open to your ideas - Nova Scotia to British Columbia

[Maka]

Another option is thru the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River.
( 1/2 of the Great Circle Route )

When you get to the Gulf of Mexico, head for the Panama Canal.

From there the best way to proceed is to Hawaii, then up to Canada, as has been suggested here.

Sounds like an adventure which ever way you go.
Have Fun and keep us posted.

[JoeRuncer]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Your best route would be the trans-Canada Highway, aka highway 1 and in some parts 401. Should take about 3 days.

Thanks, but Trans Canada Hwy is not exactly the adventure I am seeking. Getting to the destination is half the fun

[Sabre34]

I admire your sense of adventure and I respect mother nature. Many individuals have sailed the world having limited experience at the onset. Misfortune can happen to the green salts and the old salts. Get to know your boat inside and out including the engine (stock certain spare parts) become efficient at navigation, weather reading, VHF use, practice reefing your main, docking, man overboard response. The list can go on but most importantly practice good common sense. As advised by others, get lots of practice sailing around Nova Scotia and the Maine coast. You will likely get experience sailing in fog and avoiding lobster traps. good luck!

[JoeRuncer]

"learned to work effectively with your tail between your legs" that pretty much sums up the whole experience.

My boat - like my motorcycles will hopefully NEVER be seen touring around on a trailer!

Thank you all for your perspectives, I am a hearing a mixed bag of cautious optimism and give up, curl up in bed and don't go out of doors. Yes I know my limitations and I am generally cautious by nature, I do want to live a long life. That said, I have taken on the challenge of learning this sailing life and if I only tour around the Atlantic Provinces never stepping out into the blue then it will still be a success.

I will be doing much more exploring of options.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by JoeRuncer

"learned to work effectively with your tail between your legs" that pretty much sums up the whole experience.

My boat - like my motorcycles will hopefully NEVER be seen touring around on a trailer!

Thank you all for your perspectives, I am a hearing a mixed bag of cautious optimism and give up, curl up in bed and don't go out of doors. Yes I know my limitations and I am generally cautious by nature, I do want to live a long life. That said, I have taken on the challenge of learning this sailing life and if I only tour around the Atlantic Provinces never stepping out into the blue then it will still be a success.

I will be doing much more exploring of options.

To be clear, I would never suggest you not follow your dream, but for as unmanly as it sounds, it is very important to take baby steps at first, then walk, then run. Sailing takes a day to learn and a lifetime to master. Of all those who have sailed 5 years, maybe 1% are sufficiently skilled to safely take on the adventure you seek.

[roland stockham]

Option 1 - spend min 3 month per year sailing, take 3-4 seasons to get as far as Panama by which time you will have the experience for the Pacific. Then either allow 6 months to sail via Hawaii (no practical mooring for long stay) or do the coast in short legs (ie less than 1 month) up the coast which saves the 2 5-7 week passages but means burning a lot of diesel and frustration.
Option 2 - Sail through the great lakes and get a truck from the end to Vancouver. This would be the only way, short of hiring a delivery crew, to do it in less then 4-5 years with your level of experience.

I set off from UK and it has taken 5 years to get to Panama. I totally underestimated the level of problems, like taking 3 weeks just to sort out the booking for Panama canal and not being able to rely on anyone to do what they say they can!!, plus the general hassle of managing a boat that is a long flight from you. It's the admin and maintenance that is the problem not the sailing. If you are retiring shortly I would say go for the sea route if not look seriously at trucking, it will be much faster and cost less in the the long run.

[Eder]

Spend 3 seasons enjoying the Maritimes then set off to Bermuda etc as others have suggested.....after all it's the journey not the destination.

ICW is like taking the TransCanada but slower lol.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by skipmac

You also need to start thinking about the Panama to BC leg. Going north up the coast to Mexico, California to Canada is a long, very hard, beat dead against winds and currents. Certain seasons and some areas the winds can be very strong and the CA coast there are long stretches without a harbor. Even some places there are harbors they could be closed due to heavy waves that break across the entrance.

Good points.

Panama to Mexico, Mexico to San Diego (look up the Baja Dash, not Bash - a skipper wrote it up in Cruising World years ago - day sails up the coast, no Hawaii or Bashing necessary), San Diego to San Francisco (people do it all the time, timing around Point Conception is critical), SF to Vancouver Island (I did it last summer: Travels with Aquavite: San Francsico Bay to British Columbia 2016; it's all motoring since you HAVE to make the bar entrances at the right times, the Douglass book and Charlie's Charts are very good for this leg - took 6 weeks).

Your boat, your choice.

[buzzstar]

Although you'd need to wait another year, I am surprised that the NWP was not really mentioned. It is one of my dreams, but I am actually less confident in the warming trends than most. It has been done and will be again, but will require careful planning and luck along with the requisite skills and fortitude As to the other choices, forgetting the road trip, I like NS to the Azores, to Panama, to Hawaii, to Vancouver. Lots of sea miles, and you and your boat will suffer much less than being close to either coast. Probably faster too on the Pacific side, but I've not done either route in the Atlantic.

[deblen]

These folks did the NWP in much less boat than yours.
https://www.youtube.com/user/wwwYachtTeleportCom

Cheers/ Len

[Maka]

You sound to me like a man w a head on his shoulders and both feet on the ground.
You will be fine whatever you decide to do.
Some one said Panama to Hawaii to Vancouver is a six month trip w no place to moor in Hawaii. None of that is true. While you can take six months or more if you wish .. a couple months would be more than adequate.
Furthermore there are lots of Harbors and some Marinas you can get into in Hawaii ... not to mention road steads to anchor in ...Lahaina Maui being the most famous.
Go for it man. Keep us posted on your adventure.

[accomplice]

Listen to those who tell you that you don't have enough experience and that it is too dangerous for a novice. Listen carefully, and then go anyway. Few of us, if we had no dreams, would ever go cruising.

If you spend spring through October cruising Nova Scotia every day for six months, including an offshore passage, you will likely have had enough exposure to different conditions to have an understanding of what you can handle, what you might handle, and what you'd never want to have to handle. Offshore sailing is a different set of skills and different mindset than coastal cruising, but we all had (or will have) our first offshore passage at some time. Consider crewing on others' boats on a few passages to accelerate your learning.

Not only might you later change your plans because you decide to build more skills before heading off, but also you might delay them because you decide to spend some time maintaining/fixing/upgrading your boat. As long as you are not a slave to your plans, you should be fine. Fortunately, you don't sound like the kind of guy who will spend a decade preparing his boat for a voyage, waiting for everything to be perfect.

("Plans are nothing. Planning is everything." - D. Eisenhower)

[Bleemus]

Go for it! The Northwest Passage is being done by more people every year due to global warming. Wear a sweater!

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by accomplice

If you spend spring through October cruising Nova Scotia every day for six months, including an offshore passage, you will likely have had enough exposure to different conditions to have an understanding of what you can handle, what you might handle, and what you'd never want to have to handle.

Oh he'll have exposure alright, sailing every day for 6 months in Nova Scotia, exposure including the associated frostbite.

Great for someone in a tropical climate to suggest.

The sailing season is mid May to mid August, with a few days beyond either end, to make up for the odd frigid day in the middle.

Except for Bras D'or Lakes, I don't think the water gets over 40F.

It only takes a few hours of that slapping you in the face with a 30 knot 40F wind, to make one think about taking up golf instead. ;-)

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "Oh he'll have exposure alright,..."

Forgive him - he knows not whereof he speaks :-)!

Even here in the benign Salish Sea, off balmy Vancouver, the water temperature six foot down is often in the low 40s. As I write, the buoy on Halibut Bank (mid straits) sez 6ºC (= 43ºF).

The Mustang Floater Coast (University of Victoria PFD) was developed for that reason many years ago. Studies at the time pegged life expectancy for a fit man going in the drink at 40 minutes max. Even at the height of summer! That coat proved deficient in many respects, and better protection in now available, as we all know.

Many years ago I muffed a chute hoist and went in the drink off Squamish at the top of Howe Sound where the smelting water from the Cheakamus River debouches into the sound. It was New Years Day. I was wearing the floater. Thanx to a poop-hot racing crew I was back aboard in five minutes. I was told I looked like the Roadrunner when I broke surface. There was a change of warm, dry clothing and blankets aboard. But it was a week before I came back to normal.

I owe my life to that crew!

So by all means, let the coconut merchants come here for a change of scenery. But let them beware :-)!

TrentePieds