Hong Kong to Mediterranean

[tolly]

Does anyone have practical or in other way knowledge about a suitable route to sail a boat from Hongkong to the Mediterranean.

One issue is about the piracy problem in the Somalia area, and maybe also around the South Chinese Sea and Malacca (I don't know about that though).
Would it f.ex. be better to follow India's West coast and the Oman and Yemen coastlines to minimize the piracy risk around Somalia?

The other issue is if there are some countries on the way, that it would be better to avoid of different reasons, and therefore chose a bypass route.

Shipping the boat by cargo ship would cost around 50k$ and that is to much for me. Then I would prefeer to sail it home myself and get that additional experience. I also believe I can find the suitable crew for this in my family.

[MarkJ]

Hong Koong/Hawaii/Panama/Atlantic to Gibralter = 14,000 NOT GCR
Hong Kong/Bali/South Africa/Brazil/Atlanitc to Gibralter 17,000 NOT GCR


So its Hawaii for you

[tolly]

Would it be to risky do go the Suez way even when following a convoy?

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by tolly

Would it be to risky do go the Suez way even when following a convoy?

Many do this without a problem. But only you can decide if the risk is worth the reward.

That said, and since I don't have to, I would not.

[atoll]

these days with attacks on a daily basis covering a large part of the northen indian ocean i'd say your chances are about 50/50 of getting boarded via the gulf of aden.

via madagastgar,much safer about90/10.

having sailed both of the routes out of the indian ocean and the atlantic route from the cape of good hope to the med,even though longer this would be easier than going via panama.

another route that may be the safest may be hk -japan- hawaii -tahiti -cape horn -falklands-cape verdes madiera-med.

[Don1500]

Never heard anyone say rounding the Horn to be the SAFEST route.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by atoll

another route that may be the safest may be hk -japan- hawaii -tahiti -cape horn -falklands-cape verdes madiera-med.

Can't see doing the Horn is safer than Panama.

Other major benifit of Panama route is they can stop in on me in the Caribbean and buy me beer and let off those Hula Girls!

[goboatingnow]

Cornel suggests hong kong, japan, Hawaii, panama and the usual trans Atlantic. It could be a multi year trip though or else a very late autumn /winter Atlantic crossing.

Dave

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Don1500

Never heard anyone say rounding the Horn to be the SAFEST route.

more or less all down wind,little shipping,avoids all the known piracy areas.

a good seaworthy boat,dont nessacarily reccomend going out side of cape horn,rather through the the channels,at the right time of year,no worse than sailing around scotland or newfoundland during the summer.

though agreed not everybodys cup of tea,you would have to pull the sails up at some stage,rather than motor every where,after waiting for a weather window as is the norm amongst a lot of "cruisers"

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by atoll

more or less all down wind,little shipping,avoids all the known piracy areas.

a good seaworthy boat,dont nessacarily reccomend going out side of cape horn,rather through the the channels,at the right time of year,no worse than sailing around scotland or newfoundland during the summer.

though agreed not everybodys cup of tea,you would have to pull the sails up at some stage,rather than motor every where,after waiting for a weather window as is the norm amongst a lot of "cruisers"

Never said it wasn't doable, or that I wouldn't want to do it sometime, but the Drake Passage is a hard sail most of the time. The Straights of Magellan are a bit more protected but still require skills which I do not yet have.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Don1500

Never said it wasn't doable, or that I wouldn't want to do it sometime, but the Drake Passage is a hard sail most of the time. The Straights of Magellan are a bit more protected but still require skills which I do not yet have.

no worries don,getting out of panama to point where you can head for europe,or the states can be pretty daunting as well........only posted it as an alternative to the relatively easy passage in the tropics around the cape of good hope via s china sea and top end of australia.

also for trans- equitorial passages timing is critical,unless you are able to lay over for cyclone season along the way.

[MarkJ]

Via Cape Horn takes it to 21,000nms. And extra 7,000 than via Panama and still have the seasonal considerations, plus added seasonal problem of Cape Horn, unless you wanted to do that in the Southern winter....


Mark

[sneuman]

The South China Sea is a rough patch. There's no ideal time to make the passage -- from June-Oct. (officially), you've got typhoon season, but late season typhoons, in Nov. or even Dec. are not unheard of. December is winter monsoon, with pretty much a guaranteed rough passage. By March or April, you've got no wind, putting you back to the beginning of the next typhoon season.

Piracy of private yachts around the Strait of Malacca is pretty rare.

[atoll]

as far as i can see via panama would be the longest route unless you sailed during the npac hurricane season.
sailing during safe season would entail leaving:
route1 hk-hawaii-panama-bermuda-azores-gib,leave june arrive may=11 months

route2 hk-bali-cape town-cape verdes-madiera-gib,leave sept,arrive may=9months

route3hk-tahiti-cape horn-cape verdes-madiera-gib leave sept,arrive may =9months

[tolly]

Are there major problems getting through Panama, very expensive, trouble getting through or what?

As far as I can see it, to me there are two realistic routes. Either over Hawaii, Panama and the Atlantic, or convoying through the Aden area. The route round the Good Hope and Brazil seemes to long for me at this point.
Actually my final destination would be home to Sweden way up North, not Mediterranean. Reason why I initially picked the Med was that it was there I planned to pick up the yacht if I had it shipped instead of sailing it. The two quotes I got on shipping was between 60-65 k$ from HKG to Med, which I believe is a horrible price and way to much for me. I could as well take half a year off my job and get an interesting trip with new experiences for less than half of that. I sailed my cat home from Florida last year and the Pacific route would only mean some more time at sea compared with that...nice time to read books and enjoy the company of my family crew.

I haven't checked the wind and current schedules for the Pacific route, if they interact or not, but theoretically it seemes to be no more than 6 months all together, including relax time in some places.
On the other hand the piracy route through Aden is only half in length and with proper help it could be doable. I checked this site Hired guns secure ships, stir controversy | Muse Professional Group and 25 k$ split between a number of yachts would be okey.
On the other hand there are pirates on several other places also from Chinese Sea and on the way to Med Piracy Map 2010, but as far as I know they are mainly but not always going for larger commercial ships, with larger financial base than a yachtman usually have.

To me it's this time just a matter of getting a boat from one point to another and to afford it...and of course live through it also.
Fact is that the risk of running into pirates is only 0%...until you meet them and then suddenly it's 100%...and thats the major problem here.

Still I can't stop wondering about the risk on the way to Oman.
Getting through the Malacca (close to Sumatra or Malaysia?), straight over to and rounding Sri Lanka and then hugging the India coastline all the way down to Oman.
If deciding to take the piracy route, which is the best (safest) way to get to Oman?