Negativity on Sailing Your Own Boat (RANT)

[kolbywhite28]

Alweys think positive of everything you do as long as you're in the right place. It is exciting to sail on your own boat with your special love ones.

[Boracay]

North Eastern Area High Seas Forecast

IDQ10007
SECURITE

HIGH SEAS FORECAST FOR METAREA 10 NORTH EASTERN AREA EQUATOR TO 28S, 142E TO 170E ISSUED BY THE AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY, BRISBANE FOR 24 HOURS FROM 1100UTC 06 September 2011

PART 1 WARNINGS Nil.

PART 2 SITUATION At 060600UTC. Trough 3S143E to 5S155E to 22S170E near stationary. SE trade flow over most waters.

PART 3 FORECAST North of trough. SE/NE winds 10/20 knots, tending NE/NW 5/15 knots south of 15S. Slight to moderate seas. Low E/SE swells. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms, with rain areas within 300NM of trough.

Southwest of line 25S153E to 28S163E. E/NE 10/20 knots with slight to moderate seas. Moderate E/SE swells. Isolated showers.

Remainder south of trough. E/SE winds 15/25 knots with moderate to rough seas most waters, reaching 20/30 knots with rough to very rough seas south of 22S and east of 160E. Variable winds 5/10 knots with smooth to slight seas within 120NM of 20S, east of 160E. Moderate E/SE swells. Scattered showers. Rain areas and isolated thunderstorms within 120NM of trough.

WEATHER BRISBANE

[VirtualVagabond]

Mr B,
everyone here is wishing you well and loves your enthusiasm, but being a newish member here I just thought I'd fill in a little background, because they are a tad modest.... well, Mark is working on his modesty...

There are many cruisers here with loads of experience sailing any variety of boats. You have just had the good fortune to get some input from 2 of the best.

Jim has been a full time cruiser since the mid 80s, and not just in bath tubs... his boat is certainly not your average cruiser. I don't know the figure exactly, but he has well over 100,000 miles under his keel.
Mark has racing and a cruising circumnavigation under his belt.
They claim not to be gurus, but they are.
So their opinions are not just clubhouse talk, but backed with a lot of experience and have a lot of cred.
Just sayin'

Please keep us posted as your adventure progresses. We all enjoy sharing in the experiences of those that are out there.

[Mr B]

I wont be sailing till October,

You want to check the weather here in Melbourne or Bass straight at the moment,
I am staying in bed with that outlook, It was severe hail at my place with howling winds,
Only Professional people go out in that crap, I wont,

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by sctpc

Stupid question to Mark or Jim
I am not sailing that far out but why would you not try to head south as far as possible toward NZ then swing across to try to get strait to Melbourne and then if the winds are wrong you could easily come in to Sydney.

They always used to. Modern boats get a bit scared to leave the sight of land

One of the ways to 'prove' where the sailing sships went is to plot Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs: Elizabeth Reef 29°56'S 159°05'E. Middleton Reef 29°27'S 159°07'E

There are 32 confirmed wrecks there and maybe up to 90 wrecks.

When you look at the plot you wonder what in the hell are/were ships doing anywhere near E&M reefs?!

But if you then put your idea onto the chart and you will see that virtually every sailing track to and from the top of Australia; NZ, Sydney, Melb and Tasmania goes right over the top of E&M Reefs.

So whack those reefs in as a waypoint and your navigation will be correct. Just make sure to miss the reefs!

By the way, in calm weather some yachts (OK intrepid ones) anchor in the lagoon of Middleton reef.

CF Member Kanani says:

I sailed up to Middleton Reef on both occasions. There is a great anchorage there with plenty of swinging room for 4-5 vessels. The sandy area is free of coral heads and protected from all winds (well, really seas & swell)) except NW. If a NW came up (which is extremely rare there) it is easy to get out. I stayed for 10 days on each visit and experienced winds of 30+kts while at anchor. The holding is extremly good and the anchorage is in 15-20' (all sand), well protected from swell. It never got uncomfortable there. I would highly recommend Middleton. It is the best diving, snorkeling and fishing that I have seen in the world.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

. . . One of the ways to 'prove' where the sailing sships went is to plot Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs: Elizabeth Reef 29°56'S 159°05'E. Middleton Reef 29°27'S 159°07'E

There are 32 confirmed wrecks there and maybe up to 90 wrecks.

When you look at the plot you wonder what in the hell are/were ships doing anywhere near E&M reefs?!. . .

Forget about the Bermuda Triangle all that mythical stuff - the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs are authentic wreck traps. Crank up Google Earth and center on them. They are not there! Instead there is a foggy hazy blur over their locations. No wonder there are so many wrecks there - E&M reefs appear to be firmly in the "Twilight Zone."

[webejammin]

About reefs . Our Gemini's have kick up rudders and the center boards fold up also and then you only draft 18 inches, other than rough water in the shallows the boat will be ok from hitting bottom. Gemini's are made to pull up on beaches like in BVI , my buddy pulls up to sandy beaches to avoid big wind waves at anchorage and gets out and walks ashore.

I recommend MrB to go to the Gemini Yahoo site to talk about off shore sailing on his Gemini with non monohull sailors. I think a Seawind dealer and some others sail in that area of the globe maybe you will get more exact feed back on catamarans even smaller ones like Gemini's.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by sctpc

Stupid question to Mark or Jim
I am not sailing that far out but why would you not try to head south as far as possible toward NZ then swing across to try to get strait to Melbourne and then if the winds are wrong you could easily come in to Sydney.

G'Day mate,

Well, the biggest reason is that this route leads you right across the northern or central Tasman sea which is often a not nice place to sail, with frequent frontal passages and the associated nasty wx. Those fronts do extend further north, but tend to loose strength up in lower latitudes. Then, as you approach the SE coast of Oz one crosses an area where a phenomena called a "cut-off low" often forms on a passing front. These usually deepen rapidly and then migrate eastward or southeastward. They often are associated with storm force winds, and are apparently hard to predict accurately. I don't like 'em! Finally, if you get far enough south the prevalence of westerly quadrant winds increases, as does their strength.

If you compare these conditions with the usually benign to moderate trades in latitudes 25 +/- a few degrees, followed by coastal hopping south from say Bundy or Brisbane, well for me the choice is easy!

Hope that this clarifies the situation for you.

Cheers,

Jim

[Gracias]

What gives them the right? Well, they're just expressing an opinion -- same as you just did here in this forum.

It's no big deal at all unless you choose to make it one.

Personally, if someone wants to tell me all the reasons I can't or shouldn't do or say or think something, I try to just smile and say, "You know, you could be right." And then I go do whatever it is I wanted to do in the first place.

Agreeing with them in that way usually takes all the wind out of their sails. (And if you're of a certain religious persuasion you can even find this advice in the words of Jesus: "Agree quickly with thine adversary.") Truly excellent advice -- and it can be quite amusing so be sure to watch their faces as you "agree" with them.

Basically, if you're going to hop on your boat and go cruising, you're scaring the daylights out of people who are stuck in their ruts and afraid to climb out. So remember: When you break out of prison, don't expect the prisoners left behind to be happy for you.

Have fun!
Rebecca

[DLP]

Can you do it? Years ago while suffering through self doubt, sleepless nights and such as a young man, starting a new job and particularly difficult project, a friend told me to ask my self this question. If the answer is no, get the needed help and education or quit and find something else to do. Be tough and honest with yourself. There is no shame in change even if the naysayers are correct. Get self doubt out of the way and others will know. Just don't allow, I told ya so's to win.

[Bruce626]

A bit of drift. A couple of years ago when I was trying to figure out all the names for head sails and what they were used for, I noted that spinnakers were often called 'chutes'. I also noticed that they were sometimes called 'kites' as well, and one company showed a 'kite' that looked very much like a symmetrical spinnaker but flying parallel to the water above mast height. The question I put in my 'sails' file was "Can I just get a military surplus cargo parachute and connect one of the shoulder harnesses to each bow and pick up the top with a halyard to get it into the air - probably only good for dead down wind - but it might be cheap (I know, I am an idiot - but the idea had to come from somewhere). In too much wind one could use the quick release in the shoulder harness - but I suppose in too little wind its going to get wet." Apparently the answer - provided by Sailchute, is yes. One would think that a surplus military cargo parachute would be significantly cheaper than anything actually made for boats. Has anyone tried this? And I will admit that I guessed wrong on how to attach the parachute to the boat - but what can one expect from an idiot anyway.

[SurferShane]

I am just glad to know I am not the only one who has gone through the same ****. Nevertheless, one thing the original poster forgot to mention is all the other tools who see you buying a sensible 28' boat so want to get something 50'.

The other one I am waiting for is at a certain location in a thread I just started someone accusing me of being a tourist or having no connection to that waterway when I can remember spreading my waterman father's ashes there a a kid. Now that one is really dangerous!

[rusky]

Hey Shane,
How are you these days. I missed this one. I've been throught his and it still pops up.
You know jealousy is part of it and ignorance and no imagination and land locked small mind syndrome. Also the yobs on marina bound death traps who sailed 20miles in 1970.

Just losers. Why dont you untie those lines and drift up north a bit. I need to talk to someone close to normal.....

[Surfer Girl]

90% of the population want to live within their 'comfort zone'. The only real adventure they get is watching Discovery Channel. Not knocking them - each to their own. But what happens when someone they know is planning something they regard as very daring, dangerous or radical, is that it pushes their buttons and they unconsciously transfer their fears onto you!

I totally know where you are coming from. When we were planning our voyage with our 3 kids (9, 6 & 6mths), we copped so much flak! It really surprised us. I have always seen the 90% perspective because I was a Hang Gliding instructor for 10 years and the amount of times people would come up to me and say "you're crazy, are you going to jump off that cliff?" No, actually I am going to fly off that cliff....

It's mostly just ignorance - most fears are based on ignorance.

So when people say to you, "you're crazy, are you really going to sail across the Ocean..." Just smile and remember how lucky you are to be pursuing your dreams!

[goboatingnow]

I think we should draw a difference here. It one thing to ignore hysterical fears projected onto you by ignorant bystanders. It's another to ignore warnings or advice from people with experience. They at least deserve a hearing. The other bunch, just smile and continue.

Dave