i need to know how much experience will i need to go from Miami to cartagena col. and what is the max. size sailboat can i handle by myself? hopefully nothing larger than a 30 footer. and what is better a catamaran or a standard sailboat? i can really user any advice since i will be doing this time is the only limit now.
help!!
- Thread starter orca lopez
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Don't take this the wrong way, but if you have to ask those questions then you are behind the sailing power curve. I would suggest you gain considerable amount of knowledge before even thinking of attempting even stepping foot on a sailboat. Again, I am only saying this to keep you alive.
The journey you describe is an aspirational journey, one that you spend considerable time, that is years, planning and preparing for. The route is around 1,200 NM. If you can maintain a 5 knot cruising speed, then you'll be at sea for about 10 to 14 days. You'll need to be able to handle your boat in both fair weather and foul. You'll need to be able to repair critical systems while hundreds of miles from port. You'll need to maintain a 24 hour watch and sleep too.
This is certainly a journey that can be completed in a 30 foot boat, but it will take several years of extensive experience to have the skills to do it safely and comfortably.
This is certainly a journey that can be completed in a 30 foot boat, but it will take several years of extensive experience to have the skills to do it safely and comfortably.
Opposite of Brian's post: GET ABOARD a boat, ANY boat to gain experience. Find some clubs with an active racing fleet, and spend time learning there. That often can lead to connections on the cruising side as well which will help with the short-handed side of the equation. Boaters knmow that fostering new sailors is key to maintaining our sport, and are very welcoming to help. Experience and face-to-face time with other sailors is much better than forums for creating your OWN OPINION on what boat you will want for a journey of this. Kudos to the ambition. Good luck, and keep us updated with your journey in prep for that voyage.
Don't you island hop, Fla to Bahamas, Bahamas to Turks and Caicos, to Dominican Republic, to Puerto Rico etc etc
If you have time you wait for favorable weather before your next hop. I think it can be done in this way with a few overnights.
If you have time you wait for favorable weather before your next hop. I think it can be done in this way with a few overnights.
OL: Just a suggestion but "Help!!" to most people and especially to sailors means a true emergency so not wise to use it unless you truly have an emergency. Chief
Help on this forum is what you seek BEFORE it becomes an emergency. You really shouldn't categorize "most people" when you really don't know that for sure. If he "truly" had an emergency, I doubt he would have taken the time to post, and to wait for an answer,
That route takes you in the wrong direction. Cartagena Columbia is south west of Miami. The rhumb line goes across Cuba. He would have to sail to Haiti, then Jamaica, and then on to Cartagena. Going port to port on Cuba, might have been an option, but after today's news, I'm not so sure.
That trip would require lots of weather savvy, when you transition from the island trades to the coast of S. America you change wind pattern. Like potentially a 180 deg shift on the nose. Then there is the increased lawlessness of a chaotic impoverished Venezuela.
To know how much experience you will need, we would need to know how much experience you have! There is a long list of skills which dlochner hits on that you should be able check off before you can say you are ready. Best not to depend on Lady Luck! Her boyfriend is Mr. Murphy!
A check of ASA's Passage Making, Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Chartering skills would be a start but still far short of what I think most of us would consider sufficient. If you have time, you could sign on to make a delivery with a crew to see how it is handled.
If you do not have time, then you are already setting yourself up for disaster: weather dictates schedule, not time, on the water.
A check of ASA's Passage Making, Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Chartering skills would be a start but still far short of what I think most of us would consider sufficient. If you have time, you could sign on to make a delivery with a crew to see how it is handled.
If you do not have time, then you are already setting yourself up for disaster: weather dictates schedule, not time, on the water.
We hit 25' seas and 45+ winds on my Gulfstar 50' off of Columbia. The seas can funnel in there.You should go with well seasoned sailor on a strong boat. That trip is not for novices. We were also chased by pirates off of Nicaragua/ Honduras area and barely got away. This was in 2015. On a positive note ...Columbia was one of the highlights of our Western cruise. I would definitely go back!
Be careful out there!
Be careful out there!
@Apex, I think you mistook my comment. "I would suggest you gain considerable amount of knowledge before even thinking of attempting even stepping foot on a sailboat." This was in reference to his comment "i need to know how much experience will i need to go from Miami to cartagena col...". If getting on a crew helps then I am all for it.
No worries Brian, I think we are going on the same page but I am suggesting find as much experience by networking with real people face to face which opens up opportunities for crewing on various boats, and that is how I see most people getting their initial"good" experience
Read these posts involving current experienced single handed distance racers, then think twice about your experience and sailing skill
http://rwyc.org/ostar/2017/06/15/where-are-they-now/
http://www.bermuda1-2.org/
http://rwyc.org/ostar/2017/06/15/where-are-they-now/
http://www.bermuda1-2.org/
I'd start off with reading cover to cover "the Annapolis book of seamanship". Found out I owned a 30' sailing sloop on morning when the (now ex) wife told me we bought a boat. first trip was a three day ordeal with 3 kids under 5 and a dog. All I knew about sailing was from reading the book. We where on the Chesapeake so sheltered waters but we still ran into:
fouled anchor
thunderstorm
dragging anchor
overflowing holding tank
navigation problems reading the nuns and cans on "zig-zaggy" river entrances
running aground.......
made some new friends
got to hull speed (by accident)
had a great time in between all the above
You can do it but you have some homework to do.
fouled anchor
thunderstorm
dragging anchor
overflowing holding tank
navigation problems reading the nuns and cans on "zig-zaggy" river entrances
running aground.......
made some new friends
got to hull speed (by accident)
had a great time in between all the above
You can do it but you have some homework to do.
Where do people come up with these notions? Years ago I had a slip next to a newbie guy who owned a 29-ft "fixer-upper" that he was getting ready to "sail" to Seattle from Long Beach.
A Newport 30 with a bigger, newer engine (but still an old boat) suddenly came on the market so he swapped for it, worked on that boat for a year or so, then took off for Seattle on a windy afternoon in May, I believe. I guess he lumped along up-wind under power in 20 kt, not even getting as far as Paradise Cove (33 n. mi.)--a common overnight stop--before the engine sputtered out. Single-handing; he tries to sail the boat home (b/c there ain't no way he was going to single-handedly sail that boat the remaining up-wind distance to Paradise Cove on that afternoon!) when something else breaks such that he becomes essentially "disabled"--now evidently seasick as well. Vessel Assist finally got to him b/f full darkness and put him back in his slip. The boat was sold within about a year; no more talk of "sailing to Seattle."
A Newport 30 with a bigger, newer engine (but still an old boat) suddenly came on the market so he swapped for it, worked on that boat for a year or so, then took off for Seattle on a windy afternoon in May, I believe. I guess he lumped along up-wind under power in 20 kt, not even getting as far as Paradise Cove (33 n. mi.)--a common overnight stop--before the engine sputtered out. Single-handing; he tries to sail the boat home (b/c there ain't no way he was going to single-handedly sail that boat the remaining up-wind distance to Paradise Cove on that afternoon!) when something else breaks such that he becomes essentially "disabled"--now evidently seasick as well. Vessel Assist finally got to him b/f full darkness and put him back in his slip. The boat was sold within about a year; no more talk of "sailing to Seattle."
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I would opt for Miami to cancun/isla mujeres....bypass cuba... stop in Cayman (or perhaps Honduras instead) then on to the eastern caribbean islands or Providencia or San Andres, which are part of Columbia but some 600nm north of Cartagena. For reference, take a look at Nike Stieger's blog "Untie the Lines"
If I made that trip, I would make sure I spent some time in Panama's San Blas Islands... one of the great cruising destinations.
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Never let reality get in the way of a good fantasy.