I know nothing of Sailing Can someone be so kind to HELP me please!

[LifePart2]

Thiago,

It is good to have dreams. But to achieve them you need to take some basic steps.
There are three things you need to be skilled at if you want to go cruising the world:
1) You need to know how to sail
2) You need to know how to cruise - ie manage the day to day hassles of living on a yacht, including of course navigation, motion sickness, finding fuel and so on ...
3) you need to know how to repair stuff. By that I mean you need to be REALLY self sufficient when it comes to troubleshooting and doing makeshift repairs in distant places - engine troubles, electrical troubles, things that break and so on.

For learning to sail the best strategy is NOT to learn on a yacht. Go to a local dinghy sailing club. Take a basic dinghy sailing course. Then either offer to crew for someone, or buy a cheap used dinghy, and get in at least 100 hours in all sorts of weather conditions. Try joining some races. That way you will learn to SAIL - ie to understand the wind and how to use it. Dinghies are way more responsive than yachts and give you immediate feedback when you get it wrong - usually by capsizing and throwing you in the water!

When you know how to sail, then find a way to sail on a yacht - take some keelboat skipper courses, or find a local yacht racing club where people are always looking for crew for the weekends for racing. See if you actually like big boat sailing.

As for fixing stuff - well, you know if you are a handyman or not. Quite franly I haven't a clue how people who are not handymen manage to cruise. There is always something that needs fixing!

May you make your dreams come true.

Noel

[thiago1979]

carstenb
I don’t understand the Route to Iceland? Is the Iceland Currents faster? What’s the average knots of a typical Sailboat? (Like 1968 Alberg 30). I think a Catalina 30 makes around 4-7 knots that would be like 168 miles per Day? The distance from Miami to Tobago is around 1,500.00 miles, very far if you ask me. I thought it would only take me 25 days to get there, but boy now that I am looking at this in more detail, it seems a very long journey! Four to Five months journey. That does not really excite me to tell you the truth. I was looking to do Island hopping through the Bahamas and then to the Caribbean Sea just to be safe if anything would go wrong land would not be so far away from me. I guess I really do have to sail in the Winter months. Living Miami in the Autumn will get me in the Spring to Summer months in Brazil. This right now seems so long and confusing. Let me do more research on this.
Thank you for your support!

[thiago1979]

LifePart2
I have signed up for some classes in Coconut Groove Marina. I will begin my first class this month on the 13th . With the Forum support I have met some sailors from there, now comes the doing part! I agree with you on the fixing of the boat. Depending on the sailboat that I would be buying (most likely Diesel) it would have a specific engine on it. The Hull repair is one of the MUST learn Survival skills.
Thanks for your support!

[thiago1979]

sctpc
I have just started to meet some people who are involved with sailing, so it would be a while until I would be testing any type of sailboat. I am still holding on to my “Blue Lagoon” dreams though. The world is immense full of adventures and mysteries that awaits the curious. My child like dreams are not vanishing with the difficulties that comes along with sailing the Seas. I can say at times I am discouraged about some of the doubts of other sailors I meet. For some people a 20k Sailboat is not good enough and for some people the fire that burns in me scares them. Yes I am a simple man, with sailing desires of adventures throughout the world. Yes I will sell the little that I have and buy up my dream. There was a time when I didn’t need a wrist watch to tell me what time of the day it was. Those days were a lot happier and healthier days then now days. For that reason I keep on forward sailing winds, even if the most experience sailors keep on telling me how big the waves are offshore. Some of the reasons I chose sailing is for its freedom to get to parts of the world without needing to buy another airplane ticket and another Hotel reservation. Do you remember why you choose to sail? Well my friend then the most experience sailors and I don’t have much difference except sailing itself. I humble myself in your advices and I find myself thankful for each of your help, because if it wasn’t for your sailing desires no one would know what sailing was.
Thank you for your support!

[carstenb]

Thiago, either you are truly innocent or a complete sham. I'm not sure which. The Iceland post was a joke.

Miami - Tabago = 1500 miles = 1200 NAUTICAL miles. At average 6 knots per hour = 200 hours sailing time = roughly 8 days.

So you don't need 3-4 months. A little over a week should do it. There are no Icelandic currents and I strongly suggest that alongside your sailing lessons, you take some geography courses. Iceland is far to the north.

Oh and you will also need to do some serious thinking about the buckets you will need.

[thiago1979]

Hello carstenb

I know where Iceland is, thanks. What I don't know is the reality of sailing speed and time that goes with it. Now I feel much better on your answer about the actual time frame it would take for a sailboat to get there. Thanks for the buckets I will keep that in mind when I need it. Like the post said I don't know much about sailing or terminology, however I am learning bit by bit with some books and great advice from all who offer to lend a hand. I don't know about your "Sham" comment there, I guess you need to meet me and you would see right off the bat I do not really know much about sailing. Like I mention here I have a Dream and Desire that is what i run on, everything else I am searching for. Thank you again for the realistic time frame and distance from Miami to Tobago. This information among others will serve me the correct way to plan.

Cheers

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by thiago1979

sctpc
Do you remember why you choose to sail? Well my friend then the most experience sailors and I don’t have much difference except sailing itself. I humble myself in your advices and I find myself thankful for each of your help, because if it wasn’t for your sailing desires no one would know what sailing was.
Thank you for your support!

I chose sailing as a way to explore my island as I did 15 years on land traveling, but I am still in the learning and only doing 4 or 500nm trips once a year and weekend sailing till my kids finish school.

Don't give up on your dreams but don't turn them into a nightmare ether. carstenb is correct when he says "Miami - Tabago = 1500 miles = 1200 NAUTICAL miles. At average 6 knots per hour = 200 hours sailing time = roughly 8 days." but can you control a boat for eight days and nights safely? I would not do that and I trust my girls to stand watch ect.

[chuckr]

thiago -- getting to trini as you planned by island hopping is the way most folks do it - we sail a 40' boat and make all of our plans around 5k - if we get in early it is time for an early sundowner - if we get in late we come in in the dark which we do not do -
you can leave and enjoy a leasurely trip down thru the bahamas and down - pick up the book by bruce van sant called the gentlemans to passages south -

as for getting to brazil - why not one step at a time - get to bahamas1st and then the next step

for us right now = people ask us what we are doing this next sailing season - our response is heading north and that is all - are we doing some planning - yes - but we plans change so the best we can say right now is in jan or so we will head north but who knows where - only God -

keep on dreaming

just our thoughts
chuck patty and svsoulmates
in trinidad for hurricane season

[thiago1979]

sctpc

Thank you for your post!

Yes indeed carstenb is right on the distance, however the more realistic calculation from carstenb for a newbie like me would be 25 to 30 days taking rest here and there. I assume at first I will make about 12 to 15 hours of sailing just because of the excitement of the actual doing the sailing to my destinations. Yes I will be scared and happy at the same time, because just looking around and not seeing any land around me would worry me quiet a bit. Now what I need to get is some Nautical Charts so I will know what islands have Marinas and where. I have made a Google Maps personal map calculations for routes with some pics etc. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...2d95032b&msa=0 Feel free to take a look at it!

Cheers

[maytrix]

I wouldn't worry about nautical charts yet. Go out and get some actual sailing experience first.

You strike me as someone who's never driven and rather than going driving with a friend in their car, you want to buy an 18 wheeler and hit the highway.

[thiago1979]

Originally Posted by maytrix

I wouldn't worry about nautical charts yet. Go out and get some actual sailing experience first.

You strike me as someone who's never driven and rather than going driving with a friend in their car, you want to buy an 18 wheeler and hit the highway.

True! Unforgettably when it comes to sailing, no I never sailed and I haven't met many people around here that just likes to take strangers sailing.

Cheers

[sailorboy1]

how do you know you will even like sailing then?

[thiago1979]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

how do you know you will like sailing then?

By actually taking some classes at the Coconut Grove Marina here in Miami. One thing is for sure motions sickness will be one of the worst things I need to adapt to. The beginnings of the plan are on the way. To answer your question more directly I don't know 100% if I will like sailing, what I do expect is that there will be difficult obstacles ahead. To my knowledge I believe to get to most parts of the world independently without having a Airplane Pilot License would be sailing. The best cost effective plan from what I can see as of right now is Sailing. Besides how else would I really have a better advantage of getting to my tropical island dreams?

Cheers

[maytrix]

Originally Posted by thiago1979

True! Unforgettably when it comes to sailing, no I never sailed and I haven't met many people around here that just likes to take strangers sailing.

Cheers

Your best bet is to take a course. Basic Keelboat would be the one to start with. It's usually a 2 day course and will get you basic understanding and time out on the water.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by thiago1979

I am one of those guys that is just tired of society and want to get away from it all and fallow the beautiful images from the movie "Blue Lagoon".

Ah yes, Blue Lagoon. Was in the skinny-dipping scene that inspired you?

Nothing better than a story about a shipwreck to get the cruising juices flowing! Thank goodness shipwreck stories all have happy endings.