Itinerary for Family Circumnavigation over 3 years?

[Monboddo]

Hi all, this is my first post and I'm hoping to get some great advice.

I'm planning a worldwide cruise for myself, my wife and our kids: Daughter aged 10 months and Son turning 3 in August, starting somewhere in the next 5 years.

We're not ready to set off by a long shot but I'm starting to gather as much info as possible to make the plan clear in my mind.

I'd like to get away no later than 4-5 years from now (2017-2018) and then do a circumnavigation lasting about 3 years.

Is this a decent timeframe to prepare and are we budgeting enough time to a) get around? and b)not feel too rushed in doing so?

We love warm water (have a property in Mozambique where the water averages 23-26 deg celcius) and are keen watersports enthusiasts. This means we won't mind cutting out Fjords and other cold places in order to maximise time in the warmer areas. We can even cut out the med but I'd like to add a season there near the end of our trip. (departing Cape Town or Durban most likely)

What itinerary and route would you suggest ? I have no idea about seasons and major currents and when the best places are to be in different times.

Thanks a mil in advance!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Monboddo.

You might consider looking at Jimmy Cornell’s “World Cruising Routes”, and/or “World Cruising Planner”.
➥ Jimmy Cornell's World Cruising Books | Cornell Sailing Books

[AiniA]

World Cruising Routes should be your first purchase. Cornell lays out common routes and when you can do various routes (eg tropical cyclones, monsoons in Indian Ocean). Most passages go west around. From South Africa you can go either up the Atlantic or the Indian. The latter assumes that the pirate problem is solved in the next few years which seems likely. Seems to me that a visit to the Med makes more sense at the beginning of your trip. If you left SA in Nov-Dec you would want to be through the Med and ready to cross the Atlantic in November of the next year. This would set you up for a standard circumnavigation as outlined by Cornell. Does not get you a long time in the Caribbean and likely means that you get several months in New Zealand or Australia waiting for the season to change.

Route suggestion:
- east coast of Africa through Red Sea
- through Med to Canary Islands
- across Atlantic
- spend a short time or a year in Caribbean
- through Panama around Christmas
- most people go to Galapagos and then French Polynesia via Marquesas; we went to Ecuador and did some land travel in Ecuador and Peru and then did Galapagos, Easter Island, Pitcairn and then FP via Gambier Islands. Loved this route but more challenging.
- visa situation gives you 90 days in FP and then you go to NZ or Oz.
- from NZ to Oz and then around coast to Darwin. From here to SA with a possible side trip to Indonesia for a few months or to Malaysia/Thailand which adds year

All of this trip is in warm water, up to 30C in a few places and almost all downwind. Your timeline seems fine, even generous - whatever time you have you will fill, so you can go sooner if you want. I assume you already sail?

[krafthaus]

Agree on World Cruising Routes as your reference. You can read some blogs from people that are or have circumnavigated. They are quite informative and there are a number of them. Good luck!

[Jeannius]

Three years is quite quick for a complete circumnavigation. To do it in that time scale you might want to look at joining an organised event.

The World ARC ( World ARC ) passes through South Africa December/January every other year. You could join up with them and go around in about 16 months. You could also drop out anywhere on the way around, picking up again with the next rally to help spread it out a bit.

We did the 2010/2011 edition and it was an excellent way to do a quick circumnavigation. Although there is a competitive element you don't have to take it seriously (we didn't).

[belizesailor]

Why around the world?

[wristwister]

You need to read this book: Just Cruising, A Family Travels the World : Europe to Australia: Liza Copeland: 9780969769002: Amazon.com: Books

Liza Copeland has several other books as well, all detailing their adventures of world cruising with their 3 children aboard. Lots of good info on what does and doesn't work for the kids in terms of routes, ports, equipment etc.

[msponer]

I think 4-5 years is plenty of time to prepare. 3 years to circumnavigate is high tempo, but not unrealistic. Some people do it in 1.5 or 2 years, though that requires a somewhat rigid itinerary.

By moving fast, the main trade off is that you are skipping over amazing places and experiences. So, of course, longer is better, since you'll have more amazing experiences. So my main feedback is that setting up the boat is very expensive compared to adding a year out there, so there's an efficiency to staying out 25% longer for a low incremental cost. But I don't think there's anything intrinsically negative about moving fast, provided that you guys turn out to like being at sea. We've been in phases where we moved fast, to the point where we'd stop somewhere for a few days or weeks and then feel the itch to return home to mother ocean for another couple weeks.

I would not join a rally, but of course everyone is different.

There are a huge number of options for your itinerary. If you need a starting place, something like this would be fun:
Year 1: South Africa, Caribbean, Panama
Year 2: Galpagos, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand
Year 3: Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Madagascar, South Africa

Or skip New Zealand and go through the South Pacific faster to then go to Asia:
Year 1: South Africa, Caribbean, Panama
Year 2: Galpagos, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Bali
Year 3: Bornea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Seychelles, Madagascar, Africa

Or skip New Zealand/Australia and head North in the South Pacific hurricane season:
Year 1: South Africa, Caribbean, Panama
Year 2: Galpagos, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Borneo ...
Year 3: Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives, Seychelles, Madagascar, Africa

Or add another year to do both:
Year 1: South Africa, Caribbean, Panama
Year 2: Galpagos, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand
Year 3: New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Borneo ... Singapore
Year 4: Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Seychelles, Madagascar, Africa

I really like Jimmy Cornell's book, it's the best starting place for this kind of planning. But keep in mind that it's not necessary to stick to the 'ideal' passages or 'best' months, unless you have a catamaran (joking!) -- do more research on your own if there's somewhere you want to go but the trip sounds icky in the book. We've had quite a few perfectly fine passages that are described negatively.

[Monboddo]

Awesome responses thank you so much everyone! I suppose round the world makes sense (and its a bucket list thing) south africa is located far from safe cruising grounds like the carribbean, australasia and the med (in fact i don't think there is any location further from all three. Sure we have a handful of awesome indian ocean islands but i plan on sailing to some before we go.

[David_Old_Jersey]

3 years is on the rushy end of perfectly doable.

Me would have a plan that kept your options open as very likely that once you get going your own experiances will change your desires - and a good chance that you will discover that it is not the sailing long distances that makes the voyage but the people and places you visit, and for that going from one place to another just for the sake of it quickly palls. Probably quicker with kids onboard (for them it is not about the sailing and sunset - those are for old people!, it's all about activities on or near the shore - inlcuding people).

Most of the popular cruising areas could each take a lifetime (and more) to explore.

I would suggest:

SA to Caribbean - for a year / season
Then decide whether to stay put or head to the Med or through the Panama Canal to the Pacific.
If going to the Med, work your way to the Turkey end, and then decide whether to stay longer, return to the Carribean (and then home to SA) - or head down the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean (Pirates permitting!).....and then head home to SA. A circumnavigation of Africa!
If you get to the Pacific a bit of a long way (and lots to see enroute!) to get back to SA.

You can always "finish off" the circumnavigation in later years! The big plus with starting from SA is that you don't have to go via Suez to go RTW.

[MarkJ]

Just go downwind till you arrive back home.


Exclude Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea as they will still be dangerous.

[Monboddo]

Finishing off later will probably never happen, I'm hoping for a burst of enthusiasm from my family to extend the trip for a few more years.