Help with a fiction novel

[michaelzargona]

Hello all! First post. I'm not a sailor, I'm a writer and am looking for some help.

I've published two books and am working on the third. As part of the story, the main group of 8 adults and 3 children must journey from the Puget Sound, WA area up through the Inside Passage, across the Bering Sea (avoiding Anchorage area), along the Aleutians, and then finally stop near Vladivostok, Russia.

Some background: it's a dystopian / apocalyptic story, more 1984 than Road Warrior but some of both. No fuel...which means wind power. No one is chasing them, so the dangers will be natural. And, given that route, there should be plenty. I haven't had much luck finding people who deep sea sail up there.

I've done a little bit of research. At this point I've settled on a Skookum 53 as it's a) a pretty believable boat to have in Washington State and b) it seems too small for such a big group but not impossibly so. Obviously a huge ship that does everything comfortably is not great for dramatic fiction, and a bathtub with a handkerchief on a stick for a sail isn't realistic. I do know the Skookum 53 is a motor sail and has a number of systems dependent on generator-run electrical power, so finding workarounds is both mine and the characters' job. I like how all of these boats have been customized over the years and all seem to have a unique flair.

You've made it this far. What I'm looking for from the sailing experts:

1. Tell me I've either made a good choice in the Skookum 53 (and why), or a terrible one (and, yes, why and what do you recommend).
2. What are some things that can go really wrong with a boat like this, and also with the route? I'm pretty familiar with the tides around the San Juans (I live in WA), but everything north of there is unknown to me.
3. Do you have any interest in looking at the rough draft portions related to the trip? These are big books so this is only a relatively small part of the overall story, but I don't want to gloss it over.

- M.Z.