Am I biting off more than I can chew

[Toph]

Reading a similar post to what I am about to ask has given me some food for thought.

I am planing on a trip next year from FP to Aust from May next year. I have just bought a Beneteau 473 2003 model in good shape, but have little (well at this very point no) experience on her. I do have some sailing experience when I owned a Catalina 28 and all that saying was in the local area (read comfort zone). I do have a RYA Coastal Skippers cert so the actual sailing is not the concern. But I would certainly put myself in the category of novice as far as overall experience goes considering I sold the Catalina over 10 years ago.

I will have my wife and two young kids 7 and 10 and plan to do the trip in 6 months. But we are not pressured on time as we are prepared to leave the boat in Fiji or Vanuatu if we do run out of time. I believe you must leave the Cooks by cyclone season too so we must at least make Fiji.

So, not being overly familiar with the boat and having no blue water passage experience, am I biting off more then I can chew?

[JPA Cate]

Toph,

Everybody starts somewhere. You may be biting off more than your wife can chew. She will be burdened with child care, education, household duties, and watch standing. You'll want to take up the slack, but ultimately, you're going to mainly be singlehanding. If your finances extend to it, consider a "nanny" for the trip, so that your good lady wife can enjoy the trip: there's some lovely sailing to be had, and the kids can help with daytime watchkeeping after the schooling's done.

Ann

[Toph]

Thanks for your response Ann.

I was hoping someone such as yourself would pipe up. I think we know what we are in for (to some degree) as far as responsibilities go. The home schooling you mentioned is what is freaking out my wife the most I think.

I think because we are getting close to the time to go and really starting to prep the boat for the trip, I am starting to second guess the passages. I have only ever until now sailed coastal and even then, not too far from my comfort zone. I guess I was just thinking out loud. I certainly appreciated your reply though.

Cheers

[s/v Moondancer]

Toph,

I write both as a sailor who crosses oceans, my Miami based boat is currently in New Zealand, and as a retired pediatrician who has taken his kids and grandkids out in bad weather.

Not only do I think that you are biting off too much but that you are putting the wife and kids at unnecessary risk. Imagine a dark night with 20 ft waves and 40+ knots of wind, sea sick and frightened wife and kids, and you have to go forward to fix a broken roller furler line with the genoa beating itself to death. Yes, a rare occurrence but it has happened to me, minus the frightened wife and kids.

Go coastal cruising and get 5,000 nm of experience before taking the kids out in the big blue ocean where even experienced sailors have the odd bad night!

While I applaud sailors who give their kids great experiences I do not applaud inexperienced sailors who scare everyone on board.

Good luck and I envy your nice boat and your young kids to explore the work with.

[MarkJ]

5000nms costal cruising first??

Lolololol

That's 8 years worth of Sydney Hobart races as skipper!

Very, very few have that.

And that's only coastal.

You have a good boat, a downwind leg, its just sailing, not rocket science.

[boatman61]

The worst bit will be the run between the Galapagos and the Marquesas.. the swell is kinda ESE which gives you a horrible corkscrew motion.. when I crossed in 2012 the average seas were around 3 metres on our Port quarter.. all the way.. by the time we reached Nuku Hiva my lady crew was black and blue and gave notice she'd be leaving the boat in US Samoa.. which she did as conditions were the same for that 10 day hop.
Mind.. this was a 54ft steel Bruce Roberts ketch.. your Bendi may ride these conditions better.

OPPs.. just noticed FP.. which changes things a bit.. VERY Big Area..

[ReneJK]

following as we have the same Bene and will have the approx same aged kids in 2018 when we plan to head out to the Canaries and beyond

[buckoneil]

I'd like add something to Moondancer's thoughts. I don't have a lot of bluewater experience, but think about this; when there are just 2 or 3 people on a boat, especially far at sea, each one must be prepared to single hand the boat at any time. If the skipper or one of two crew is incapacitated by illness or injury and needs constant care, the other crew need to be able to handle the boat to port. If something happens to you, is your wife ready to take over? Maybe you need to spend a lot of time getting the wife and kids ready to sail before making plans for some great voyage. Just a thought.

[MarkSF]

What's FP?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

What's FP?

Flippin' Pacific.


What'da not take geography classes at school?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Flippin' Pacific.


What'da not take geography classes at school?

Mark, Mark, Mark. Just never a dull moment.

I took geography and even learned a whole bunch of stuff, like the USA is capital of America and Australia is a colony of New Zealand.

FP? What about French Polynesia?

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Toph

am I biting off more then I can chew?

Get cooking book for flyfish, Kamasutra etc.. Meaning you get bored more than a couple of times so be creative with daily routines

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Mark, Mark, Mark. Just never a dull moment.

I took geography and even learned a whole bunch of stuff, like the USA is capital of America and Australia is a colony of New Zealand.

FP? What about French Polynesia?

All I can remember from high school geography is the bit about the formation of oxbow lakes. In fact, in my memory it seems like we spent all 5 years studying them. I'm assuming this can't actually be the case.....

[JPA Cate]

Toph,

About the home schooling, your wife should start talking to the teachers now, the programs are good, and the teachers will know how to help your wife.

Still, I was not joking about the "nanny". Admittedly, the Sail from Tahiti through to Australia is a very nice one, something could go wrong, and you adults will need a couple of naps per day. How Jim and I do this is a 6 on, 6 off schedule, with an up to two hour nap during the day time. I usually take mine before lunch, and Jim, in the afternoon. Rest is crucial to being able to handle difficulties. Whoever is on watch will have to split his/her attention for the boat and the children, usually not too difficult. Somehow, the schooling has to be structured into the "working" time of the day, and it helps to be regular about it, timewise.

Our friends who had the nanny, were bringing their boat through Panama, via Galapagos, then up to the Marquesas, thence, Tuamotus, Societies, Cooks, Tonga, Fiji, and home to Sydney. Their kids were older. Having one additional adult along would be a good deal. It's a lot of ocean to cross, but some lovely people on the islands.

Do carry a variety of anti-emetics (drugs against throwing up), including suppositories.
You can keep Compazine suppositories in the fridge, and you may never need them; I hope so, but--let's just say we found out the hard way we had the flu, we were not seasick, three days out of NZ on the way to Fiji, returned, upwind to NZ after two days hove to. And no kids to worry about.

Now, I personally think it is unlikely that there would be problems, for you guys. The worst was a storm after they left Panama that they were not able to entirely avoid, and quite frightened the nanny. Where you are going, any possible rescue is going to be coming from a long time away. For example, this year, in Fiiji, it took 3 days after he had declared an emergency, for the Fijians to rescue a singlehander off the north side of Viti Levu.

I hope it all works out well for you.

Ann

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Toph

Reading a similar post to what I am about to ask has given me some food for thought.



I am planing on a trip next year from FP to Aust from May next year. I have just bought a Beneteau 473 2003 model in good shape, but have little (well at this very point no) experience on her. I do have some sailing experience when I owned a Catalina 28 and all that saying was in the local area (read comfort zone). I do have a RYA Coastal Skippers cert so the actual sailing is not the concern. But I would certainly put myself in the category of novice as far as overall experience goes considering I sold the Catalina over 10 years ago.



I will have my wife and two young kids 7 and 10 and plan to do the trip in 6 months. But we are not pressured on time as we are prepared to leave the boat in Fiji or Vanuatu if we do run out of time. I believe you must leave the Cooks by cyclone season too so we must at least make Fiji.



So, not being overly familiar with the boat and having no blue water passage experience, am I biting off more then I can chew?

I would be hesitant about Fiji, there's been some internal political turmoil going for a number of years. Haven't checked current situation in last 6mo or so.

We were planning a similar trip, but we were going to work up to the longer legs. Plan was abandoned due to outside issues.