anyone know of any small boats cruising around

[hillbillybear]

What is the smallest known sailboat to be out cruising at this time? Does anyone know of any trailer sailers or of any open boats? Where are they cruising? Are these folks having any difficulties? Just curious.

[sailingdog]

Define cruising... there are a lot of small boats, <20', that are out gunkholing, and even island hopping. I know of several people who are out in the Caribbean, who left via Florida, and are in boats less than 25' LOA.

There are also quite a few boats <30' that are making ocean passages.

Webb Chiles did make it most of the way around the world in an open 18' Drascombe Lugger. Actually, it was two different Drascombe Luggers, since one was confiscated in Egypt IIRC, and he got a replacement from the company that makes them so he could continue. Stopped in the Canaries IIRC.

[Faster]

A quick google yielded this link:

Small boat against the ocean. Cruise accounts. Download this article.

A home-built 14 footer across the Atlantic and other similar stories... but just because someone's done it doesn't make it a great idea.....

[sailingdog]

Here's a link I found on a small boat cruising website. It is about a japanese man's circumnavigation in a 23' boat. BTW, I'd highly recommend the website, since it is dedicated to sailing far distances in smaller boats, and believes that you don't need a 40'+ boat to cruise safely.

[sailingfool]

Courtesy of the other website there is this kid Jonny Moore Sailing and this kid Sail The Dream - Support Jack Daly to sail around the UK

[arbarnhart]

Originally Posted by Faster

A home-built 14 footer across the Atlantic and other similar stories... but just because someone's done it doesn't make it a great idea.....

Yep. I think it is kind of cool that someone took a boat like mine to the Bahamas. I got in touch with the guy and he says it's so, but absolutely doesn't recommend it. Not because he had a rough time but because now he knows he was lucky not to.

I got into a squabble on another forum trying to differentiate between sailboats and survival capsules with some limited wind navigation capabilities. I am really not too interested in the latter.

One interesting comment I saw (at the sailfar.net site, I think) was someone talking about being able to control a small boat. I have a lot of whitewater experience, so I can understand that. It's comforting to know you can right your boat without assistance, but at the same time it's rather discomforting to think that might be a regular activity. In the ocean, there are no eddies to pull into to gather your wits.

I think I will probably stick to the sounds and just crew on bigger boats in bigger water until I am ready to move up to something close to 30' with a keel. That is probably a few years away at best...

[sailaway21]

You may be interested in this video. Amazon.com: HOW TO EQUIP A TRAILER-SAILER FOR SERIOUS CRUISING: William B. Trescott: Video
It's the first video to be endorsed by Practical Sailor and describes how Wm Trescott modified his trailer-sailer to cross the Atlantic, cruise the canals of Europe, visit the Holy Land, and recross the Atlantic.

This isn't your shiny marina queen yacht, everything done on this boat was to a specific goal of seaworthiness, safety, and flexibility of use. And this surely isn't your standard guide to mounting yet another chart-plotter at the helm. It's more a guide as to how he transformed a pleasure boat into a working boat with an eye towards a specific goal-deep sea sailing.

It's well worth the money. And, if you're into trucking-the man is a truck driver, his web-site has some interesting things on that subject. You can find the videos on sailing/cruising as well as trucking on that site here: Trucking Video

[lbdavis]

I don't know how small you wanna go, but here's an option for ya:

clicky-thing

I hope you have lot's of time and don't eat much.

[sailortjk1]

Lots of "Pocket Cruisers" out there.
Before we moved up in LOA, we sailed our Cal 25II over three hundered miles on a week long cruise. No Auto no nothing makes it a little more difficult but its doable. I would say it depends alot on your ablity and comfort levels.

[arbarnhart]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

You may be interested in this video. Amazon.com: HOW TO EQUIP A TRAILER-SAILER FOR SERIOUS CRUISING: William B. Trescott: Video
It's the first video to be endorsed by Practical Sailor and describes how Wm Trescott modified his trailer-sailer to cross the Atlantic, cruise the canals of Europe, visit the Holy Land, and recross the Atlantic.

This isn't your shiny marina queen yacht, everything done on this boat was to a specific goal of seaworthiness, safety, and flexibility of use. And this surely isn't your standard guide to mounting yet another chart-plotter at the helm. It's more a guide as to how he transformed a pleasure boat into a working boat with an eye towards a specific goal-deep sea sailing.

It's well worth the money. And, if you're into trucking-the man is a truck driver, his web-site has some interesting things on that subject. You can find the videos on sailing/cruising as well as trucking on that site here: Trucking Video

I have browsed around and found that before. So have you watched it? I was a little leary of buying a tape. It seems like a lot of upgrades would require plans or diagrams; I have such in a couple of books and have dowloaded others from a few sites. It is helpful to see things explained rather than just reading sometimes, but it being a tape and not a DVD kinda bugged me also.

BTW, I keep saying I am not really thinking blue water in my boat but a little coastal sailing. I found a video which appears to be mostly very weird commentary, but right at the beginning from 0:28 to 0:48 you will see a boat sailing in exactly the place I was referring to in the other thread. That boat has just come out of the inlet at Lookout and is headed for Beaufort (or maybe it just came over from France; I can't be sure )
YouTube - Risk Resolved
Those conditions are not abnormal.