Circumnavigating/ Sailing Is Sexy

[u4ea32]

If I was leaving Australia this year, I think I would sail around Cape Town.

I think your financial model is misleading: true, wear and tear on the boat is real, and its expensive. But living is cheaper aboard than not, so your living expenses while the boat is being shipped will be higher. And the cost of living in Europe is far greater than anywhere between Australia, ZA, and up the Atlantic. So your cost to circumnavigate, or for as long as you are voyaging, will likely be far higher, not about the same.

[u4ea32]

Oh: and by the time you get to Aus, you will either be ready to sell the boat, or keep sailing forever. So I doubt you will consider shipping then.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by u4ea32

Oh: and by the time you get to Aus, you will either be ready to sell the boat, or keep sailing forever. So I doubt you will consider shipping then.

[Sailingissexy]

Originally Posted by u4ea32

If I was leaving Australia this year, I think I would sail around Cape Town.

I think your financial model is misleading: true, wear and tear on the boat is real, and its expensive. But living is cheaper aboard than not, so your living expenses while the boat is being shipped will be higher. And the cost of living in Europe is far greater than anywhere between Australia, ZA, and up the Atlantic. So your cost to circumnavigate, or for as long as you are voyaging, will likely be far higher, not about the same.

It is true that sailing to ZA is much cheaper than shipping the boat to the Med. If we decide we must sail the Mediterranean then budgeting funds for the year from Australia we (don't forget we would have to spend 6 months in Australia waiting out the cyclone season nov-may) would not feel comfortable with having less than $45k to spend. We also have to budget flights back to San Francisco for business and holidays, a years worth of costs, etc. I believe it takes a few weeks to ship a boat so living aboard vs. on land cost differential is negligible.

The cheapest way for us to sail in the Med would be to rent a boat there. Instead of spending $45,000 to ship our boat we could rent one for $6k a month which is probably the only way we are going to get to sail there. Damn those pirates!

[robert sailor]

My personal view is that the Med is not really about sailing so much as whats happening on land. Buy a plane ticket and do some land touring here if sailing here seems to great a sacrifice.

[Coops]

Originally Posted by monte

not to be too critical, but I think if you can aim the camera aft and dedicate more time to the boat wake it would be more entertaining. Try do this for 50 seconds or so for each minute of video and you will be on the right track..

They are obviously about the people more than about the sailing. Interest wanes quickly for me looking at people.

Coops.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Sailingissexy

BTW, Only my husband 'pounds' me. Thanks Jim

I was wondering why this thread had such a following.

Originally Posted by Sailingissexy

After being in Hawaii for a month, having visited Thailand and determined that cruising there would be less fun than we envisioned (think third world, bugs, thieves, etc). We made the decision to stay in Hawaii for a year. Hawaii is truly paradise like no other, there is nothing deadly on the island. No malaria or dengue fever or snakes or spiders etc. the people are awesome, the beaches unreal and it's got its own culture even though it's still America and everything works.

Are we giant wusses for making one long passage and then holding up at the first nice place we get to? Probably but who cares, this place is truly a paradise. And the slip location is best I've ever had. Life is just perfect here. Let's stay and start family. But wait... The slip we are in is only good for 4 months? We have to move our boat to the middle of no where? Ok, let's keep going.

I lived on the Big Island for 7 years. Trust me...your views will change. I have been to South East Asia 10 times. I have always felt safe there, never heard of any thefts and the people of Thailand could teach the Hawaiians what the "Aloha Spirit" is really about.

Originally Posted by Sailingissexy

Options for getting across Indian Ocean:
1. Ship the boat (no mess, no fuss)

It looks like shipping the boat is still a viable option. I have received 3 quotes back from shipping companies and one is in our ballpark of prices. Even though we are both convinced we can sail the Indian Ocean from Bali to South Africa we'll see how we feel after some more long passages in the South Pacific.

We are also very disappointed that we will miss the Mediterranean which neither of us have sailed in. After getting the latest the quotes this option is looking much more attractive. Pirates in Somalia are a threat but so is the cape of good hope. And both of us have spent time in South Africa and agree it's not the safest place in the world.

For our boat an Islander Freeport 41 which is 46' LOA, 13'6" beam, 10' high, weighing 35,000 lbs the sevenstar yacht transport came in at the cheapest price:
$45,000 to ship from Brisbane, Australia to the Netherlands. It's not the Med but it is Europe and we could be in the med next summer. Not to bad. A quick mental calculation and it seems the cost is not that much more than sailing the route ourselves. Food for a year, fuel, wear and tear in the boat, medical expenses from malaria, dengue fever, small pox, cholera, yellow fever, insurance, bribes and theft. I can easily justify that cost. Why make life harder than it has to be? I won't be able to claim we sailed around the world but we will get to sail only the best parts of the cruising world.

Other quotes for those interested:
DYI $80,000 Brisbane to the Med
Aurora yacht logistics $66,000 Brisbane to Italy.

2. Sail the south Indian Ocean:
There are some very nice places we would could stop at along this route. The southern Indian Ocean looks really nice and the Maldives and Mauritius could be a lot of fun. It's a few long passages but we can handle that, at least we feel confident right now. The cape of good hope is a serious challenge that I could stand and be proud about. I do love South Africa and would enjoy spending some more time there but the cruising grounds are not comparable to the Mediterranean by any stretch of the imagination. Still, at this moment this is our planned route.

3. Sail through the Suez.
I have been looking for statistics on the number of private yachts that transit the canal and have been having a hard time finding strong information. It certainly seems that nobody does this route on a sail boat anymore because of the pirates. I have no interest in getting into a gun battle with desperate people with nothing to lose and I also know that I'm not going to give up and put my self at anyone's mercy. Getting held for ransom while my wife gets horribly violated is not an option of us. If pirates come it's us or them, there will be no surrender.
Here is what we are considering. My friend is in private security. An ex secret service agent, he used to protect Obama. Now he travels to the most dangerous places in the world and protects wealthy people for a living. He feels that the Horn of Africa is possible with the right preparation. As a professional security agent we would hire him to sail with us from Oman through pirate alley.

There would be standard operating procedures, for each pirate scenario we can foresee. Every emergency support agency available would be set up for quick contact through his professional network. He would stay up through the night while we sleep and be ready to snipe pirates during the day. He does this type of thing for a living so we would certainly sleep better at night. As I'm writing this it sounds so exciting I must explore this option more. Who wants to see some videos from this trip?

Captain Erik Ostrander

So I take it you are not of the $500 a month cruising community.

[Sailingissexy]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Nice videos!

You guys are going great....

Keep it up and have the greatest memories of your lives...

Thanks Buddy,
It's so great to hear some positivity. It's not always easy and there are moments of doubt when taking on such a large sojourn. We appreciate the support. Returning the good vibes.
Much Aloha,
E<3

[Sailingissexy]

Originally Posted by Coops

They are obviously about the people more than about the sailing. Interest wanes quickly for me looking at people.

Coops.

You clearly missed watching my newest vimeo film of my girlfriends skinny dipping in the tide pools.

[Coops]

You think that I cannot find videos of that anytime I want on the internet? Nothing special, but you obviously think otherwise and that is your right.

Coops.

[Sailingissexy]

Originally Posted by Coops

You think that I cannot find videos of that anytime I want on the internet? Nothing special, but you obviously think otherwise and that is your right.

Coops.

I'd say it's universally pretty interesting (opposed to waning) to have people, might I add beautiful women between the 4 corners of any film. However, I hear you guys about more sailing in my short films.

[Neptune's Gear]

Piracy in the Indian ocean will still be an issue. VERY few, if any boats are taking the red sea route. There are some going around SA.
I was one of the last boats to attempt the Red Sea Route from the Maldives in 2011. We eventually turned back, after one boat in front of us was taken and the crew killed, another had disappeared, and another, coming south east, was riddled with bullet holes (27) and had blood all over the decks. This is very serious stuff! Easy for those at home to say go, or not go, but the decision must be yours. The boat that was shot up was attacked by over 10 skiffs, all with 7-8 men, all with AK's and some with RPGs. One security man is not sufficient, and a yacht is a very unstable firing platform, even if you are armed. You are unlikely to be armed as well as the pirates... NONE of the skippers in the area would do that route again unless the security situation changed a LOT.
Don't discount SE Asia, it's great.
Good luck, fair winds etc....
Matt

[Coops]

Originally Posted by Sailingissexy

I'd say it's universally pretty interesting (opposed to waning) to have people, might I add beautiful women between the 4 corners of any film. However, I hear you guys about more sailing in my short films.

Most women are beautiful. The truly sexy ones are just naturally so, they do not have to try so hard at all to be such.

Coops.

[Sailingissexy]

Who's debating sexy? I was talking about the content of my films. I'll quote you on that though, natural beauty always rocks the boat.

[Sailingissexy]

God, is the double spinnaker sweet?!