circumnavigation

[Mekana]

Can anyone tell me how long it would take to sail from the port of Los Angeles to the port of Panama City, FL. I have an Islander 36 that I need to transport to the other side of the Continent. Any ideas?

[Roy M]

Depends on when you leave (now is NOT a good time), how many crew you have and how experienced they are (having to pop into port all the time or going nonstop to Panama), and how ready is the boat for heavy working. You can do it in a couple months in an Irwin, if you have all your ducks in a row. An option is to use a vessel transport service and spend your time making money to pay the bill. The boat arrives with less wear and tear that way.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Mekana

Can anyone tell me how long it would take to sail from the port of Los Angeles to the port of Panama City, FL. I have an Islander 36 that I need to transport to the other side of the Continent. Any ideas?

The best idea I could offer is to sell the Islander in LA, get yourself to Florida as best you can, then buy a replacement vessel there.

Oh, BTW, why is a question about sailing from LA to FL headlined "circumnavigation?"

TaoJones

[hellosailor]

Check the costs on a canal transit ($1500-2000 ? for that size boat?) plus the reports of delays of over 2 weeks to enter the canal (labor actions) plus the cost of making the vessel seaworthy and provisioning it, and you may find it much cheaper and faster to hire a transporter to send it overland, at least from CA to TX and then sail on from there.

If you tell the transporter "Anytime between xx and xx": and give them a window a month wide, they can often use your boat to fill a deadhead run and give you 1/3 off the price for that, compared to requesting specific dates.

[Solstice]

We were in the Los Angeles area in October 2007 and in Key West in April 2008, but we weren't in a hurry. If you're only trying to get your boat from point A to point B, however, I would agree that you should consider trucking. Cruising is not inexpensive. Things break and then you have to wait for parts, not always where you'd like to be waiting.

By the way, the delays in Panama Canal transit were from the Atlantic to the Pacific, not the direction Mekana is asking about.