Dutch backpackers buy boat to escape from Covid-19 in Australia

[Bundyon]

I wish these guys well and the very best of luck.
My partner is Dutch, I know how determined they can be!
How boring would we all be if we all just sat around & done or achieved nothing!
When I was young, I was well known for my adventurous spirit. These guys are going about this the right way, getting the right advice etc. Sure, there is quite an element of risk, but any adventure has risk!
Go forth, have a ball & enjoy!

[Stonecutter36]

I wish them fair winds ..I have remembered when I starting with little or no sailing experience that was 15 years ago though I started for different reasons I wasn't starting out too escape a virus that was infecting the WORLD few places will allow you to land ... If you are healthy stay put and wait out this virus
If you must go then Best of luck and fair winds to you guys.

[billgewater]

The boat looks like a Canadian designed Samson C - breeze or C - duce. If so, there were many of them built in Aus., particularly at a boat yard south of Perth.
If it is a Samson design, they do sail well and are comfortable sea boats. Ketch rigged, easy to manage.
As for ferro, if the boat was built in the 70's or 80's I think it has proved itself by now. This one looks to have been well equipped. Substantial rails etc.

If leaving Australia for the Netherlands, I would assume that they would take the usual cruising route across the top of Aus., departing out of Darwin and then off to the Med. via the Suez. Crossing the Pacific west to east is less usual due to prevailing wind patterns.

For what it is worth, the Dutch have been around this part of the world for ages producing in 1642 (the year Galileo died) a highly detailed map of Aus. and NZ with the exception of the east coasts and a few straights. Cook filled in most the remainder.

However, it does seem a bit adventurous considering that they may not be able to re-provision along the way.
Who knows? They may be better off at sea if this pandemic goes fully arse up.

[stormalong]

OK, so it does have an autopilot. That dramatically improves their odds of making a successful ocean passage. The original article said they intended to hand steer the whole way. I hope that everything holds together and they have a good trip.

[TravelinLight]

This will probably be settled down and limited flights will be available before they get their sea legs under them. 50 / 50 that they spend more time hyping the voyage on their social media than on learning to actually sail.

[CapnBazza]

Originally Posted by crankysailor

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/engl...mK0ikNwt-0MeMY


Dutchman Jordy van der Voort and compatriot Daniel Wiessing are preparing to sail from Australia to the Netherlands, a 13,000 nautical miles journey, but first, they are ironing out a few issues one of which is that neither man has much sailing experience.

[emoji849]

Getting some sailing experience with the current restrictions on movement could be difficult. They probably need to head straight out to sea and learn along the way. Good luck to them, the boat looks like it can do it.

[martinworswick]

Does anyone know what the boat cost them?the only thing i saw was that it was cheap.

[LouK]

Give these boys some credit; they’re living the dream while many like myself are sitting at home doing the ‘duck & cover’.

Good luck boys, hope you find a good Learn to Sail book & catch up on your sailing videos before you leave sight of land. Big adventure.

[pt49]

I envy these young men.

That boat looks up to the task, as far as I can see they face only 2 dangers... the Great Barrier Reef to the north of Brisbane and Pirates approaching the Suez.

They can miss the Reef by sailing well out to sea before heading north... as for Pirates? Well, I would be heading south west to go round South Africa after leaving Darwin myself.

[RaymondR]

The biggest risk for young folk in sailing up the Queensland is getting stuck in places like Airlie Beach partying. It's mostly like a big lake inside the reef and you can day sail the entire way.

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

That is not an entirely valid argument. Life is an inherently risky thing. No one questions people going out in a car and risking the lives of rescue personnel if the car is in an accident. Whether boating, hiking, mountain climbing, flying, skateboarding, etc. will always put someone at risk if there is an accident.

One can’t seriously compare going out in a car to the risk of inexperienced people crossing oceans on ill-prepared vessels. If the same number of people crossed oceans in yachts as those driving in cars every day, the mortality rate would be little different. And the rescue people attending a car accident have little to no risk at all.

Quote: It took over 200,000 years of human history for the world's population to reach 1 billion and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion. Unquote. And that includes some astonishing events of genocide and huge wars. “Life” can’t be all that inherently risky.

Poor comparison, IMHO.

[pt49]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

It took over 200,000 years of human history for the world's population to reach 1 billion and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion.

Not meaning to change the topic, but human history must be much much longer than 200,000 years.
After all, modern humans walked right across Australia from north to south and inhabited Tasmania at least 60,000 years ago.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

One can’t seriously compare going out in a car to the risk of inexperienced people crossing oceans on ill-prepared vessels. If the same number of people crossed oceans in yachts as those driving in cars every day, the mortality rate would be little different. And the rescue people attending a car accident have little to no risk at all.

Quote: It took over 200,000 years of human history for the world's population to reach 1 billion and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion. Unquote. And that includes some astonishing events of genocide and huge wars. “Life” can’t be all that inherently risky.

Poor comparison, IMHO.

They'll either exhibit adventurous spirits and overcome all the dangers and obstacles and arrive in Europe and enhance a very needy gene pool or not make it through various character failings and be no loss to the gene pool. Either way mankind wins.

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by pt49

Not meaning to change the topic, but human history must be much much longer than 200,000 years.
After all, modern humans walked right across Australia from north to south and inhabited Tasmania at least 60,000 years ago.

Huh?

So people movements recorded 60,000 years ago provides evidence that “human history” goes back more than 200,000 years? That premise goes right by my mathematic capability. So humanity needed more than 1400 centuries to figure out how to walk across a continent? Think about human advancement just in the last century.

You don’t need to explain, this is already a thread hijack, lets leave it there.

[Bill O]

So you leave 2 hanging questions and don't expect/want a response?