Best Route Out of Cambodia

[Rhoel_Asia]

Currently I am living in Cambodia and boat-less once again. However, I have built wooden boats in the UK and for several years lived aboard a 25' in Britain - 3" of snow on the deck, luvly; I'm used to sailing alone and off-shore.

I am discovering once bitten by the sailing bug, it re-infects your system and one's eyes turn to stare seawards again. It's hardly surprising, there is some excellent virgin local cruising grounds to tempt.

Recently, thoughts of building a cruiser and sailing back to Europe migrated from the idle possibility to the 'could I?' classification. Ignoring the difficulties of building a ocean-capable boat in the back-of-beyond with no chandlers and facing 'challenging customs arrangements', the route planning has begun to take shape. In relationship to prevailing winds, Cambodia is located 'in the wrong place' - heading towards Panama is all headwinds, The Horn route means a difficult voyage over or under Australia and routes to Suez involve navigating the Straits of Malacca and past the Somalia/Yemen coasts - both notorious pirate waters. Kind of makes the high lightning strike risk here seem insignificant.

Obviously the shortest route via Suez, with a dream last leg across the Med to France and up the Canal du Midi. But the recent pirate attacks around the Gulf of Yemen make this look an insane option. Sailing to Panama appears a S&M voyage of headwinds and lumpy seas ... do I really want to try this for months in a sub 30-footer!? The Horne route is the long way around, safer but with some very lengthy sea crossings, a tricky west-east rounding of the Horne and a run to the Falklands. And the South Atlantic looks like more long and lonely voyages, with limited stopover potential.

Since I sail singlehanded and maximum boat length will be 30', the 'which way' back to Europe has become an intriguing question. And the more I look at it, the more confusing it looks. Even getting out of Cambodia to the Indian Ocean involves sailing several weeks in the wrong direction, before rounding Singapore and heading back towards Colombo.

So my question to the readers here is which way do you think on balance is the best/right route?

Regards and greetings on one and all.


Rhoel_Asia.