sailing from california to hawaii on 25-27 footer

[businessonly805]

is this possible? would this be a really scary thing to do? im seriously considering it..but have never sailed before.

[Izzy1414]

Originally Posted by businessonly805

is this possible? would this be a really scary thing to do? im seriously considering it..but have never sailed before.

Yes, it is possible. It has been done countless times on boats that size and smaller ... the right boat and an experienced crew. Someone with no sailing experience? Scary is only one adjective I would use. Foolhardy and possibly suicidal come to mind unless you're just talking about hitching a ride on a well found boat with an experienced crew.

[rgscpat]

Heard the one about the three best friend computer nerds who bought a 22-foot Catalina and sailed to Hawaii? A few days along the voyage the beer ran out. When they got to Oahu they hated each others' guts, sold the boat, and flew home.

Seriously... a much shorter test voyage is extremely recommended, along with learning all you can. Consider that only a minority of experienced sailors have completed a voyage this ambitious.

[sawingknots]

i wouldn't without an eperb hmmm i wouldn't with an eperb,lots can happen in 3000 thousand miles of open ocean

[businessonly805]

if i were to sail for several months straight, maybe 6 months, and learn as much as possible through the internet and other sailors i run into, do you think i may be good enough to voyage to hawaii by then?...i know theres many sailors who sail but im talking about living on the boat so 7 months straight sailing or 6 months i think would be good enough practice, but i could be wrong, thats why im asking you guys

[killarney_sailor]

Sailing experience does not work like that. You could sailing every day for six months and have a nice every day and not learn a fraction of the things you would need to know to head offshore. You learn when things go wrong, not when they go right.

Find someone to crew for to Hawaii or somewhere else (Mexico?). There is so much to learn and it can't be speeded up that much - that is one of the joys of sailing. I have been doing it for more than 40 years and still am constantly learning. Did not go offshore (NYC to Bermuda which is less than 700 miles) until I had about 20 years under the belt.

[Semloh]

Heard the one about the three best friend computer nerds who bought a 22-foot Catalina and sailed to Hawaii? A few days along the voyage the beer ran out. When they got to Oahu they hated each others' guts, sold the boat, and flew home.

That’s why this is such a hard trip. You need a lot of beer to make a long trip like that. If you can shorten the amount of time it takes to get there then you don’t have to carry so much beer. But beer is heavy and lighter sailboats go faster so if you carry enough beer you are too heavy to go fast so you need even more beer. It's a vicious cycle

[DRFerron]

Originally Posted by Semloh

You need a lot of beer to make a long trip like that.

business doesn't sound old enough to drink beer yet and if he is, he should know better than to attempt this.

[Faster]

Our club is nearing 50 years old... in the formative years when there were perhaps 20-24 members near half of them were crossing oceans in boats that today many wouldn't take across a large lake.

Yes it can be done.. today's sailors are not nearly as hardy a bunch, as a rule, as the 'old days' of wooden ships and iron sailors. Robin Graham did it in the 60s as a teenager, but most of the people tackling that trip will have had decades if not years of coastal sailing prior to making that leap.

From your own description of the 'space' you're in right now, I'd say you're a long way from ready... but there's always a 'but'......

[Sail The World]

might be a better idea to make your first sail a shorter voyage closer to shore