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Boondocker · 06-09-2010, 07:02

Hi everyone. I guess I am a used to have want to be right now. About ten years ago I owned a Chrysler 21 ft sloop for a couple of years. I bought it on the cheap and was teaching myself how to sail a bit. I had the fundamentals figured out, but I was way short on experience. I loved that boat and sailing, but life happened and I had to let it go.

Recently, I have started to miss the boat and sailing and have wanted to get back into it again. I found this site through one of the sister Social Knowledge Community Network sites (see bottom of the page), the Airforums for Airstream users.

One of the things that has surprised me while I have looked through this site is the extent to which boats are within reach financially now as compared to ten years ago. Of course, it may just be my life has changed..... Anyway, reading through the posts, my desire to be out on the water cruising has been rekindled, and I would be less than honest if I didn't admit to a yearning to sail around the world. Not because I want the bragging rights, but because there is so much I want to see. I have traveled widely in the U.S. in my old '68 Airstream, but I have hardly been out of the U.S.

In the short term, I hope to get back on the water and learn sailing properly and start to figure out what would be a suitable boat both in terms of function and cost. Along the way, maybe I will find out what a guy needs to know about how to approach visiting the world while under sail..

No doubt, I will wear you all out with newbie questions along the way, thanks in advance.

**GordMay** · 06-09-2010, 07:37

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Boondocker.

Here's hoping you get back on the water, and get to see a different part of the world.

maxingout · 06-09-2010, 08:57

If you really want to see the world, get yourself an old Toyota Landcruisers and start driving. I don't think a sailboat is the best way to see the world. You arrive in many ports, but unless you take a tour or rent a vehicle, you don't see much other than beaches and waterfront. I also don't think you see the world very well by airplane. You can get an around the world air ticket for a couple of thousand dollars, but then you see mainly airports and hotels.

If you get an older pick-up truck or an old Landcruiser, you will see the world big time. Drive to the tip of Chile, over the Andes into Argentina, and then put your vehicle in a container and ship it to Capetown. Then drive from Capetown to Cairo. That's the way to see the world.

I have two Land Rover Defenders in storage waiting for such a trip.

DREAM MACHINES

I was at an overlander meeting this year, and their best advice was to get a Ford F-150 for the trip. Parts can be found nearly anywhere. I am partial to Land Rovers, and I have my own set of spares.

I know that Airstream trailers have made the trip from Capetown to Cairo in a convoy in the past as well.

If you want to really see the world, do it in a truck.

Boondocker · 06-09-2010, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxingout

If you really want to see the world, get yourself an old Toyota Landcruisers and start driving. I don't think a sailboat is the best way to see the world. You arrive in many ports, but unless you take a tour or rent a vehicle, you don't see much other than beaches and waterfront........

....... Drive to the tip of Chile, over the Andes into Argentina, and then put your vehicle in a container and ship it to Capetown. Then drive from Capetown to Cairo. That's the way to see the world.
.............

I know that Airstream trailers have made the trip from Capetown to Cairo in a convoy in the past as well.
...........

Obviously there would be significant inland incursions and figuring out how to do those is a major item for me to work out before setting out. The Cape Town to Cairo caravan was just over 50 years ago, there were plans to retrace the route, but sadly the instability on the continent made it unsafe and it was canceled.

**James S** · 07-09-2010, 12:52

Hey Boondocker...welcome to the forum.

maxingout · 07-09-2010, 21:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boondocker

Obviously there would be significant inland incursions and figuring out how to do those is a major item for me to work out before setting out. The Cape Town to Cairo caravan was just over 50 years ago, there were plans to retrace the route, but sadly the instability on the continent made it unsafe and it was canceled.

I found that the inland trips are the really expensive part of cruising especially if you have more than one person to pay for. Living on the boat in tropical anchorages is not particularly expensive in most areas of the world. The further you get from Europe and America, the more affordable it was in my own experience.

I've done lots of land cruising when I was not on the yacht, and I found it to be affordable because I was camping. If I was staying in hotels, it would be an entirely different matter.

With respect to touring Africa, I think it is possible without undue risk. When I sailed up the Red Sea, I met two different Ozzies that had done the trip in their own vehicles without a problem. One did it in a Toyota Troopie, and the other in an ancient Volkswagen Combi. Both groups of travellers had an uneventful and enjoyable trip. I met one couple in Egypt as they were finishing the trip (They were around seventy years old). The other middle age dudes I met were in Turkey after they had completed the trip.

If you listen to the news, everything is dangerous and impossible. I don't believe anything on the news. I rely on local knowledge everywhere I go.

When we were in the Tsuanmi in Thailand, the news media made it sound like there was nothing left on the coast line. Where we were in Phuket, the damage was very localized. I think more damage was done to the local economy by the news media and their sensationalized doom and gloom than was actually done by the Tsunami.

When I was in Gulf War I, the news was not that accurate as well. We were living in Riyadh, and we were always surprised to hear what the news organizations were reporting.

If I wanted to pull an Airstream across Africa, I would convoy up and do it. It's only impossible in people's mind.

**James S** · 08-09-2010, 02:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxingout

I found that the inland trips are the really expensive part of cruising especially if you have more than one person to pay for. Living on the boat in tropical anchorages is not particularly expensive in most areas of the world. The further you get from Europe and America, the more affordable it was in my own experience.

I've done lots of land cruising when I was not on the yacht, and I found it to be affordable because I was camping. If I was staying in hotels, it would be an entirely different matter.

With respect to touring Africa, I think it is possible without undue risk. When I sailed up the Red Sea, I met two different Ozzies that had done the trip in their own vehicles without a problem. One did it in a Toyota Troopie, and the other in an ancient Volkswagen Combi. Both groups of travellers had an uneventful and enjoyable trip. I met one couple in Egypt as they were finishing the trip (They were around seventy years old). The other middle age dudes I met were in Turkey after they had completed the trip.

If you listen to the news, everything is dangerous and impossible. I don't believe anything on the news. I rely on local knowledge everywhere I go.

When we were in the Tsuanmi in Thailand, the news media made it sound like there was nothing left on the coast line. Where we were in Phuket, the damage was very localized. I think more damage was done to the local economy by the news media and their sensationalized doom and gloom than was actually done by the Tsunami.

When I was in Gulf War I, the news was not that accurate as well. We were living in Riyadh, and we were always surprised to hear what the news organizations were reporting.

If I wanted to pull an Airstream across Africa, I would convoy up and do it. It's only impossible in people's mind.

Good stuff Dave.
I live about 2/3 of the year in Yemen and the rest in Lebanon....
and guess what millions of people live in those places....they have families and jobs and weekends ......................

maxingout · 08-09-2010, 22:08

I wish we had more time when we were in Aden to do a tour of Yemen. Since I speak passable arabic and am familiar with the culture, I think we could have had a nice trip in Yemen when we visited by yacht. When I lived in Arabia, we drove down to Jizan on the Yemeni border, but we never crossed over. It helps to know someone to facilitate the border crossing so that border authorities don't disassemble your vehicle, especially when you cross back into Arabia. They can be very thorough in their search of a vehicle to the point of disassembling parts of the vehicle. One of my friends crossed the border in his Defender Land Rover and did a ten day trip, but he was accompanied by a "guide" - the son of a high government official whom he had operated on at the King Khalid Eye Hospital in Riyadh. They knew the territory well, were well armed, and travelled at night in certain tribal areas. Local knowledge can be very helpful.

We travelled freely in Arabia, including the southern Empty Quarter where we would camp for a couple of weeks a year. The bedouins were armed with AK-47 and Kalishnikovs, but they were always friendly. We drove across the Empty Quarter three times in our Defender, and have been to the Hadida meteor crater 500 km into the middle of the Empty Quarter at least three times as well. We never travelled with less than three vehicles, and carried enough fuel for 1000 km offroad minimum. We essentially drove offroad from the Iraqi border to the Yemeni border without any problem. I never took the road down to Sharoura, but I have had lots of Yemeni patients who drove across the desert sands and hit the Sharoura road on their way for an eye exam more than 1200 km to the north in Riyadh. I miss the Arabian desert as much as I miss sailing while I am earning my Freedom Chips.

This is our Defender in the southern Empty Quarter just a few hundred km north of the Yemeni border. We camped in these giant dunes a couple of weeks each year.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain when you live as if you are great.

http://www.positivegraphics.com/Positivegraphic73.htm

Someday if I am lucky we will be able to make the land trip to Yemen and see all the awesome archeological sites.

One final Empty Quarter picture:

http://www.positivegraphics.com/Positivegraphic63.htm

You have probably been out in the dunes in Yemen doing the same stuff.

Life is good.

**James S** · 09-09-2010, 02:02

Excellent Dave...lifes way to short.
Be sure and let me know when your back in the neighborhood.

Boondocker · 09-09-2010, 06:40

Good stuff! What are your guys take on the Suez and the corruption of the pilots? Are you better off skipping that route?

SkiprJohn · 05-10-2010, 19:46

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here on the forum. Boat prices have dropped significantly in the past few years due to the economy so, yes, it makes some more affordable.
kind regards,