New World Cruising Routes

[estarzinger]

We have had a couple cruisers looking for an alternative to the Red Sea route ask us by e-mail for some of our thoughts on the South Africa route. I just put a two part article Beth's wrote on our web site (part 1, part 2)

[atoll]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

We have had a couple cruisers looking for an alternative to the Red Sea route ask us by e-mail for some of our thoughts on the South Africa route. I just put a two part article Beth's wrote on our web site (part 1, part 2)

with the majority of boats wanting to visit thailand and malaysia,this route would oblige them to spend 6 months there,then back track to sumatra or bali,and jump off in april may to christmas is or cocos keeling island,or miss out most of se asia,

it also obliges one to spend the cyclone season in nz or australia if coming from the pacific in october,and heading over the top end in may,not leaving much time to visit indonesia.

the reason this trip is so rough is you are heading wsw in to the southern hemispheres winter.

the route i preposed in an earlier post allows one to exit the pacific in october,visit se asia and continue on in good weather via chagos ,madagasgar and mozambique channel,avoiding gales,cold weather and arrives in south africa at the optimum time oct/nov

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by atoll

the route i preposed . . . .

I understand and appreciate the merits of the route you suggested. However, there in fact have been pirate attacks at the top of Madagascar/mozambique channel, so it really does not solve the specific problem people are looking at. For me the decision between the two is a tradeoff between a gale under madagascar vs a pirate at the top of the Mozambique.

I am certainly not trying to 'sell' a route, only sharing our experience. We have always gone south, so that what we know and what Beth has written about. We have elected to go south rather than the Mozambique for several reasons - but primarily because there were various thugs wandering around the Mozambique when we were there and I prefer to be in 'open ocean' rather than in constrained coastal current waters.

I am puzzled why you don't think its feasible to enter the Indian in Oct (as you suggest some people want to do), explore Asia (as you suggest) for perhaps 11 months, and then leave for Durban and make the choice at that time between going south (beth's route) vs down the Mozambique depending on the pirate vs gale situation at the time. The pilot chart even has specifically marked on it a GC route from Sunda Strait to Cape Hope (essentially Beth's route under madagascar) with nice reaching winds all the way. I agree, depending on how far west you get, you might choose to cruise a bit SE (backtrack in your words) before jumping off to the SW, but there's nothing wrong with that - gives you an opportunity to see things you missed or really liked.

[atoll]

i am sorry if i implyed that you were selling a route,having crossed the indian ocean my self,from east to west twice and from north to south,and vice versa twice.

the incidence of piracy/violent crime is far higher in the carribean than off the top end of madagasgar and mozambique channel to warrant it to be a no go zone.

but that is by the bye, the real issue now that the red sea route is effectively a no go zone/russian roulette route, it is no longer possible to do an 18-24 month circum nav,jumping from norther hemisphere to southern hemisphere.

one is now obliged to spend a 6 month stop in aus and miss out se asia,our miss out aus and spend 6 months in asia.

not a big deal but now to sail safely in the right season a circum nav is going to be 30-36 months

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by atoll

one is now obliged to spend a 6 month stop in aus and miss out se asia,our miss out aus and spend 6 months in asia.

I agree if you want to do an 18-24 month RTW you now have to make a choice between OZ and asia.

I would have to give it a bit of thought, but if you wanted to string Australia, Asia, and then Durban all together without sitting out cyclone season . . . I wonder if you could go under Australia (say in October/November). We know first hand you would be downwind along there during the summer (we went the wrong way). And then up the West coast (also downwind) in December/January to somewhere in Asia (Bali?). Then cruise Asia and start heading south slowly in may, thru whatever Indian ocean islands you want and arrive In Durban in October - so all in you have 12 months in the Indian ocean and perhaps 4 in Australia and 4 in Asia and 4 in the ocean crossing and various islands.

I don't know the N Indian all that well - does that make any sense?

[Pelagic]

Terrific stuff guys and I think it is of great value to highlight the various options.

Beth’s articles are pure gold for cruiser’s considering alternate routes and I can testify that if you visit some of the places that see few cruisers, their welcome and hospitality seems far nicer.

What I don’t understand with some cruisers is that they will bypass exploring a region in detail, because of a “circumnavigation” schedule that I think shortchanges their ultimate experience.

Spending 11 months in Asia exploring their diverse cultures, seems pretty minimal to me and I believe going to the less visited parts is far more rewarding than “pit stops” on the well advertised cruising route.

The favorite places that Beth and Evans highlight about in their website only underlines my point

This is why I think in terms of mini circumnavigations of regions, before even considering the next jump

Evans, Atoll, thanks for contributing to show others that have been planning a world cruise that one bad area can be avoided without compromising your dreams.

I think it makes sense to just indicate optimum weather departing dates from a given region and let the skipper crew decide which year that would be.

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

What I don’t understand with some cruisers is that they will bypass exploring a region in detail, because of a “circumnavigation” schedule that I think shortchanges their ultimate experience.

Well I now agree, since I have become a sailing bum

But our first RTW was a 24 month job (we took 12months in an Atlantic circle before hand so 36 months in total), we were still driven corporate types who wanted to go get it done and 24 months seems like quite a bit of time. So, I certainly understand the 24 and 36 month mindsets.

As you suggest, one does find that the world is a bigger place than you expected, especially when you add in some of the moderate latitude locations, and you can take a life time and not see or understand it all.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

I agree if you want to do an 18-24 month RTW you now have to make a choice between OZ and asia.

I would have to give it a bit of thought, but if you wanted to string Australia, Asia, and then Durban all together without sitting out cyclone season . . . I wonder if you could go under Australia (say in October/November). We know first hand you would be downwind along there during the summer (we went the wrong way). And then up the West coast (also downwind) in December/January to somewhere in Asia (Bali?). Then cruise Asia and start heading south slowly in may, thru whatever Indian ocean islands you want and arrive In Durban in October - so all in you have 12 months in the Indian ocean and perhaps 4 in Australia and 4 in Asia and 4 in the ocean crossing and various islands.

I don't know the N Indian all that well - does that make any sense?

good imput but realistically going under australia against prevailing winds is probably beyond most trade wind cruisers.....

in your other post you mentioned the gc route sunda strait to cape town in october,
in deed i know one person who has done this, leaving panama in march,torres str in sept then eventually arriving in the cape in november,
a polish single hander......... he was on the $500 a month budget,and finally arriving back in europe in june,so in deed it is still possible to circumnav down wind in 24 months,with stops of no longer than 2 weeks any where.

personally i find 6-10 000 miles a year with a 3-4 month break in between
satisfactory and not over taxing

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by atoll

good imput but realistically going under australia against prevailing winds is probably beyond most trade wind cruisers.....

Along the coast, in the bight, its prevailing westerlies up until about October, then mostly easterlies during 'mid-summer'. The Pardey's did it the direction I am suggesting ( e to w ) with following winds. We did it the other way and had headwinds.

We were heading to Tasmania from Freo and had to drop south a couple degrees to get the westerlies.

You would probably need to wait for the right wind to get thru the narrow and more southern eastern part (bass streight).

This is a bit like the discussion about winds along the S Africa coast. It's just not that far south. Leeuwin is at 34 20 if I remember, and its not in the westerly flow during the summer.

Below, I show winds today (late summer).

[atoll]

Attached Thumbnails

yes definite option during the summer,and out of the cyclone area,sydney ,hobart adelaide, melborne and perth are great traditional sailing destinations.

though i think cruisers that have just done,15 000 miles downwind bare foot cruising,may have to adopt a different mind set,tension the rigging,check the stiching on the sails before under taking the trip.........

but i guess the same goes for getting around cape town,which is not quite as far south......

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by atoll

(...) so in deed it is still possible to circumnav down wind in 24 months,with stops of no longer than 2 weeks any where (...)

Circumnavigation of what? (Pacific? Australia?)

I think you can sail a RTW in 12 months or so.

barnie

[atoll]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Circumnavigation of what? (Pacific? Australia?)

I think you can sail a RTW in 12 months or so.

barnie

true but not very interesting with few stops

[savoir]

There are other suggestions for cruising the Indian and South Atlantic oceans here.

Passage Planning Map - South Atlantic Ocean

[atoll]

Originally Posted by savoir

There are other suggestions for cruising the Indian and South Atlantic oceans here.

Passage Planning Map - South Atlantic Ocean

see they (rcc foundation) cover neither of the routes i have preposed,ie via sunda strs in april from se asia, or the other trans equitorial route via chagos in feb-march

[savoir]

Is that a problem ?