Long distance sailing in small yachts

[sailorladd]

I wrote a book about building a 30 foot sailboat from Cape town South africa, around Cape of Storms (Cape Point) through the caribbean, Panama canal, Galapagos islands, up to and around Hawaii, back down to south Polynesia on to Australia.

I then single handed her from there across to New Zealand (in February) and sailed back to Hawaii a year later 5 thousand miles against the trades via the Cook islands.
She weighs around 8 tons, has a long keel, cutaway forefoot, the rudder is attached to the aft of the keel, and she was under-rigged for her size...I still have her some 40 years later...point being that small boats are just as safe and comfortable as larger ones, with more benefits in my opinion...

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by sailorladd

She weighs around 8 tons, has a long keel, cutaway forefoot, the rudder is attached to the aft of the keel, and she was under-rigged for her size...I still have her some 40 years later...point being that small boats are just as safe and comfortable as larger ones, with more benefits in my opinion...

Sounds ideal to me. I think the Pardeys have long settled the issue of using LOD/LOA as a conclusive rating of pretty much anything...

[HappyGuy]

Over the years I have met a number of sailors sailing small boats across oceans.

One was a guy I met in Russell NZ who was sailing a 24 foot wooden boat around the world. He had come from the UK and had a heart problem. His voyage was to help raise funds for the British Heart Foundation. After leaving NZ his boat while headed for Cape Horn developed a leak. He was rescued. A NZ company built him a NZ design fibreglass "Reactor" 25 and he continued his voyage back to UK via Cape Horn.

I met a chap in Port Vila, Vanuatu who was sailing a 20 foot aluminium yacht with shallow draft long keel. On this voyage he had sailed from Perth in Western Australia, across the Great Australian Bight, through Bass Straight to New Plymouth in NZ - then to Auckland - then to Suva and then to Vanuatu.
He left a couple of days later to head across the top of New Caledonia to Bowen on the Queensland coast.
He told me that he had also sailed this boat from Port Headland in Western Australia to Bali (Indonesia) and back three times.

A NZ sailor took a Tucker 22 twin keel yacht I think it was (may have been 24 ft twin keel plywood yacht?) from Bay of Islands NZ around the top of NZ, down the west coast to the sub-Antarctic Auckland islands which lie 465 Kms south of Bluff NZ. From there he sailed to the Chatam Islands 873 kms east of Christchurch NZ and then back to the Bay of Islands.

An Italian chap living in Brisbane, Australia (Serge Testa) built a 12 ft aluminium boat of his own design and sailed it single handed around the world.
He wrote about his adventure in a book called "500 Days" I understand the museum in Brisbane now has it - but no longer on display..
He survived three cyclones crossing the Indian Ocean.

On display in the maritime museum in Brisbane is an 8 foot aluminium boat that was s ailed from New Caledonia to Brisbane.

A NZ built Sparkman and Stevens 24 was sailed by a French chap from Just north of Auckland to France via Vanuatu, Darwin, Cocos Keeling Is, Reunion Island, Capetown, to the Caribbean, where his brother joined him to recross the Atlantic to France..
His best 24 hour run was between Vanuatu and Darwin where he clocked 156 nautical miles.
Across the South Atlantic he averaged 112 mils a day.

There are many more voyages in small boats I could mention.

I have learned that size doesn't have a great bearing on seaworthiness. The important factors are good design and sound construction.

[topo]

Small is beautiful !
My most admired sailor is(was) tristan jones and his sea dart ( 20 feet wooden made).
Becouse i am half (or less) the sailor that Tristan was , I need a bigger , safer boat.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Tricolor

Found a 15 year old topic on the UK Yachtworld Forum that is for me still so valid as if it was written yesterday. Seems that now yachts must be 50' minimum with waching machine, multiple heads etc.

==================
Its not the size, folkboats and virtues (both 26ft) have circumnavigated and ridden out hurricains, I've met a couple on a 5 tonner (28ft) who have done an altantic circuit, there are lots more. Would trust my 32ft almost anywhere but she weighs about 9.5 tons and draws 6ft on a 20+ft keel length and is built like the proverbial b.. S.. h.. On the other hand a coroners inquest a couple of seasons back rulled that taking a large but light an shallow bodied fin keeler across bicay was reckless as the boat wasn't designed for it - despite cat A rating under the RCD. Have a serious think about whether your boat would be comfotable in a 3 day F8+ and would things break.

There are plenty of seaworthy boats under 30ft that are capable of world cruises. Many are used boats which can be obtained for a low price. Condition would be important; things such as chainplates, rudder shafts, etc.

The smaller boat will be easier to handle and cheaper to operate, but it will be slower and you will be constrained as to what you can carry. Ability to deal with strong winds and heavy seas will not generally be an issue, but a bigger boat will withstand extreme weather better, in my opinion.

It's all about what you prefer to sail in and what you can afford. It's generally better to buy less boat than the maximum you can swing, because its easy to get too big to handle and also not have much money to keep it up.

For me, the 43 foot sloop was about right. Great for two people, it is set up for easy handling and still very fast on passages. We have massive storage inside so things like dingy, outboard, and almost anything we want can be inside. The decks are clear. And I have a workshop, permanently mounted sewing machine, and room for a full set of racing sails in addition to our cruising sails. We have a great shower, and large bunks, really all the comforts of a home, which it is. None of our stuff is sitting on either the deck or the cabin sole. Any smaller and we'd have to compromise.

But that's just us. Many people would prefer a smaller boat. OK.

Originally Posted by Tricolor

On the other hand a coroners inquest a couple of seasons back rulled that taking a large but light an shallow bodied fin keeler across bicay was reckless as the boat wasn't designed for it - despite cat A rating under the RCD. Have a serious think about whether your boat would be comfotable in a 3 day F8+ and would things break.

That description fits our boat. It is a light, fin keel spade rudder IOR race boat, but we don't think it would be reckless or dangerous to sail it across the Bay of Biscay, or anywhere, and we have done a lot of heavy weather passages. The longest stretch of heavy weather we experienced was three days of force 7 to 8 between Fiji and New Zealand in mid November 1998. Five boats were lost on that passage but we arrived in new Zealand without a problem, other than cold, tired, and wet. You can see the log book page here: Log Book Pages: Passage from Fiji to New Zealand

BTW, We sail fine in 6 knots of wind, even less upwind. By 8 knots of wind we're going well with a small jib and a full main, which we can carry to over twenty, and by reefing the main 1,2, or 3 times we can continue in breeze well over 35. So a bigger boat with good sailing characteristics give you a lot of options.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

for reference, our LWL is 44'8" and lightship displacement a bit under 10 tonnes. SA to D lightship is around 19.5 and D to L is around 115. Mast height is around 65 feet and draft is 7'2". Ballast is 4 tonnes, well down in the fin keel, but not a bulb type...

Very impressive numbers. Particularly the LWL and the Disp/Len.

[pbmaise]

One of my main findings after ten years of cruising was rig size was more important than vessel size.

Designers are keen on placing the largest rig possible and people insist on fastest speed. For what? Is a cruising yacht going to win a race? How often is a cruising sailor going to push into the wind? Most cruising sailors I met wait months for winds to change so they can run downwind when it is more comfortable.

Therefore, in my book dump the giant costly rig and go for a comfortable vessel and small rig.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by pbmaise

How often is a cruising sailor going to push into the wind? Most cruising sailors I met wait months for winds to change so they can run downwind when it is more comfortable.

We too choose our passages for times when the winds are favorable. However we wind up going upwind surprisingly often. And in my experience most cruisers, except for ocean crossing passages, don't wait months for favorable winds, they turn on the engine, head out against the wind and waves if they need to, and call it motor sailing. Which, in my mind, isn't that pleasant either.

And, in fact, many, if not MOST cruisers wind up quitting in a rather short time after they commence their intended world circling journeys. They just don't find it that much fun. Not like the magazine photos of arm around their girl and a glass of wine in hand while gently sailing into the sunset.

But maybe if they had boats with good performance, and that includes big enough rigs, they might find that sailing IS fun, and going to windward successfully is more fun than bashing against the wind with the motor struggling.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by pbmaise

One of my main findings after ten years of cruising was rig size was more important than vessel size.

Designers are keen on placing the largest rig possible and people insist on fastest speed. For what? Is a cruising yacht going to win a race? How often is a cruising sailor going to push into the wind? Most cruising sailors I met wait months for winds to change so they can run downwind when it is more comfortable.

Therefore, in my book dump the giant costly rig and go for a comfortable vessel and small rig.

Which is why most of the more seaworthy vessels built back in the day not only had full keels but had something close to 14 as a SA/Disp Ratio.

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/bristol-27

The Rustler 36's that I believe placed 1, 2, and 3 in the Golden Globe RTW race run recently had a SA/Disp near 11.5. This boat also had a 45% plus Bal/Disp ratio

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/rustler-36

[HappyGuy]

Originally Posted by topo

Small is beautiful !
My most admired sailor is(was) tristan jones and his sea dart ( 20 feet wooden made).
Becouse i am half (or less) the sailor that Tristan was , I need a bigger , safer boat.

Bigger is not necessarily safer. Safety depends on several factors. First is good design, second is sound construction and third is the sailors skill and experience, along with using proven techniques such as heaving to properly in bad weather
Also having the patience to wait out bad weather.

[cj88]

I'm in the sailing should be fun camp and would prefer a boat that sails well which is why I suggested a J/30 for something a little different to all the old full keel boats that a lot of people seem to prefer. There is also the idea that a better performing boat reduces passage time which reduces exposure to being caught in poor weather. As for seakeeping ability, a couple of J/30's were caught in the storm that hit the Fastnet race that took a lot of lives and they came through fine. I'm not saying a J/30 is perfect but don't discount more sporting style boats that perform better out of hand.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Which is why most of the more seaworthy vessels built back in the day not only had full keels but had something close to 14 as a SA/Disp Ratio.

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/bristol-27

The Rustler 36's that I believe placed 1, 2, and 3 in the Golden Globe RTW race run recently had a SA/Disp near 11.5. This boat also had a 45% plus Bal/Disp ratio

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/rustler-36

Thomm225, of course you know that only boats from that era were allowed to enter, so all the entrants had specifications similar to that.

But the race had an AWFUL record of dismasting's, roll-overs, and other destruction and mayhem. I don't think that the example of Rustlers in the Golden Globe is a reason to hail that type of boat or crow about their seaworthiness.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Thomm225, of course you know that only boats from that era were allowed to enter, so all the entrants had specifications similar to that.

But the race had an AWFUL record of dismasting's, roll-overs, and other destruction and mayhem. I don't think that the example of Rustlers in the Golden Globe is a reason to hail that type of boat or crow about their seaworthiness.

Well I guess you would have to have the other so called good boats try sailing the same course in the same conditions before you could acturately judge

I'm not seeing too many cruisers sailing those lower latitudes …..

[OkiMike]

With 2 adults and 3 boys plus knowing we’d be living aboard at the marina for a few years, I took it boat by boat while shopping, but anything less than our Spencer 53 felt like we’d be living like a box of ferrets which, understandably, was no bueno for the wife. Thankfully, it’s a ketch, and we’ll laid out, and has already begun to feel just right.

Perhaps when the kids are gone, we can finally settle down to a Hans Christian Traditional 38 we’ve had our eyes on since forever.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Thomm225, of course you know that only boats from that era were allowed to enter, so all the entrants had specifications similar to that.

But the race had an AWFUL record of dismasting's, roll-overs, and other destruction and mayhem. I don't think that the example of Rustlers in the Golden Globe is a reason to hail that type of boat or crow about their seaworthiness.

Well, they did roll back up again! Ever read "Godforsaken Sea?" That pretty much removed any romance I might have had for racing in the Southern Ocean!