Quote:
Originally Posted by Sevenseas55
My husband and I both go on this site under this name, my husband has the experience. We are not crossing major oceans we are staying along the coastline and then will fly to Europe. I posted this thread in search of advice for stops along the way that others have enjoyed with family. Not looking for criticism and I understand this is the "internet". My husband has plenty of experience however myself I do not so I am hoping to hear what other families or couples have done and recommend. I trust my husbands advice 100% however with our son being with us I would just like to hear successful routes other families have done.
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Your going to need a bigger boat. A family of 4 in a 28-30' boat
lost their lives doing "Coastal" sailing off Tampa just a few weeks ago. Their boat was also a light weight boat with an
outboard and they were caught out in a unexpected storm. Not a big storm, but 30
knot winds and 6 foot seas, which is not really bad
weather even for coastal, which happens any the time on the California coast A 22' boat in those conditions would sink even sooner.. The
BAJA haha sees seas to 15 feet many times, which is not a problem with a good boat. A 22' catilina would have it's seams split in that.
Most family's are sailing 35-45 foot, or larger boats, not 22' boats.
The problem with the 22 foot boat is it does not hold enough water, let alone
fuel to travel any significant distance.
Take
mexico baja. You have ensanada, only 70 ish miles from
San Diego, then 700 ish miles to cabo with turtle bay, may bay and a few other
fishing villages along that barren coast. 300 miles from ensanada to turtle bay is not going to
work. You'll need 5 gallons of water a day for 2.5 people and its a 1 week trip in a 3.5-4
knot sailboat with stops in
anchorages every 40-60 miles or so. There isn't room in a 22 foot boat for 40- 60 gallons of water. Not to mention that the boat is not designed to carry that much water weight, let alone
food for a week,
fuel,
clothing, etc..
Sailing down the atlantic intercoastal is doable in a 22' boat. Sailing from
Texas to
florida is doable with good
weather windows. Not so much on the pacific side, where protected bays are few and very far between.
It's 2000 miles from SF to
panama with a few exciting passages. Storms come up quickly. Storms that would trash a very lightly built 22 foot boat, 10 times before you got there.
Please take the boat out on San Pablo bay for a easy 12 mile day trip to
china camp from vallejo. San Pablo is a "protected bay". But with 20-25 knot winds on the nose and 3-4 foot chop it will be exciting. Not at all as exciting as 25-30 knots, along the coast in the ocean.
Your asking the wrong question. The first question is what boat will safely take my family to
Panama. It never is a 22' Catalina. If your other half says it's safe, its not. You need to start at 30 feet just to get the tankage up.