Over 20 years ago, a dream began to grow in the imagination of a teenage dishwasher. The dream of sailing the open ocean.
Here we are mid-pandemic, and that dream has become more well defined and the means to achieve it closer every day. I'm going to put it out there if there are any like-minded dreamers who'd like to join.
I live in
California, so the ideal journey starts there. But I've realized as I do some window
shopping that the start point might very well end up being somewhere else, and that's fine.
The "Points of Interest" rough
draft:
California > West Central American Coast >
Ecuador (Quito) >
Galapagos > Option 1
Marquesas, /Option 2 Easter Island, Pitcairn Islands > FrenchPolynesia >
Cook Islands > option 1 Samoa/option 2
Tonga >
Fiji >
Vanuatu > Solomon Islands > Caroline/Mortlock/Makur Islands >
Guam > Ogasawara >
Japan > Aleutian Island Chain/Alaskan coast > Canadian
West Coast >
USA West Coast.
The vessel: I'm looking at
Seawind (1260 &1370) and
Lagoon (38'-45') catamarans. I'm also making a decision whether to buy new and put her in
charter for 5 years to decrease the cost, or to buy used outright.
The goal(s): I've got a few people I'd like to see along the way (my
family is Guamanian and Japanese), have full dive gear/compressor aboard, and just be open to whatever and whomever the trip reveals. I've already sailed from
Thailand to
Egypt, and I'm not too interested in an
Atlantic crossing, so I prefer this trip to a traditional
circumnavigation. I'm quite excited by the various aspects, from the beautiful
South Pacific to the more isolated and chilly Alaskan coastline. I love
diving, wildlife/nature,
cooking, sailing, and am a social person (though I do enjoy my solitude in nature as well).
The crew: The vessels I am looking at have 3-4 cabins with space for 8-10 people. I am hoping to get some takers from my friends and
family for various legs and also open to fellow dreamers. I have not really worked out costs, but have thought along the various spectrums from just taking whomever for free/self-provisioning to creating a website and booking certain legs as charter/dive trips. I mean, I haven't even bought the vessel yet, but I thought I would put this out there as some collaboration in terms of planning and execution would be great, as "proper planning prevents piss poor performance" (a little gem from the fellow I sailed the
Indian Ocean with, and whom I found on this very forum!)
The
skipper: Former firefighter,
current medical (working on Registered Nurse
license, estimated complete in 2023). I live on my
Catalina 270 LE in Santa Barbara. I've sailed the
Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, as well as here in the Channel Islands and some inland lake sailing where I started out. I consider myself an amateur sailor. EMT/First Aid/CPR consistently qualified and re-certified regularly, "Rescue Diver" with PADI (which just means level 3, it's not like a Search and
Rescue certification). I have spent around 7 years of my life (cumulatively, recreationally) traveling internationally and enjoy it a lot.
Anyway, this post should be up for a few years like the rest, so if this dream coincides with your own, hit me up and let's chat! I've set target dates as 2027-2032, but that's fairly conservative. If some windfall or other happens (c'mon cryptocurrency!), that timeline could move up.
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