
    Catmando - This is our first boat but we have been extremely intentional about learning how to safely handle and cruise this boat. Last summer we took her from Ensenada to Alaska and back (about 5000nm roundtrip). The western US north of Point Conception is arguably one of the more dangerous and challenging areas to coastal cruise and we certainly had numerous "opportunities" to test the capabilities of the boat and crew. You could certainly make the argument that we're not "prepared" for this but if we waited until we were completely "prepared" then we'd probably never do this. Modern technology (and the ability to use it) has taken much of the danger out of pursuits like this. Ultimately, however, you have to have a recognition that "control" in life is an illusion....whether on land or at sea. At sea, you are just much more aware of how little control you actually have over the circumstances in which you live! As Andy Dufresne says in Shawshank Redemption - Get busy living, or get busy dying!
    Jim
  10. Henning, Oct 10, 2009
    #10
    Henning

    Henning Senior Member

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    You ought to take Mark Twains advice and take the Trade Winds rather than try to beat into them, much more comfortable, much more efficient. There's a reson most all circumnavigations happen west bound. You have the wind behind you the majority of the time that you are in the warm part of the world. If you really want to go east, take the Leeward Passage between Cozumel and Cuba,(that leg eastbound out of Panama can be a M-Fer with big holes in the water, I used to get my but kicked on that route to Port a Spain Trinidad with a 127' tug) catch the Gulf Stream up the east coast and across the N Atlantic where you are in the westerlies and check out Iceland on your way across. Too bad, I think you're a bit tall to make it through Europe to the Med, but maybe not. BTW, if you think Pt Conception is something, just wait until you see the Southern Ocean. Have you done an Incline Test on your boat yet and fully calculated your intact and damaged stabilities yet? If you are going on a circumnavigation in what I'm estimating is an 8kt boat, especially eastward, it should work out for a significant wave height of at least 7 meters since you won't be able to out run a significant storm. If you don't yet have a stability book developed for your boat, you should probably hire a naval architect to develop one for you.
  11. travler, Oct 10, 2009
    #11
    travler

    travler Senior Member

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    good luck and above all be safe it can be a journey of a life time are a night mare

    travler
  12. NYCAP123, Oct 10, 2009
    #12
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    A trip like that promises to be both. It's what makes you feel alive.:)
  13. YES!, Oct 10, 2009
    #13
    YES!

    YES! Senior Member

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    I too am curious as relates to Henning's query. What made you decide to turn left at Panama instead of right?

    Been around the globe 3 times on "other people's" yachts and it is a wonderful experience. Assume you have studied Jimmy Cornell's cruising guide books?

    Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
  14. jhartog, Oct 10, 2009
    #14
    jhartog

    jhartog New Member

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    Stability book ?

    Hello Henning
    I do not know what is a 'stability book". This term is unfamiliar to me (and perhaps others). Could you please explain. Thanks.
  15. NYCAP123, Oct 10, 2009
    #15
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    I had never heard of having this done except for commercial vessels although possibly for manufacturers. This is an example:
    http://trawler.ca/stabilit1.htm
  16. Henning, Oct 10, 2009
    #16
    Henning

    Henning Senior Member

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    A stability book is what is developed so you can determine if your vessel is in safe trim for the conditions. It helps you determine how to load it, and how to figure out if you're just uncomfortable or in danger. Call a Nautical Architect. If you haven't read and studied Vessel Stability yet, you aren't ready for this trip.
  17. Yorksafloat, Oct 10, 2009
    #17
    Yorksafloat

    Yorksafloat New Member

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    The decision to "turn left" at Panama took a while. We did read Jimmy Cornell's book and we also talked to a number of people who had circumnavigated. The decision to turn left keeps us in the "coastal cruising" mode for a little longer (more experience) and it puts the Caribbean at the beginning of our trip rather than the end and this was recommended by a number of people. The weather and sea state issue is a potential concern but as a practical matter, routing and careful choice in weather windows appears to be sufficient to avoid unnecessary unpleasantness. For the most part, it appears that time of year is a much bigger issue than direction of travel (for a motoryacht).
    On the issue of stability, we have a stability book for the boat that was created when the boat was built. It showed the boat to be marginally stable according to (I believe) the Lloyd's standards. The PO decided for a variety of reasons not to add additional ballast. After buying the boat, we worked closely with an NA up in the PNW and performed an inclining experiment and then added a total of 8000 lbs of ballast in two locations. Let's just say that in our trip to Alaska last year I had numerous opportunities to verify at first hand the extraordinary stability and seakindliness of this boat.
    Jim
    M/V Antipodes
  18. Henning, Oct 10, 2009
    #18
    Henning

    Henning Senior Member

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    It is done for every vessel that is in Class, and every vessel that even has a USCG Small Passenger Vessel Certificate. If you don't know the stability figures, how do you know you're safe rather than getting rolled on the next wave?
  19. jhartog, Oct 10, 2009
    #19
    jhartog

    jhartog New Member

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    Stability Book

    well, I'm not a Captain and I certainly wouldn't think of comparing my knowledge with professionals. I'm just someone who enjoys the hell out of [pleasure] boating, and enjoys reading (and even sometimes learning from) the posts here. I have been fortunate enough to be able to enjoy boating for 20 years and have a seaworthy [production] boat that I drive myself and which seems to get me from Point A to Point B. I also seem to be more familiar with Rules of the Road than most of my fellow [pleasure] boaters on LI Sound, Nantucket Sound, Chesapeake, etc., which, of course, isn't saying much since most of them just want to know if the beer's still cold. I guess I'll just always try to "keep the shiny side up" .Thanks to all for all of the great info and please keep it coming. :)
  20. NYCAP123, Oct 10, 2009
    #20
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Familiar with it on commercial boats, but I do my private work on small craft. Actually I do judge my safety by feel. It's old school. but I have a pretty good feel for what a boat can and can't take. At least it's worked till now. Of course, what I run aren't 200' and their load doesn't tend to change much or move around. Thanks for the info. Learned something new today.
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