Preparing to Liveaboard, and Cruise the Other Way!

[rmalone33]

Im new to the forums so I apologize if im posting in the wrong place.

So my brothers and I are looking to buy a cruiser and attempt a circumnavigation in the next few years, and 2 of us will be living on it year round in the boston area. Of the boats we have seen, we really liked the kalik 44. So first question would be any thoughts on the kalik specifically or are there other designs that are similar to it? We would prefer the 3 cabin 2 head design, and I know that some beneteau's have a similar layout tho we have yet to visit one personally.

Also, we kind of have our hearts set on sailing the northern hemisphere, going to europe and the med first, through the suez, india, singapore, china japan then over to alaska and down to the panama. However there isn't much on people going that way, any reason for that from a technical or sailing standpoint? I can imagine going that route is much more expensive, and would take 2-3 years or so.

Any other thoughts would be welcome as well

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome aboard.


The reason you don't hear much about east about is that you are going against the trade winds.

[osirissail]

2 to 3 years is rushing it for a normal westbound circumnavigation. Especially with the wish list of places you want to go you would be looking at a decade or more.
- - Cruising is a seasonal activity controlled by Mother Nature's weather cycles. There are "seasons" for moving from one area to another. And it is slow. Cruising could be considered "bicycling" your way around the planet. Some passages can take weeks or months.
- - You need to do some in-depth research probably best by getting some not too old books about sailing around the world. Then Google like crazy to find blogs of people who are doing it or have done it recently. Just watching their calendar dates pile up as they make their way around the world will give you an indication of how long it takes. It is said that to do it "properly" takes about 10 years.
- - Heck even the Med takes 2 to 4 years as it is also "seasonal." You can of course, hurry around with only day stops here, there and everywhere and forge out into weather that might just kill you. But where is the fun in that?
- - From Boston, doing a Med tour would be rushed in the 2-3 years. A Caribbean Basin circumnavigation has probably the shortest minimum time of 2 to 3 years if you are going to spend any time during the stops. Again it is seasonal and normally takes a "year" to get down the eastern Caribbean and another "year" to get to the western portion of the Caribbean basin. The return to Boston would suck up another season-year.
- - Doing your wish list, I would opine would involve 10 to 20 years. That is considering that most cruisers spend only 10% of the time underway and 90% stopping, exploring, and "smelling the roses."

[Lancerbye]

Welcome aboard.

[markpierce]

Hope you know what you're getting into. Ready for 50-foot-something waves and winds 60 or 70 mph? That's unless you run into a hurricane or something. It's impossible to forecast weather weeks in advance. Choose your weather-window carefully and cross your fingers. (Comments based on eight transoceanic trips, fortunately by large ships.)

[Paul Lefebvre]

Welcome aboard. I would get a copy of The Voyager's Handook. It covers all the information you are looking for:

Voyager


Paul

[rmalone33]

Thanks ill look into this a lot more, maybe we'll revise our trip to simply be to europe and back.

Post back with more questions as the follow-up research is done. However I suspect we intended to spend a lot less time in single places than the usual cruiser, simply by necessity of cost and time

[SaucySailoress]

We have a Kalik40, which we extended by 3 foot with a scoop. Sturdy boat, we love her dearly. Although we had to rip out the beautiful interior, which was rotting away, and made her more open plan. Previous owner got rid of second loo, said he was fine with a bucket when missus hogging the heads, which doesn't happen so often!! Could think of many better uses for space. We have converted it into storage for lifejackets and wet gear.

Good luck if you decide to go ahead and get her!

[savoir]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Dreams

Welcome aboard.


The reason you don't hear much about east about is that you are going against the trade winds.

And they are headed for pirate infested waters.

Do you guys ( rmalone33 and co ) understand that modern pirates carry AK 47s and RPGs ? Parrots on the shoulder are out of fashion.

[pullord]

Originally Posted by savoir

And they are headed for pirate infested waters.

Do you guys ( rmalone33 and co ) understand that modern pirates carry AK 47s and RPGs ? Parrots on the shoulder are out of fashion.

-if your going against trade winds might as well get a displacement trawler as you will be burning alot of fuel anywats and might as well get the best mileage ,,those seas you mention are rough to the max as well as posted by another,,perhaps some more research is in order before you become another lost-at-sea statistic,,cheers

[Lowcountry]

You guys are nuts if you're even considering going through the Suez canal and anywhere near the Western coast of Africa.