Passage Plan

Are you taking the boat to within 50 miles/meters of Amsterdam or picking it up 50 miles/meters from Amsterdam?

Without a departure point or destination and season it will be difficult even for this forum's most accomplished Son of Magellan to help you with a passage plan.

I've only played with relatively little family owned boats but aren't you kinda supposed to know all that before someone gives you the wheel of a 160' yacht?

Hard to talk about a passage with only one point of reference.

WRI is pretty good for weather if you need help with it.

A chart and a pencil may help in your ocean quest.

and all who sail on her.

Sail west until you reach land, then steer south. Continue hugging the land until you spot your destination. Bring an iPhone for navigation and get a raincoat in case it rains. You'll do fine.

When we left with a 84 foot from the Netherlands we went via Guernsey to do the new registration after that we headed straight down to Gib. Just depending on the weather we were offshore about 20 miles. Just make sure your weather is good when you reach the Bay of Biscay you don't want to get hit halfway through. If you do get hit by bad weather just before the Bay of Biscay then head for Brest. There are no berths for your size but there should be some place for anchorage. If the weather gets bad during your trip then you have the option of Vigo Spain or Lisboa Portugal. Once you in Gib you have more then enough time to wait for a better weather window before heading to to final destination. If you stop in Palma give me a call. Good luck on the trip and enjoy. We used passageweather.com and we used www.grib.us/Downloads.aspx

Hi,

I am quite astounded to read this post as it goes on further.

You posted that you held a Chief Mate 3000 Grt Ticket here 8 months ago.

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/yacht-captains/11536-land-based.html#post79946

I have to ask the obvious- How did you get that or progress to Master for the same tonnage if you do not know how to work out a simple passage plan like the one you are asking for?

Do you not have a suitably qualified Chief or Second Officer who might be able to work this out or at least be able to assist you with this?

Most of the readers and contributors on here are involved with boats half the size of your command or less, yours is the first direct request I have seen in nearly 5 yrs of coming here asking such a basic question.

Some of the comments about MCA Yacht Qualifications are certainly accurate if the holder of a Certificate of Competency one step below Master does not know how to do a Passage Plan.

What does your former lifes experience in Safety Management that you so proudly announced to the forum lead you to believe about this situation?

Touche'

Too EZ

Common guys, lend a hand.

Hang a left out of Amsterdam; keep the land on your left; in about 36 hours it is gonna get real bumpy and last for about another 36 hours. When you see the great big rock, turn left again. Still keeping the land on your left hand side, in about 2.5 days start looking for the Martinez Hotel sign and you have arrived.

A very astute friend of mine just suggested that perhaps this Son of
Magellan need only tag along in the wake of one of his fellow navigators.

Or, surely one of the deckhands holds a newly printed yachtmaster ticket and still has the class notes in his backpack ...

“Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.”
Christopher Columbus

I would suggest buying a cruising guide for your area, and hiring a Captain that knows how to read it, check weather, and navigate......ohhhh as well as running the yacht.

I think you got this in Post No 7 above.

Suit yourself, You got a series of answers that suited the way you phrased your question. When you say you are taking a vessel somewhere most automatically assume that you are the Master.

You guys are rough and nothing gets by you!!! A bit of advice for new members. Read and re-read what you post. The guys on here are pros and you can't slip much by them.

My advice would be: Inform the owners to hire professional Crew which studied a lot for their licenses and gained a lot of experiense before taking command or second command of a 160' (just guess about 12.000.000 Euro Yacht.
Sorry for this but in 18 years at sea I've never heard something like this.
Which college you made you license again??

PCH, Welcome to YF. Looks like you've gotten your baptism by fire. If you reread your OP you should recognize that you left the door pretty wide open for it. You did get your answers though. Sometimes we have to pay dues for our education. Good luck.

Most of the new builds from up that way stop off in Falmouth for a couple of days before heading to Gib etc.
It is a great place to see your last proper pub for a while, (The Chain Locker) and also sort out some of the things that have broken on the way down.

Have a good trip and bring some decent weather with you, I have seen more snow on the Cote d' Azur in the last 3 months than I have ever seen in Cornwall for the last 34 years.