Then she said how about a circumnavigation?

[killarney_sailor]

As some of you know, we are now in the Caribbean (Grenada actually) after coming down this fall from the Chesapeake. (Have not been here much since internet has often not been readily available.) We are enjoying the lifestyle immensely and the boat is doing well but people kept asking us what we planned for the spring - staying down, putting the boat on the hard for the summer or going to wherever. We had thought about taking the boat to Europe but were concerned about the cost since in many areas it seems almost impossible to avoid marinas. I presented about seven options to my dear wife, June and to be comprehensive included a circumnavigation - and guess which one she picked with almost no hesitation?!?

So now we are are starting the many preps for this next large step. It is too late for this year without rushing and we don't want to do that. Our tentative plan is to head up-island to Florida by June and go on the hard while we do some work on the boat and make a better arrangement for the house in Toronto than we have now. The boat is in pretty good shape and very well equipped but we are looking at: making it a full-time cutter with a furler for the staysail (rather than a removable stay cutter), new standing rigging, a big-ass carbon fiber whisker pole and one of those custom mattresses to replace the somewhat questionable foam in the aft cabin. Departure would be right after hurricane season in November.

And this is the same woman who said, "I really like sailing, but we really need a bigger boat if I am going to liveaboard"

[Stillraining]

Praise the Lord there is hope for me after all!...

[Leither]

Wow! That's an exciting prospect for you guys - look forward to hearing how it goes.

Since you have decided on the big C, you have probably lost interest in the cost of moorings in Europe, but I should point out that on the west coast of Scotland (unquestionably one of the outstanding cruising areas in the world), marina mooring is the exception and there are many, many places where free or very cheap moorings are available. And, of course, endless anchorages where you can just drop the hook......

Stuart

[Faster]

I guess you could say she's a keeper, Killarney... (the boat too! )

I must say you haven't been dawdling about, already in Grenada! I hope you didn't short yourselves some good stops on the way. Real glad to hear your trip with Mark went well...

Congratulations and best wishes for what's to come! Which way about??

[Valiente]

Very good news, Bruce, although you need to get that leaky hatch and leaky tank fixed!

Maybe we can sail in convoy if you take long enough to make the boat the way you want it for the longer hauls.

Certainly, it's doable. My tales of "brisk air" have raised enough eyebrows back here in Toronto to make me think that a week of half-gales with bonus squalls is more wind than usual apart from the Southern Ocean...and not for a second did I feel unsafe or particularly concerned aboard your boat. She's "well found" in every sense.

Bruised, yes, but I can't blame the boat.

Say hello to June for me. I bet those 40 knot squalls at 5 in the morning convinced her she's got the right stuff to pull off a circ.

[JohnRPollard]

Killarney,

Wow, that is very exciting!

And you're certainly going about it the right way, having taken a substantial "shakedown" cruise off-shore to and through the Caribb. You know your boat, you know what modifications she needs, you've allotted time to make them. Sounds like a good plan.

And, perhaps more importantly, you've got a fully vested wife! Cheers to a successful circumnavigation.

Valiente,

Good to hear from you. I hope all continues well with your big plan. Any updates? And, Happy New Year!

[killarney_sailor]

We will go through Panama next fall and in general follow the standard route around including South Africa. We will investigate going to China and/or India on the way since I am fascinated by both and it would be interesting to go to areas that are not on the beaten track for cruisers. We have no particular time frame in mind althought it will be at least three years. We are at the stage of making lists of places we want to go, finding places we don't know about that are great and using Cornell to figure out when various passages should be made and how all of this can reconciled. Great fun.

I know there are places to anchor in the cruising grounds of places like Scotland and Ireland. My concern was about going up the Atlantic Coast from Portugal to southern England and the western part of the Med. We have been told that it is very hard to find anchorages. We might go to Europe on the circumnavigation in any case.

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

My concern was about going up the Atlantic Coast from Portugal to southern England and the western part of the Med. We have been told that it is very hard to find anchorages. We might go to Europe on the circumnavigation in any case.

Wow. My experience there (Med) 20+ years ago was very different. We anchored almost exclusively. I sure hope it hasn't changed that much.

[killarney_sailor]

Originally Posted by Valiente

Very good news, Bruce, although you need to get that leaky hatch and leaky tank fixed!

Maybe we can sail in convoy if you take long enough to make the boat the way you want it for the longer hauls.

Certainly, it's doable. My tales of "brisk air" have raised enough eyebrows back here in Toronto to make me think that a week of half-gales with bonus squalls is more wind than usual apart from the Southern Ocean...and not for a second did I feel unsafe or particularly concerned aboard your boat. She's "well found" in every sense.

Bruised, yes, but I can't blame the boat.

Say hello to June for me. I bet those 40 knot squalls at 5 in the morning convinced her she's got the right stuff to pull off a circ.

Hi Marc
good to hear from you. We are planning to take off from Florida next November. I think we may have a buddy boat at least from Panama for a while. It is a St Francis 50 cat so it might not work since they are much faster.

Leaky tanks are fixed and the hatches are temporarily fixed until we can get the right adhesives and primers.

A hint for your boat - have all of the ventilation you can manage for the tropics. We have everything open all the time and it is winter here

[AKscooter]

Wow....and it is not even April lst yet.