Anyone doing long passages on a Nordhavn?

[deckofficer]

Just curious as to how many folks are venturing far and wide on their Nordhavns? Good friends from my past were active sailing, moved to Port Ludlow and purchased a Hatteras LRC for coastal cruising in the PNW and Canada. Today, social media friends arrived in Panama on their 43' Nordhavn after a 800 nm passage from Great Inagua Island in 5 days, 10 hours. Average speed 6.25 kt.

[daddle]

Friends on Nordhavn (55?) recently departed Palau eastbound for North America. Carolines, Marshalls, ... Hawaii, Seattle. Maybe.

A tough trip. A sailboat might follow the weather north and around. They are going to try slugging it out directly into the tradewinds and seas.

[Astrid]

Originally Posted by daddle

Friends on Nordhavn (55?) recently departed Palau eastbound for North America. Carolines, Marshalls, ... Hawaii, Seattle. Maybe.

A tough trip. A sailboat might follow the weather north and around. They are going to try slugging it out directly into the tradewinds and seas.

That does sound tough. I would prefer to head north catching the Japan current and westerlies to get to North American waters and then down the coast with the prevailing winds and currents to where ever they want to drop anchor.

[daddle]

Originally Posted by Astrid

That does sound tough. I would prefer to head north catching the Japan current and westerlies to get to North American

Too many miles for the tankage. They would need to rendezvous with tankers along the way. $30,000 in fuel only goes so far

[deckofficer]

Happy New Year Astrid. You and I will be some of the last to enter 2013.

[Astrid]

Too many miles for the tankage. They would need to rendezvous with tankers along the way. $30,000 in fuel only goes so far

Ah, I see what you mean. I should have looked up Nordhavns. I was thinking in strictly sailing terms not motor or motor sailing only.

[deckofficer]

Astrid,

You got me to look to see if I started this thread in "Powered Boats". Are you like me and check the recent activity on the right side of the page?

[Astrid]

Yup, didn't notice it was power boats.

[CarinaPDX]

About 6 years ago a group of Nordhavns crossed the Atlantic together. about 15 IIRC. Half of them ended up in Marmaris, Turkey for the winter when I was there. One of them, a 46' I believe, went on to cruise the Tierra del Fuego. Serious power cruisers...

Greg

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by daddle

Friends on Nordhavn (55?) recently departed Palau eastbound for North America. Carolines, Marshalls, ... Hawaii, Seattle. Maybe.

A tough trip. A sailboat might follow the weather north and around. They are going to try slugging it out directly into the tradewinds and seas.

About 4 years ago, I helped a friend with daily weather-routing to make same passage to Seattle in a Diesel Duck, following the same route.

Keeping him in the ITCZ as long as possible, using the counter equatorial when practical helps a lot, but it is still a tough slog uphill.
http://i38.tinypic.com/312z0wp.jpg

[DeepFrz]

Check out the Nordhavn web site as they have a number of links to different cruising blogs. The 46 referred to above is Egret. Also check out GSSR for a downloadable book on the 3 Nordhavns that cruised from Seattle to Japan. They all continued on although one of the 62s was destroyed by fire a few years later.

[roverhi]

Originally Posted by daddle

Friends on Nordhavn (55?) recently departed Palau eastbound for North America. Carolines, Marshalls, ... Hawaii, Seattle. Maybe.

A tough trip. A sailboat might follow the weather north and around. They are going to try slugging it out directly into the tradewinds and seas.

Actually it's a passage made for a power boat if they stay in the ITC. They will have calm conditions and an easterly setting current to help them along. When they get close to Hawaii's Longitude, head north to the islands. That last leg would be the only rough part but they could get some push if they had a steadying sail. The people who bought my old W32 returned to Hawaii that way from somewhere east of Polynesia. The sailing route would have taken them way south, west, and then north to get favorable winds and make for a way longer trip.

The trip to Seattle also isn't so bad as they can pick a course north and east that gives some respite from headseas and then rhumbline to Seattle when they enter the high. Give them a chance to survey Pacific Garbage Pit. They'll have to be careful to monitor their cooling water intake and strainers, however.

The biggest problem with covering long distances in a power boat is boredom. At least with a sailboat, you can play with the strings to break the monotony.

[twistedtree]

People are making such crossings all the time in Nordhavns. One couple crossed from San Francisco to Hawaii a month or two ago, and they are far from the first. Another couple is en-route from San Diego to Australia. All the places mentioned have been visited, plus many more. And of course the run from Seattle to Japan along the Aleutian chain that DeepFrz mentioned. Range is 2000 to 3000 nm depending on how fast you go. That will take you pretty much anywhere in the world.