Who is cruising the world

[Zzmeyer]

I just completed a rather simple analysis of 611 boats that participated in three events in 2018. One in the Atlantic (ARC), one in the North Pacific (Baja Haha) and one in the South Pacific (Pacific Puddle Jump). The ARC is a 2,700 NM rally between Gran Canaria and St Lucia and is described as an "invent for everyone". The Baja Haha sails from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, MX over 750 NM and the Pacific Puddle Jump is "an annual migration from the West Coast of the Americas to French Polynesia". You can start at any time, from any where and go to any place although the most common starting points are Panama and Puerto Vallarta MX. In future posts I'll presents the results, but will start with a post explaining limitations that I see and ask for additional input.

[Zzmeyer]

BIO, BIAS AND LIMITATIONS, There are a number limitations of using data from the three events mentioned. I'd like to hear yours. A big one is that two of the three are rallies, and rallies may not be representative of cruisers as a whole. However, the Puddle Jump is not a rally so I'll be looking at similarities and differences with that event. The nature of the events will affect entries and affect the results. For example, there are lots of Lagoons and no Leopards in the 2018 ARC. The Lagoons are built in NW France and the Leopard in South Africa. Also, the participants in the ARC may have specific goals. The only two entries I know are actually delivering their boats to the charter fleet in the Caribbean. Another limitation is the location of the three events. All are mid latitude. Boats at the extreme may be much different. I met two sailors who did the Northwest Passage last year; one in a Hylas, the other a Tartan 37. Go figure.

I am an amateur with 45 years offshore sailing and boat ownership experience. I cruise about 4 months per year averaging about 2,000 hours at anchor or in a slip and 400 hours in transit (I use hours instead of days because I don't know how to count a three hour sail between anchorages).

My three big biases: 1) Any production boat properly equipped, maintained and crewed is capable of offshore passages. 2) the best offshore boat is not the best cruising boat. To me offshore I'd like a small, shallow cockpit with a high bridge deck and berths amidship. At anchor I want a large cockpit with easy cabin access with berths pushed to the ends opening up the salon for entertaining. 3) the term "cruiser" is so broad as to be useless. Is a "boat owner" who seldom sees his boat a cruiser? Is the live aboard or snow bird who comes for a few months a year, but seldom takes the boat from the slip a cruiser? Is the weekend sailor who throws in a week on the hook each summer a cruiser? Do you have to cross oceans or circumnavigate a cruiser? As a result, it is impossible to describe the perfect "cruising" sailboat.

[Mike OReilly]

Always curious. How are you analysing the 611 boats? Characterizing them by some criteria I assume. Basic boat stats? Crew stats? Or are you looking at other factors? And are you doing this for only the one year, or are you including multiple years?

I guess I’ll know once you post your report.

You may be interested in this — A few months ago (maybe a year?) I used data from Latitude38’s Circumnavigator list to characterize who is out there, and what changes in boats there have been over the decades. My analysis from this fairly narrow but longitudanal dataset found, amongst other things, that LOA of the median circumnavigating boat in this group hadn’t changed much over the many decades of the the dataset.

This was a surprising result given the apparent increase in average LOA of what people call “cruising boats.” I posted all the data and results here somewhere on CF. I’m sure you can find it if you dig around.

[Zzmeyer]

I’ll look for it. Real basic stuff. I’ve tracked Haha data every year for more than 20 years. The boat length keeps getting longer. Interesting that not so with circumnavigated.

[nexthop]

Here is Mike's discussion. 120+ responses :-)

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...es-198182.html

[cyan]

Originally Posted by nexthop

Here is Mike's discussion. 120+ responses :-)

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...es-198182.html

Thanks for posting the link.
I can't believe that I missed that really interesting discussion back when it was going.
This thread is also very interesting to me, with a bit of a different angle. I wonder if the OP here will also get some odd colorful questions (like Mike did) regarding the actual motivation for such a discussion of statistics. (Funny stuff). I find the data enlightening, conspiracy theories notwithstanding.

[sailorboy1]

well I feel my time was wasted in reading an "analysis" thread that doesn't have any "analysis"

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by cyan

Thanks for posting the link.
I can't believe that I missed that really interesting discussion back when it was going.
This thread is also very interesting to me, with a bit of a different angle. I wonder if the OP here will also get some odd colorful questions (like Mike did) regarding the actual motivation for such a discussion of statistics. (Funny stuff). I find the data enlightening, conspiracy theories notwithstanding.

Thanks for posting the link nexthop.

Yes, I just popped over and re-read a few of the posts. It did take a bit of U-turn at times. Hopefully this thread won’t suffer the same silliness.

I really look forward to the data and analysis Zzmeyer, especially if you’re able to compile longitudinal information. Changes over time interest me. Maybe you can take this previous work and include it in your new analysis.

[Zzmeyer]

The median length (half longer and half shorter) of the 611 boats is exactly 45 feet. 75% were longer than 40 feet, and only 6.7% less than 35 feet. 17.5% were multihulls. It really didn't matter whether or not you were sailing in the Atlantic or Pacific. The ARC with 21% had a few more, but I know of several that are really deliveries, not cruisers. I think the best source is the Pacific Puddle Jump, but that data doesn't vary much from the other two. For example the Puddle has 19% of the fleet as multihulls. Below is a list overall of the top ten manufacturers. (Sorry about the formatting.)
Beneteau 69 11.3%
Lagoon 48 7.9%
Jeanneau 33 5.4%
Bavaria 17 2.8%
Catalina 16 2.6%
Swan 13 2.1%
Island Packet 12 2.0%
X-yachts 11 1.8%
Oyster 11 1.8%
Amel 11 1.8%

Not surprisingly, the manufacturers that sell the most boats have the most entries. Yes, I know that a higher percentage of Oysters or Amels that were sold are cruising. I found it interesting that the two most popular in the ARC (Beneteau and Lagoon) were also the most popular in the Pacific. That is not true among some manufacturers. For example Swans were the 5th most popular ARC boat, but none show up on either Pacific list. Likewise, Catalina was the second most popular in the Haha (both West Coast US), none showed up in the Atlantic.

[Zzmeyer]

Another summary

[boatman61]

You do know that these events are just a percentage of the boats that make these trips so your analysis is never going to be nearly accurate.
The ARC charges and has requirements for entry.. many who cross either dont want to or cannot afford to meet the expense and go it alone in the tradition of cruising.

[Mike OReilly]

Interesting…

The LOA medians for the Haha and the Puddle are not far off what I found in the Latitude data at approx. 42’.

Also interesting that the ARC is so much larger with regard to boat sizes.

[Jim Cate]

I've not done any real analysis on the subject, but seems to me that the ARC is an expensive thing to do, and attracts a relatively affluent clientele with newer and bigger boats than one typically meets in cruising destinations around the world.

To some degree, the same can be said for most rally venues... the participants have enough spare money to be willing to pay to make a voyage that can be done for free on their own. My guess is that this skews the data on boat size, marque and age.

To make a crude comparison, if you did an analysis of boat size in the ports of the French Riviera and in say La Paz, you would get vastly different lengths as "average".

Jim

[Zzmeyer]

Jim

To your point, 33% of ARC boats are greater than 50 feet, while only 14% of the Pacific Puddle Jump are in that category. The ARC attracts bigger boats. Interestingly, though, they are the same high volume, modest price production boats. The Puddle Jump largest number of boats are the Beneteau, Lagoon and Leopard and the ARC are the Beneteau Lagoon and Jeanneau. The median length of an ARC boat is 46.9, the Puddle Jump is 44 and the Haha 42. There is no fee, or rules for that matter, for the Puddle Jump.

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Zzmeyer

There is no fee, or rules for that matter, for the Puddle Jump.

I believe the PPJ rally sponsored by Latitude 38 does charge a modest $75 these days to register, but you could easily make that back in the stuff you receive for that in addition to the position monitoring- such as deals on bond exemptions and duty-free fuel in the Marquesas. It's not a conventional rally, as you can go on your own schedule and simply check in once a day for safety, which in turn lets land-lubbing friends and family know where you are. This is certainly not a rich man's floatilla, and as such the data might just be useful.