What necessary (Or comfort/luxury) supplies do you suggest for a blue-water passage?

[NormanMartin]

Darn... one more thing. Read this blogspot:
The INTERVIEW WITHA CRUISER Project

It is no longer updated. However it is the best collection of really good information I have found and it leads to other resources.

[Shrew]

I see that you joined only 1 month ago. I'm going to be brutally, painfully honest with the best possible intentions here.

You don't even konw what you don't know yet. You don't yet know what questions to ask.

Spend several months poring through previous posts in this forum. You need to read much, much, much, more first. In a few months you will realize how crazy "We've never owned a boat, ....what do I need to provision?" sounds.

[bfloSAILS]

I agree with the dinghy sailing recommendation - I have CREWED on racing boats for thirty years. I can run a foredeck, trim the main, jib or spinaker, and name every part on that boat - BUT, I am not a sailor because I cannot dock the boat, plot a course, steer through a spinaker jibe or even understand how the boat actually sails. My kids are better sailors than i am bc they went to junior sailing and can sailed lasers! Take a learn to sail course as well - many cities have them. My husband mentors new sailors who have gone through our local adult sailing program and we have seen some great additions to our local sailing community bc of the Discover Buffalo Sailing program. We have also seen many who were grateful for the opportunity to try sailing out before they realized that it is just not for them. Their only investment was one summer and a couple hundred dollars in membership fees, a lifejacket, gloves and some weather gear">foul weather gear.

[bfloSAILS]

PLEASE NOTE: this learning and planning part of your journey is a big part of the journey and can be very, very enjoyable so embrace this stage of it! After thirty years of racing stripped down boats, we bought a cruiser (currently in Canada where we can't get to it but that's another thread...) that we hope to travel extensively on in five years when we retire. We know sailboats but we don't know cruising so we got the boat early to learn on it. We traveled to a two day seminar at the boat show about double-handed ocean crossing and made a vacation out of it. We enjoy reading blogs and subscribe to cruising video blogs. My husband lays the architectural drawings of our new boat on the table and designs new furling systems and other modifications for a boat that is currently highjacked in another count. It's all part of the journey so take the criticism of those that are concerned about the impulsiveness of buying a boat and taking off pre-maturely in stride. They have your best interest at heart. But keep dreaming, learning and planning bc this part can be almost as exciting as casting off! Good luck! And reach out to your local sailing community. If you are willing to crew on a racing boat, it might be a great place to start. Every 36' racing boat has one owner and needs 4-10 additional people to crew it!

[4eyes]

I'm also a newb, and not much farther up the learning curve from the O.P.

Would any or all of you please define, "sailing dinghy"?

Are you talking about the Sunfish, Laser, Force 5 class of boats?

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by bfloSAILS

BUT, I am not a sailor because I cannot dock the boat, plot a course, steer through a spinaker jibe or even understand how the boat actually sails.

Oh man. Dave story:

I was in the BVI. My now wife flew down to meet me and we were sitting on a ball at Cooper Island. A charter boat comes into the mooring field while we were having apps and drinks in the cockpit. The first pass on a ball was just funny. After four failed I got in the dinghy to head over. In the process of getting going they must have decided there was something wrong with the first ball and started trying for a different one. I don't know how many failed attempts I missed. I dinghied over, grabbed the pendant, held it up and waved them back. *sigh* Still too fast but I got the float under the bow cleat and sent the crew off for a dockline to hook up. Really didn't take long to sort them out. The really funny part is that the charter was a boy's cruise from an Annapolis Yacht Club boat that had won PHRF High Point (I think) that year. *grin* Nice guys - just had never anchored or moored before.

[NormanMartin]

Dinghy: Centerboard, trailerable, open cockpit or small cuddy cabin, tiller steering.

For example... https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat?fi...rial&sort=name

Look up Lightning, Comet, Snipe, Day Sailor, Rhodes 18, 19 and Flying Scot for other examples.

[4eyes]

Originally Posted by NormanMartin

Dinghy: Centerboard, trailerable, open cockpit or small cuddy cabin, tiller steering.

For example... https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat?fi...rial&sort=name

Look up Lightning, Comet, Snipe, Day Sailor, Rhodes 18, 19 and Flying Scot for other examples.

Thank you.
Around here about all you see is Laser and Hobie Cat for small sailing vessels, until you get up to the Catalina 22.

I had no idea there was such a variety.

[CatNewBee]

Oh,

one more advice. I read the comments above, take them please with a grain of salt. Life's too short to do all of this upfront, you will never set sails and will get stuck in planning and dreaming if you follow up, you are never fully prepared for every situation.

Nothing compares to liveaboard. And everybody defines this differently, every lifestyle is different, every budget differs.

So, sailing a dinghi, chartering, doing classes, planning, crewing may make you a litle more confident and competent in sailing, but actually living on the water full time as a couple totaly switches your priorities and requires very different skills. You are the captain, the crew, the cook, the purse and budget controller, the deck monkey, the engine luber, the electricien, the first responder, the board doctor, the fibre glass guy, the cleaner, the mast climber, the diver, the weather guy, the tour planer... all of them.

We jumped head over heals in our adventure. Barely 3 Years from the initial idea of cruising around the world to moving full time on board and starting doing it. We've been greenhorns, never sailed before, chartered or even been on a boat (a kajak or surf board does not count I guess).

We figured out our budget to see how much of a boat we could afford, we looked at boatshows to see what is a round for the money and considered a pre-owned vessel. We took our licenses for sailing an VHF operating quite quickly, bought our boat and refitted it to our needs for full time living, we splashed her and then I was maneuvering a cat the first time alone to the dock with sweaty hands. After that many first times followed. Figuring out where to attach the main halyard to the sail, first time setting sails singlehanded, first time furling sails alone, first time reefing, anchoring, first passage over night, first squals and storms... Exciting and sometimes scary, but an awesome adventure.

You learn on the go, you read stuff and workout solutions for problems you did not know they even exist.

First trip was 5 nm out of the dock to the sea and back to the pontoon, then a little further on the open sea, then to a nearby island a couple of times, then a weekend trip, and then 5 weeks in a row to move the boat across the Med from France to Slovenia, 3000nm with multiple day/night passages and all bells and whistles.

Now we are on out 3rd year of ownership and we live on board already 1.5 years permanently., we overwintered in a marina, and are heading west to hopefully transit our first ocean next winter. 10000nm below the keel, and still learning new tricks every day.

We chose and fitted out our boat carefully, it is a beamy, but small 40ft cat (Lagoon 400S2 owners version), with a lot of storage for two, a condomaran what they call it, not fast, but sturdy, safe and after the refit very comfy, easy to singlehand with electric winches on the helm and all navigation aids, enough of energy to provide almost unlimited off grid liveability (fresh water, cooking, food storage / refrigeration / freezer). We can easily stay away from civilization for a couple of months if we want to, when we provision accordingly upfront, we have tools and some spare parts to fix or built things as we go - at least temporary, or have some redundancy for essential stuff.

All this you would never learn from chartering, sailing dinghis or crewing / racing. Even attending some blue water seminars would not give you the whole picture. Chose your boat, and prepare it for your jorney yourself, you will quickly find out what you really need.

The actual sailing part is really a very small peace of the big picture of cruising / living on board self relying / self sufficient in remote places, dealing with regulations, health care, provisioning, different languages and cultures, the supply chain in remote - sometimes less developed parts of the world...

You will be quite busy when embracing this adventure, but it is totaly worth it.

[Tupaia]

A catamaran....

[DanielPerry]

First Thing, learn to REEF YOUR SAILS and keep the helm balanced. The reason I say this is I think the best thing for comfort you can "bring" is the ability to keep things comfortable and under control without turning on the motor. Peace of mind and a stabilized boat in waves makes a big difference. If youre not at ease, comfort items are of little consolation

[Midtownsails]

I was in your position last year. I had no sailing experience. I bought a 26 foot Pearson as my starter boat and just learned while I sailed. I learned a lot about my preferences. You'll get a good idea of what size you'll need and what type of layouts you prefer after that first boat.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by TheNomadicAspie

A little about my situation. My wife and I plan to buy a 30-40 foot sailboat in the next few months, and spend the next year or so learning to sail before making it our eventual goal to sail around the world together.

We have never sailed before so of course getting to that point is a long way out, but in the meantime we are trying to figure out what kind of budget we should have, what the most important supplies we will need are, etc.

We want to be as self-sufficient as possible and to avoid going to port more than necessary, so we'll definitely be getting a watermaker.

I'm curious what kind of stuff you guys would recommend making a priority. Either emergency/life saving supplies, things that make life easier, or even just luxury items some people may not think of.

Sorry for the very basic and broad question. I just thought instead of trying to think of everything on my own as someone with zero sailing experience, maybe you guys would have some ideas of stuff to budget for when the time comes?

Open to any and all ideas. Supplies for doing repairs, food items, obvious stuff, non-obvious stuff, entertainment, doesn't matter.

I don't expect a comprehensive list of course (But if there are any that would be awesome), but what kind of stuff do you think I (Or someone in a similar situation) should make sure to have?

Peanut Butter and sill pickles

[gilgsn]

Here is my opinion on what I would consider must-haves. My boat is 20ft long. A water maker sure isn't one of them, on the basis that I want to avoid things that can break and are not necessary.
Good anchors and rode, and yes, I mean anchors plural. I lost a boat because I had only a small anchor after losing my main... Never again.
A dinghy is nice, with a small gas motor.
Solar power, dual batteries, big ones.
An inboard diesel, and for me, a full-keel boat.
Communications, EPIRB and inReach. I am an amateur radio operator so I add a few HAM radios for good measure, especially one that does CW (for sending Morse code), but that's me... Useful for getting weather data also and send email.
A parachute sea anchor.
An automatic bilge pump.
A spare tiller.
A sawing awl.
I am sure I am forgetting many things, but those came to mind first...


Gil.

[NormanMartin]

The above reply from Gligsn reminded me to suggest the ORC handbook for ocean racer safety standards.

https://www.sailing.org/specialregs

They list the bare minimum of required gear for offshore racing at many levels. My Aphrodite 101 is equipped very close to Level 2 as that is the type of cruising and racing we do.

In addition to the minimums listed... that's personal.