Circumnav preps coming together

killarney_sailor · #1 09-07-2010

I think I must be actually getting somewhere for our November departure. My "To Do" list is actually getting smaller rather than larger (it has been about 4 pages using Excel grids with about 20 items per page). Today we paid for the boat insurance (decided to go with full coverage after toying around with the idea of liability only) and went to the travel health clinic for innoculations (typhoid and yellow fever) and information about dengue fever, malaria (prescription), the runs (another prescription), and altitude sickness (seems odd for a sea voyage but we will be backpacking for a month in Ecuador and Peru and could be as high as 15,000'. Also working on getting a snowbird's car to drive to Florida (we are in Toronto since I have collected enough crap here that flying could get pricey.

Not too many more tasks to do here before we head to Fla and start on that part of the To Do list - the big item there will be change the standing rigging.

trisstan87 · #2 09-07-2010

That is awesome man, congratulations. How old are you may I ask? What route will you take for your circum?

estopa · #3 09-07-2010

congrats, keep us posted. Would be great if you shared your excel checklists once you head out to give folks perspective.

cb32863 · #4 09-07-2010

Congrats and good luck. Hopefully we will be able to follow your progress.

St Anna · #5 09-07-2010

Ditto the above..

sailingdog · #6 09-08-2010

Congrats, and keep us posted.

killarney_sailor · #7 09-09-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by trisstan87

That is awesome man, congratulations. How old are you may I ask? What route will you take for your circum?

I am 62 and my wife is a bit younger (not allowed to say). We were going to start cruising about now but she got laid off from her job in NYC last April so we went cruising then instead. Went to Bermuda in May and then the Caribbean in November and decided on the circumnavigation since we really enjoyed our time cruising.

Our likely route for the first year (Nov '10 to Nov '11) is:

Florida through Bahamas to San Blas Islands in Panama
Through the Canal around the end of December
To Ecuador; leave boat and backpack Ecuador/Peru for a month or so
To Galapagos and then Easter Island, Pitcairn on way to French Polynesia (enter through Tuamotus)
Through FP for three months (visa limitation)
Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga
To New Zealand for cyclone season

Plans after that are still a bit vague since we don't really need to have a schedule. We are investigating the possibility of cruising in China. A few offshore races go there but there is no mechanism for dealing with cruisers - you are treated like a ship and it is very costly and very bureaucratic.

killarney_sailor · #8 09-09-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by estopa

congrats, keep us posted. Would be great if you shared your excel checklists once you head out to give folks perspective.

The checklists (one for jobs and one for provisioning) are a bit on the idiosyncratic side since it depends on things like the boat, where you are going, and what you like to eat. The sort of things on the jobs list include:

getting charts, both electronic and paper
researching where to go and what to see along with things like Customs/Immigration procedures, dealing with agents
boat upgrades - new standing rigging (DIY or get a rigger), some new running rigging, replace lifelines and steering cables
arrange insurance coverage for places you want to go
make sure computers (we have two) have appropriate software eg JVComm for weather faxes, 2 programs for tides
get courtesy flags (haven't found source for flags of Niue and Cook Islands - have to make them)
insect protection for boat and us - malaria and dengue fever
end for end anchor chain and add partitions inside anchor locker
lube all through -hulls (too many - 16!)
recheck sea anchor setup
get a weight belt to make it easier to do hull scubs

The number of items is huge but needs to be since we will be going to places where boat stores (and even food stores) just don't exist. Pitcairn gets something like 5 cruising boats a year visiting, along with 3 or so supply vessels so you need to be self-sufficient. Ainia was well-equipped for last year's trip but this is a whole different ball game. Some of the tasks are major like replacing the standing rigging, while some are tiny, like making sure we have enough mosquito coils but all are important to our safety and enjoyment of what will be at least a three year trip. Shopping is excellent in Panama but the next really complete place for boat repairs and the like is NZ which is a long way away.