West Coast (CA) to Texas, Panama Canal or OTW or...?

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Bill_E

My guess (no real statistical information) is that you could find a nice boat in Texas or Florida at a somewhat lower price than in California. We purchased in Florida where there were lots of really nice boats for OK prices. It should be a fairly easy sail from Fla to Tx. I've never done it so can't claim expertise.

Bill

Bill, You are being practical. Unless someone is loaded with money and wants a specific boat, probably 500K or so. Transporting cross country makes little sense. There was a tread not long ago about going in the other direction.

[JPA Cate]

Unless you guys are sailors with a bit of experience, I would not recommend the CA to HI and return for a newbie, or with a new-to-them boat. Do some coastal cruising first, before you strike off for offshore.

FWIW, I've done the trip from Hi to CA twice, once on a 30 footer, the next on a 36. The first few days working one's way north out of Kauai to get around the pacific high are hard on the wind in the NW trade winds. If you know about it before hand, and are prepared, it's not terrible or anything, but it killed our autopilot on the first trip. So it's not just the sailing, it's wear and tear on the boat during the passage. This is normal. However, IMO, it's best to have everything good when you start--no known flaws--and it takes coastal sailing time to find flaws and fix up stuff.

Ann

[svseawitch]

You've got a lot of advice on how to get the boat there. Maybe come at it from the other side: What kind of boat do you want to own in Texas during your retirement. Getting it there is not the real issue. Make sure you have something you will enjoy using in Texas.

IF your are going to get the boat to Texas, are you going to do that after you retire? If so, maybe you want to enjoy the trip to Texas. The west coast to The Canal is a fun trip. You can do it in a lot of day hops with some overnights. The canal seems daunting but it really isn't hard once you have learned to handle the boat. And, it is a fun experience once you get through. Ideally, you need 5 people on board plus the Pilot for the transit. Get some friends to meet you in Panama and or team up with others that are going through. We had a group of 4 boats and we helped each other by taking one boat through at a time. It was still fun on my fourth trip.

From there you have some upwind stuff but you get to experience some of the Caribbean