Is it Possible to Go Blue Water in a 13 Foot Guppy?

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by pete2169

Hey Everyone, Just for the record, not a troll here. Just joined the site yesterday.
I am just a guy with a dream to get my guppy to Tonga somehow next year. I have a small lot of land in Vava'u. I added a photo of the guppy to my profile page. The photo was taken when I first bought the boat last year. The mask and sails are not in this photo. I have done a lot of work on the boat and I will add some more photos soon. Just looking for some tips and advise here.

Have a great turkey day !!!

Hi Pete
Sorry for thinking you were a troll. It is just such a reckless thing to consider doing in your tiny boat, particularly as you have never taken it into open water.
Happy Thanksgiving and safe sailing!

[Travelnik]

Here's a guy that paddled a collapsible boat around the Pacific Islands:
PaulTheroux.com {} non fiction {} The Happy Isles Of Oceania

He definitely didn't paddle it there though!

[Artif]

Luxury liner
Try 3'11" N.G.P. Productions Ltd

[Weyalan]

If you need to ask the question, then the answer is, for you, a resounding "No!

[atoll]

probably more what you want to hear is this.

inside the vavauu group you will probably be ok sailing the yacht in sheltered waters.

vavauu and around nuku'alofa fine,but i would not attempt to sail to neiafuu,or other islands outside the group on such a small boat.

there are no rescue services.

open ocean forget it,ship the boat.

[Andrew Troup]

Lots of things are possible.

It's possible to teach yourself to snowski by walking up mountains and skiing down them.

The same guy needed my help on another occasion. Someone had lent him some waterskis. He needed someone to drive the boat. I had never driven a boat. The fishing boat harbour was full of broken, jagged piles. The nearest hospital was five hours away. In brief, he taught himself to waterski while I learned to drive a boat.

The point is he never stopped to ask what was possible.

The second point was that he was a truly gifted individual.

The last point is that he died, a couple of years later, doing something else which was also possible.

At least, in theory.

[Adelie]

Possible yes.

Previous adventures of this sort have relied on a fair bit of skill and at least a touch of luck.

The USCG has recently been discouraging crossings in very small boats.

You want to try something like this, I would suggest either you already have a fair bit of sea experience, or you spent a couple of years bombing around the Caribbean on this boat to build up said experience, then start asking questions about what issues you should consider before leaving.

One of the consequences of using a boat this small is that it will very slow, meaning that a lot of food will need to be carried hence extra weight leading to the boat being even slower. I would expect to make 60nm/d average and plan on 30 or 40 for provisioning purposes. This means you need to plan for a 100d passage just to make the Marquesas's which is the first stop if you head straight to the South Pacific Islands.

Are you really determined to go in this boat, or would another very small and cheap boat be acceptable? If the latter then there are at least 2 that I would recommend that would be much more suitable and coincidentally faster and more comfortable.

[pete2169]

Thanks Adelie,

For the Great Advice, nice pirate ship. What kind of other small boat would you suggest?

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by pete2169

Thanks Adelie,

For the Great Advice, nice pirate ship. What kind of other small boat would you suggest?

CAL 20 sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com
BAYFIELD 25 sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

Lot of Cal 20's were built so there are plenty around to get used and there is still on-going class support by Seal's Spars. You could pick one up used from $1-3k depending on the amount of work that needed to be done. They have been taken to HA from CA twice so they have been offshore proven to a certain extent.
$1k Lopez Isl, 1966 CAL 20 CAL 20 sailboat for sale in Washington
$1 (yes $1) in MD so you would have to retrieve it., 70 CAl 20' sailboat for sale in Maryland
$1500 in CA, 1969 Cal 20 | 20 foot 1969 Sailboat in Marina Del Rey CA | 3232721008 | Used Boats on Oodle Marketplace



The Bayfield is a bit longer and can deal with the weight of cruising gear a little better, and it has standing headroom up to 6'. It appears to be a bit heavier built than the Cal if you compensate for length and beam, but that may be because the Cal does not have a liner and the Bayfield does, also becuase the Cal is a shorter (vertically) boat compared to the Bayfield. Honestly I think they are about even in strength.
There is currently one in Victoria BC for $2500, 1976 bayfield sloop
And another in Pt Angeles for $5500, Bayfield 25 Sailboat

[Artif]

Build yourself one of these and follow in the footsteps (wake) of Rory
Rory And Cookie

[SurferShane]

Go out and read as much stuff about amazing voyages in small boats as you can find. If they turn you on go for it!

I have to apologize that I read a story about a similar voyage in a boat like yours but have totally forgot the name of the book.

[tropicalescape]

My second boat was an old town white cap(same thing as Tinkerbell) that was all original including the sails and running rigging!If Bob Manery could sail across the Atlantic with some mods. why could you not do something similar? Might have to take some speed like Manery did,and then deal with little men that pop up out of the sea...On second thought maybe better to ship it!

[hesmysnowman]

Why do I seem to be the only one for this? It's like the guys doing wheelies down the highway on sport bikes. Great idea and part of the natural selection that perpetuates a increasingly better gene pool.

[Mr B]

There was a 16 or 18 foot Catamaran that was next to mine in Fiji, It was built by the original owner and then sailed from NZ to Fiji,

That was scary just looking at the size of it, It only had a tent thing or lean to on the top of it,
Crossing an ocean on it, No way, I would not do it,

[Curmudgeon]

It is quite possible to skydive once without a parachute. But it is not possible to skydive twice.