Bahamas - New Zealand

[TeMPuS2010]

Myself, my partner and a friend are heading out to buy a sail boat in the Bahamas in the begining of March 2011. We are looking at sailing it back to Sarasota/Tampa and provision it and learn the boat for a couple of months before heading out to sail back home to New Zealand.

We are after a 4th person to join us on this trip. Not looking for paid crew as we would prefer to put the money into equipment. We are open to discusion for some costs.

Below is an idea of our route

Freeport, Bahamas
Tampa or Sarasota, Fl
Cancun, Mexico
Isla de Providencia, Colombia
Panama
Galapagos Islands
Hiva Oa, Marquesas
Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
Papeete, French Polynesia
Moorea, French Polynesia
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Alofi, Niue
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Auckland, New Zealand
Lyttelton, New Zealand

Looking forward to hearing from people

[sailingdog]

Just curious, but what is your timeframe and budget for doing this? Also, how large a boat were you planning on getting? Also, what experience sailing do you, your partner and friend have? What other skills do you, your partner and friend have?

[mike dryver]

What Sailingdog said!

[TeMPuS2010]

boat we are looking at is a 44ft Kalik (Gary Mull design and built in Belguim), our budget is looking somewhere in the 110-120k USD range (50k for boat, the rest to upgrade and have a good time exploring places along the way)
I have done a fair amount of sailing over the years with my dad on his yachts, have my day skippers licence and have charted yachts before. as for the other crew the experience is minimal really but both are really fast learners and handled out last charter really well (even when we were sailing through 3m swells and 30+ knots of wind). The reason we want the extra crew member is for experience, to share that experience and help us learn along the way, just make us all feel a bit better should something arise...and hey they can get one hell of a trip out of it too!

[sailingdog]

I'd point out that getting a 44' bluewater capable boat for $50,000 is VERY OPTIMISTIC, and likely any boat that is sold in that size/price range is going to be in dire need of a lot of work. I would highly recommend looking at a boat in the 35-40' range instead, since the chance of getting one in close to sail-away/turnkey condition is much higher.

I'd also ask what skills in terms of boat repair, maintenance, troubleshooting, etc. you and your crew have. Cruising on a sailboat can often be defined as repairing a sailboat you're on in remote places with only the skills, tools and parts you have onboard. As an example, on a delivery I did last year, I repaired the A/C raw water pump, the shower sump, the transmission, the autopilot, the dinghy motor, among other things—and that on a what is a fairly new and well-maintained boat.

I'd also point out that the navigation, planning and other skills required for a transoceanic passage are far different from what you need chartering and island hopping/coastal cruising.

While I understand you're not looking for paid crew, what costs would your crew be responsible for? Given that they would be contributing experience and essentially acting as a delivery captain and in many ways instructor at least initially, would you be paying for their travel to/from the boat, room/board onboard the boat, port entry/customs fees?

I'd point out that four people can make for a fairly comfortable crew/watch situation, even on very long passages given the right boat. Given that two of the three of you are relatively inexperienced, four people would be the minimum that you would need to do so.

Finally, you haven't said what skills you, your partner and friend bring to the boat. Do any of you know how to stand a night watch, plan a passage, cook in a marine galley on passage—even in rough weather, know advanced first aid—similar to a wilderness EMT/First responder type level, know anything about provisioning a boat, have any experience with dealing with customs and checking in/out of foreign countries, etc.

Being a cruising sailor on a long bluewater passage requires that you be relatively self-sufficient and capable of dealing with even complicated issues with little in the way of outside resources. If you, your partner and crew can not do this....it's gonna be a problem.

[l7leandro]

In my opinion that would be a very good price!

Good luck

[mgiguere]

Good Luck. I have a lot of respect for you Kiwi's. We spent the month of October touring and living in the North Island and my impression is that Kiwi's are very hardy, knowledgeable, and can fix anything with a length of #9 wire. New Zealand is the ultimate sailing area.

Moe