What's the longest you've been continuously at sea

[sapient sue]

I just read the earlier messages in this thread - the longest we beat to windward was 9000 nms in 3 stages 22 days NZ to Riatea, 20 days Riatea to Hawaii and 19 days Hawaii to USA mainland, on our way to Alaska. This was a much better trip than the down wind sail from Mexico back to Aus as we had no real trade winds until leaving the Cook Islands - 2/3 way home.

Sue

[Bash]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

;-)
Oceans get too short when our boats get too long!

Somehow, I don't find short oceans to be a problem.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Bash

Somehow, I don't find short oceans to be a problem.

This is what differentiates a cruiser from a sailor.

b.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by sapient sue

I just read the earlier messages in this thread - the longest we beat to windward was 9000 nms in 3 stages 22 days NZ to Riatea, 20 days Riatea to Hawaii and 19 days Hawaii to USA mainland, on our way to Alaska. This was a much better trip than the down wind sail from Mexico back to Aus as we had no real trade winds until leaving the Cook Islands - 2/3 way home.

Sue

Most interesting.

To us too the "upwind" and upwind legs seem to be the better ones!

E.g. we hated (most of) our Canaries to Martinique run last year but we had a great sail back home (from Guadeloupe, via the Azores).

90% of cruising boats are NOT designed for downwind. How many of us have a Pogo?

Now with cats taking over the cruising scene, I bet they will love the runs and hate the beats.

Cheers,
b.

[Delancey]

I think it was 18 days. Saw baby dolphins a couple of times and like Boatie, I will forever remember the first one in my minds eye. They were Striped Dolphins and we were mid-Altantic.

I had watched a pod approach us from a distance and as they got close a mom and a baby popped out of a wave, abeam the boat, half a boat length away, with the sun glinting in their spray as I looked them in the eyes.

The baby was like a perfect mini-me to the adult but maybe a little lighter in color. I remember being struck with the sense that the mom was showing the baby our boat, like "hey check this out, this is a sailboat" as the baby was between the mom and the boat, not like it would have been if the mom was between the baby and the boat keeping us separate.

Probably the coolest thing ever was during the same trip, earlier on while we were still coastal. Night sailing on flat water for about three or four hours on the most intensely phosphorescent sea I have ever seen when we were visited by a half dozen different pods of Bottlenose (?) Dolphins. Words can't begin to describe.

Dolphins and Bioluminescence - YouTube

[Panamax.]

97 days on Gonzo Station in the IO! Go Navy!

[Dsanduril]

Guess I missed this thread first time around, but now that its been brought back from the dead...

23 days Juan Fernandez to Easter Island, a slow trip through some variable weather. I love the long passages, after the first week it all gets into a nice rhythm.

[D&D]

54 days...Tahiti to Sydney, including a plethora of gale conditions (at least 4, possibly 6?) across the Tasman, but it was winter (May/June/July 2011) so it was no surprise. Arrived in good health and spirits...

[socaldmax]

When I was in the Navy, I didn't keep track of how long we were at sea, but I did keep track how long we were submerged. The longest I've ever been submerged was 110 days (we expected 90 days, next sub was 20 days late arriving.) Longest time at sea I would guess would be about 124-130 days. That was the year we were at sea 335 out of 365 days, according to my wife.

[D&D]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

When I was in the Navy, I didn't keep track of how long we were at sea, but I did keep track how long we were submerged. The longest I've ever been submerged was 110 days (we expected 90 days, next sub was 20 days late arriving.) Longest time at sea I would guess would be about 124-130 days. That was the year we were at sea 335 out of 365 days, according to my wife.

Wow...the submariners' life is clearly not for everyone!

[atlantical]

I was at sea 57 days, from Bermuda to Castlebay Island of Barra Scotland. It took so long, because my main sail was half the size it should have been, the other blew out on the way to Bermuda from Wilmington north Carolina. I also only had working jibs, and a third problem was the hull of the boat was covered in goose neck mussels. I only found out how bad the mussels were when I had the boat lifted out of the water at Fairlie marina on the river clyde Scotland. The boat is a southern cross 31. I was at sea so long that I was out of food and water, and was distilling sea water to drink, after a few days of this, I called to a gas tanker called cuball, who gave me food and water.

[Tripod]

27 days - Galagagos to Marquesas. Nice ride . . . didn't see a single ship or plane. Saw lots of whales though.

[atlantical]

I had a lonely run from Bermuda to Antigua, I saw one ship a research vessel, saw nothing else but dolphins and the odd whale, didn't even see aircraft flying overhead, but I did see a satellite from just above the horizon, and watched it pass overhead then go down on the other horizon.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

When I was in the Navy, I didn't keep track of how long we were at sea, but I did keep track how long we were submerged. The longest I've ever been submerged was 110 days (we expected 90 days, next sub was 20 days late arriving.) Longest time at sea I would guess would be about 124-130 days. That was the year we were at sea 335 out of 365 days, according to my wife.

SSN = Saturdays Sundays and Nights

I was in the SSBN side. Longest of my six patrols was 75 days submerged.

[atlantical]

It can be kind of relative, if you are sent out to sea expecting to spend X time at sea, you know what you are getting into, its when you do X at sea, then Y gets added on that its bad. Up until my trip across the atlantic, the longest I ever spent at sea, was 34 days, on an oil rig stand by ship in the north sea. our time sitting next to the oil rig as their safety vessel was supposed to be 28 days, but it always went at least a day over, when that one went six days over, people were climbing the walls, and demanding to get off, their was near mutiny, because when you expect to be home on such a day, even a few extra days can be awful. 110 days in a sub is a long time though, and if you don't get on with someone, no way of avoiding them, I found that on my own in the atlantic, I was quite happy. it was only the last couple of days I got impatient.