Departure timing for Northern Europe to NZ

[TeTaniwha]

Hello All,

This is my first post on Cruiser's Forum, although I'm not a stranger to these pages.

I have a question concerning latest departure time (Aug/Sept/Oct) to head to NZ from Northern Europe. Generally a direct trip with minimal stopovers for resupply/repair etc. More of a delivery than a cruise. Three possible routes:

Europe-Panama-NZ
Europe-Med-Suez-Perth-NZ
Europe-Capetown-Perth-NZ

Yes they are all pretty long haul journeys, with minimal stops. Boat is 40ft lighter displacement monohull, 2-4 crew, so looking at reasonable daily averages.

Cheers,

R

[donradcliffe]

The Panama route is much easier on the boat and crew. Working backwards, you want to arrive in NZ no earlier than October. In delivery mode, I'd think about leaving Northern Europe about June 1 to avoid nasty weather up north, dropping down to 12N to avoid hurricanes and across to Panama, leaving Panama by August 1, and Tonga by late September. That's about 13,000 miles, which gives you 80-100 sailing days and 20-40 lay days.