NZ to Eastern Oz in Mid-June?

[magicbuzz]

I'm seriously considering looking for a boat to help out with, for a mid-June New Zealand to Australia east coast crossing. I work for NOAA (in Australia - yes, it's a rare thing) and am working on a project in Mexico for a month from mid-May. I will have 2-3 weeks of leave up my sleeve afterwards, and although a lot of boats jump off from Panama, I figure with just a few weeks, my best bet would be flying to NZ and then getting to the Aust east coast. I'd value anyone's comments about the likelihood of boats leaving from NZ then - it would seem so given the direction is cold -> warm I have my own 16' open boat I sail around the northern GBR but it would be my first bluewater crossing.

[rusky]

Hiya Magic,
Only my views, but;
I think winter is the wrong time to try this [at least the Tasman section]and you need a good weather window at any time. A 2-3 week leave is too short to push the issue. Its 800nm frm Opua to Lord Howe and another 400 to Coffs and another 800nm to Townsville.

You may get lucky if a paid delivery is on someones books and you could tag along.

Good luck with it.

[dana-tenacity]

Try leaving from Fiji or Noumea

[magicbuzz]

Rusky, appreciate the input, especially the comment about the weather. I could stretch out to 4 weeks leave but that's about the limit. Ideally, I would like to do a stretch on the 'coconut milk run' but maybe 4 weeks is not enough.

Thanks Dana. Will look into Fiji->Oz and Noumea->Oz

As it turns out, I will be finishing up this piece of work in Washington DC (HQ) and so maybe looking for a US east coast to Bahamas (or further south) would be a good first bluewater experience. Ah..decisions..decisions :-)

[barnakiel]

I would not go in the winter. Summer is bad enough.

Try NZ to N Cal then on to Oz, (April-June, but some boats do it Nov-Dec, too).

b.