Ben, as others have suggested, what you propose is a pretty arduous undertaking. It is completely unrealistic to set a time for the trip, even if you were an experienced voyager and had a well equipped and well shaken down yacht for the trip. A
cruise of that length will entail too many as yet unknown factors (think wear and tear, storm damage,
health issues,
weather glitches and so on) to just say "100 mpd" or whatever. This sort of planning simply does not
work over that long and complex a voyage.
If you are really interested in visiting your friends by
boat, how about a
trailer sailor, towed across the country and launched somewhere on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can still sail proudly into their home port, and even have a clue about when you will get there!
It's a lovely dream, so why not try to accomplish it in a way that has a better chance of success?
Good Luck with it, mate!
Cheers,
Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Careel Bay, NSW, Oz
Starting as a non
boat owner
newbie, I think it is a bad idea. All very well for the arm chair experts to say "go for it", but it isn't their life or their
money at stake.