sailing South-Africa to Japan

[zivojan]

Hello,

My name is Jan from the Netherlands, and this is my first post here. I found this website truogh Google. I am looking for information about this route. I want to sail around the world but not the traditional way. My plans is to leave in 2023 and i want to follow my country history and sailors.

My plan was to visit all the places in Asia that has a Dutch history from the past. Places like Cape Town, then Mauritius, then to Sri Lanka. Then to Malacca in Malaysia and then to Java, Indonesia. After that i want to go up to Taiwan and then Japan.

All these places have a strong Dutch connection. They were founded by the Dutch like Cape town, or were Dutch colonies for a while like Sri Lanka. Also Dutch traders were doing trade with Japan. The Dutch were also involved in Taiwan for a while so.There must be still lots of Dutch buildings and so. I have been to Malacca once as a backpacker and there was still a Dutch fort and grave yard. So my plan is now to follow the Dutch route and see all those place.

I can find very little info on the part from South Africa to Mauritius, Sri Lanka and form Java to Japan. Most people go westwards around the world. Does anyone has done this trip and where can i find more info? My boat is a Swan 48 which i bought last year for this trip.

Hope someone has some advice and tips for me, or know where I can find more information,

Thanks in advance

Jan

[Searles]

Noon sight ,tells all .⛵️⚓️

[zivojan]

Thanks, i will look into that.

[Paul L]

There are a few boats that do an east-about circumnavigation. Generally far more time consuming and difficult than a west about. You don't mention where you will be starting, so I assume Netherlands.
You will find no shortage of places the Dutch have been. They left lots of architecture and some pretty severe treatment of the locals. If you make it to Indonesia don't miss the Banda Islands (Spice islands) for Dutch history.

Cape Town to Mauritius would be a tough slog - that's why you don't see much on it. Far easy to take advantage of the SE tradewinds and go the other direction.

You could see all of these places on a west-about circumnavigation too. From Holland head to the Caribbean. Check out the Dutch islands, like Bonaire, Curacao. Very interesting slave muesuem in Curacao. Through the Canal and the South Pacific. Then Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius,South Africa.
If you wanted you could leave from the middle of the South Pacific and make your way to Japan and then across to Alaska - think Dutch Harbor. Then down the west coast of US and back out to the SP.

If you really want to go east about then you could go down to the Med and through the Red Sea. Cross the Indian Ocean in the SW Monsoon, stopping in Sri Lanka and Malaysia then onto Indonesia.

Hope you have lots of time available.

[RobertBarnes]

Piracy is on the rise again. Suggest you check out current high incident areas. Primarily kidnapping for ransom, theft of electronics.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by zivojan

Hello,

My name is Jan from the Netherlands, and this is my first post here. I found this website truogh Google. I am looking for information about this route. I want to sail around the world but not the traditional way. My plans is to leave in 2023 and i want to follow my country history and sailors.

My plan was to visit all the places in Asia that has a Dutch history from the past. Places like Cape Town, then Mauritius, then to Sri Lanka. Then to Malacca in Malaysia and then to Java, Indonesia. After that i want to go up to Taiwan and then Japan.

All these places have a strong Dutch connection. They were founded by the Dutch like Cape town, or were Dutch colonies for a while like Sri Lanka. Also Dutch traders were doing trade with Japan. The Dutch were also involved in Taiwan for a while so.There must be still lots of Dutch buildings and so. I have been to Malacca once as a backpacker and there was still a Dutch fort and grave yard. So my plan is now to follow the Dutch route and see all those place.

I can find very little info on the part from South Africa to Mauritius, Sri Lanka and form Java to Japan. Most people go westwards around the world. Does anyone has done this trip and where can i find more info? My boat is a Swan 48 which i bought last year for this trip.

Hope someone has some advice and tips for me, or know where I can find more information,

Thanks in advance

Jan

Well, you've got the right boat for it even though you'll be heading in the opposite direction to most of us. As I'm sure you know, this was all started by the Dutch East India Company to exploit the spice trade. Cape Town was just a resupply station for ships heading for the spice islands and had no other trading value. They probably used this route due to the Straits of Magellan being much more difficult to safely navigate than the Cape. Apparently, it was a Dutchman by the name of Tasman who discovered Tasmania on an exploratory mission out the Dutch East India Company headquarters based in Java. Jimmy Cornell's book on world travel planning might be useful. I own his World Cruising Guide but it's written like a text book and only gives point A to point B information. It could take you a year to formulate a cruising plan based on this. New Amsterdam (New York City) was also a Dutch trading center at one point, There are still Dutch descendants to be found there - I should know as my grandmother was a Dammers from Brooklyn.

[HBrew]

Hi JanBuy a copy of Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising routes. It includes some useful information on the passages you are interested in, including the best time to make those passages and weather challenges. As some have said, these are not easy or common passages but they are certainly possible if you are well prepared.


Hamish

[ChrisJHC]

Don’t forget that Willem Janszoon landed in Australia in 1606!

[billgewater]

As an Australian, I hope that the Dutch will compensate us for the damage the Batavia did to the Abrolhus Islands off Geraldton, Western Australia. Bones everywhere in the sand etc. due to the massacre carried out there.
My Dutch friends seem to think we should be paying them for making the site a tourist attraction! Where is their ethics?

The Dutch produced a map in 1642 (the year Galileo died) showing all the Australian coastline with the exception of the east coast. The same map also shows the west coast of NZ but without Cook Straight.

They certainly got around, so where ever you sail, there will probably be some evidence of their past presence. Not very nice stuff generally, but not unique to the Dutch at that time. The Dutch East India Company had an enormous army to enforce its intent.

[Blue Orchid]

Jan, courageous! Single-handed? Noonsite and Cornell are certainly great sources. Depending on your sailing experience you should though consider to get a skipper or crew members who have done some of the crossings you are planning. It’s more fun than alone, safer and you will learn from their experience.

[PaulvR]

Suriname must be on your list, the Paramaribo architecture and Dutch/Javanese cultural heritage is very strong, and remains so to this day...

Nice boat, no problem doing windward passages at all!

[boatman61]

For the Indian Ocean I suggest you research the ancient Arab trading routes and seasons, their Dhows traversed the Ocean from East to West and back again long before Cornell using the tail of the SW Monsoon and the NE monsoon.. and still do today.

[Southern waves]

Hi Jan,
Contact the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town. info@rcyc.co.za. They might be able to link you with the appropriate people

[zivojan]

Originally Posted by Paul L

You could see all of these places on a west-about circumnavigation too. From Holland head to the Caribbean. Check out the Dutch islands, like Bonaire, Curacao. Very interesting slave muesuem in Curacao. Through the Canal and the South Pacific. Then Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius,South Africa.
If you wanted you could leave from the middle of the South Pacific and make your way to Japan and then across to Alaska - think Dutch Harbor. Then down the west coast of US and back out to the SP.



Hope you have lots of time available.

I was thinking that too. Makes it easier, but the Dutch Sailors had to deal with the hars condition too. Thei sailed eastwards too. I was thinking going to Perth, West-Australia after Capetown, and then going north to Japan. On the way home fromm Japan going trough to Malacca and Sri Lanka and then Mauritius and back to Capetown. That way i have better winds. And in West-Australia there is Dutch history as well.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by zivojan

I was thinking that too. Makes it easier, but the Dutch Sailors had to deal with the hars condition too. Thei sailed eastwards too. I was thinking going to Perth, West-Australia after Capetown, and then going north to Japan. On the way home fromm Japan going trough to Malacca and Sri Lanka and then Mauritius and back to Capetown. That way i have better winds. And in West-Australia there is Dutch history as well.

Sure, as long as you want to do a long passage in the Roaring 40s out of Cape Town. Not for the feint of heart or inexperienced. Not sure you mentioned where you are starting from, but certainly the Cape to WA should not be the first passage.
I doubt this is the way the Dutch did it. They used the changing monsoons to cross the N Indian Ocean