Trans Atlantic Voyage From South Africa to USA

[ChrisEls27]

Good day everyone. I am new here on the forum and have a huge respect for you all.

I am wondering if anyone will be willing to plan a trans atlantic trip next year (2021) from South Africa to the USA? I do not own my own boat and have little sailing experience, but am planning on attending a sailing school during the year. I am in the process of applying for my K1 Visa as my fiancé is in Maryland and will need to travel back home (USA). Being the adventurer that I am, I want to sail the trip instead of flying. I am looking for experienced sailors, whereby I can learn first hand how to properly sail and navigate.

I am willing to fund the trip in terms of supplies, food and provisions. I can also provide accommodation at my home in Cambridge, MD as well as arranged for a boat slip located right outside our apartment building on the Choptank river (easily accessible from the coast)

I will appreciate any help or recommendations in this regard.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Chris.

[ChrisEls27]

Thank you, much appreciated Gord May.

[Knot Safety]

Good day Chris

A suggestion - reach out to Leopard Catamarans. They are built in South Africa and delivered around the world from there. One of their delivery skippers May be looking for crew. Don’t know that will get you to the US, but should get to the Caribbean at the very least.

[ChrisEls27]

Thank you, Knot Safety for the great suggestion. I will reach out to them too. You never know until you have tried.

[MIRELOS]

Knot Safety is right, there are also other SA catamaran companies delivering boats to the US or Caribbean Islands, you might also try the delivery companies or catamaran dealers in the US

[contrail]

Unfortunately, I think you will find the Leopard deliveries are now done mostly by ship. That's too bad.....they all used to be delivered on their own bottoms.

[ChrisEls27]

Thank you all. I am very pleased with all the responses I have been getting on this forum. You all are very helpful.

On another note. I really want to get into sailing, does anyone have any suggestions for a good sailing school? Does international sailing certifications exist that would allow me to sail in for example here in South Africa and Maryland, USA?

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by ChrisEls27

Thank you all. I am very pleased with all the responses I have been getting on this forum. You all are very helpful.

On another note. I really want to get into sailing, does anyone have any suggestions for a good sailing school? Does international sailing certifications exist that would allow me to sail in for example here in South Africa and Maryland, USA?

Yes ...... contact Atlantic Yachting based in Langebaan ...... I cannot recommend them enough ... contact Hayley or Adrian ..... the owners of Atlantic Yachting

[roland stockham]

Although you are planning this for 2021 I would suggest not making any firm plans for the present. The USA will be by far the worst disaster zone in the world following the current pandemic and that is assuming it is over by then. Likely outcomes may be significant financial collapse, collapse of the healthcare system, massive unemployment and political chaos. You may be far better off moving your training to another location.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

Although you are planning this for 2021 I would suggest not making any firm plans for the present. The USA will be by far the worst disaster zone in the world following the current pandemic and that is assuming it is over by then. Likely outcomes may be significant financial collapse, collapse of the healthcare system, massive unemployment and political chaos. You may be far better off moving your training to another location.

So you think South Africa will skate by with their healtcare infrastructure or the rest of Africa? There will be and currently are many countries with disasterous outcomes, it won't just be the US.

[roland stockham]

It is of course possible that some, or even many countries with low levels of technology and health infrastructure will suffer badly. There are some possible mitigating circumstances. First countries that are primarily agricultural rather than industrial have fewer and slower travel movements. Second low income levels me fewer people traveling by plane or long distances. Third, low tech societies are far less dependent on infrastructure. New York will collapse in less than a week with no supplies, many African villages could probably last months. Add to this that to limit the spread of Covid 9 does not require high tech or expensive equipment, rather prompt and decisive leadership. True, treatment of severe cases does require ICU care so death rates will be higher where this is not available. There are already situations where this is happening however these countries are relatively small and surrounding countries will close boarder isolating the outbreak. I don't mean to minimize anyone's suffering but the US has 6x the population of South Africa so even if they did lose control the way the US has the impact at a global scale will be much less. We could try to guess the best place to be but with boarders closed we are stuck with where we are so there is little point. My concern with the USA is primarily that I live next door in Canada and while we have made very great headway in slowing and containing spread (my region is around 1500km square and has 17 cases) the uncontrolled spread south of the border is somewhat worrying for us.
I am not inventing this stuff it is in all the medical journals including those based in the USA. Have a look at the New England Medical Journal for example or log into Medscape, both are internationally recognize science journals

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

It is of course possible that some, or even many countries with low levels of technology and health infrastructure will suffer badly. There are some possible mitigating circumstances. First countries that are primarily agricultural rather than industrial have fewer and slower travel movements. Second low income levels me fewer people traveling by plane or long distances. Third, low tech societies are far less dependent on infrastructure. New York will collapse in less than a week with no supplies, many African villages could probably last months. Add to this that to limit the spread of Covid 9 does not require high tech or expensive equipment, rather prompt and decisive leadership. True, treatment of severe cases does require ICU care so death rates will be higher where this is not available. There are already situations where this is happening however these countries are relatively small and surrounding countries will close boarder isolating the outbreak. I don't mean to minimize anyone's suffering but the US has 6x the population of South Africa so even if they did lose control the way the US has the impact at a global scale will be much less. We could try to guess the best place to be but with boarders closed we are stuck with where we are so there is little point. My concern with the USA is primarily that I live next door in Canada and while we have made very great headway in slowing and containing spread (my region is around 1500km square and has 17 cases) the uncontrolled spread south of the border is somewhat worrying for us.
I am not inventing this stuff it is in all the medical journals including those based in the USA. Have a look at the New England Medical Journal for example or log into Medscape, both are internationally recognize science journals

If you don't have running water, it is hard to wash your hands often. If you live in dense townships and travel in dense minibuses it is impossible to social distance. Africa has a population of 1.2 billion people, far more than Canada, US and Mexico combined.
Here's Canada's cv19 cases graph as of today

[roland stockham]

Agreed, cities anywhere will be bad places and poor cities much worse. I may have got lulled into a false sense of the potential here. On the epidemiology maps Africa as a continent has the lowest infection rate of anywhere but that does not mean it will stay that way. Thank you for the correction.

[Jack Hattingh]

Hello Chris, back to your question regading sailing schools near Cape Town. I live here and will assist you with innformation. Just drop me an email - jacknhattingh@gmail.com