Need Crew

[Matt Derrick]

19 feet is a mansion compared to some boats that have sailed much farther. Many of the larger more expensive fiberglass boats have thin hulls compared to their size. Plus, the little boats can be propelled by oars or solar-powered electric trolling motors when there is no wind and literally pushed off by hand if they run aground.

Sven Yrvind rounded Cape Horn in a 20 ft sailboat he built in his mom's basement and now is trying to round all 3 Capes in a TEN FOOT boat even though he is getting pretty old! yrvind.com

Shane Acton sailed around the entire planet in his 18 foot sailboat SHRIMPY for EIGHT YEARS. He left without any sailing experience (but had experience in the Navy) and a couple of pounds in his pocket. His book is a great read for any would-be boat punks--he pulled all sorts of crazy scams and stunts to fund his voyage along the way (his biggest challenge seemed to finding enough cigarettes!)

Kenichi Horie sailed from Japan to San Francisco in a 19 footer WITH NO PASSPORT.

In fact, there is an entire culture in sailing around these boats-- microcruising--http://www.microcruising.com/

Tania Abei (a street punk forced-to-be sailor by her maniac artist father) circumnavigated the globe singlehand at age 18 in a 26 footer.

I am docked and sail out of Corpus Christi, which if you look at a map of wind speed and wave height, you will see it has the highest average sustained winds and steepest waves anywhere on the Gulf Coast. Almost every day, the wind builds to 20 knots with short period breaking seas of 4 to 6 feet. Its like sailing in pounding surf.

The moral of all this, big boats may be faster, but are not necessarily safer. In spite of all the talk about "nearly free" boats over 30 feet, I've never seen one in Texas for less than about $1,500, and ones that needed some very expensive and serious repairs at that.

Plus, its only me. I've never met any other boat or any other kind of punks/wanderers in Texas and have no friends. The little boat is a lot easier to single-hand, even though it is not set up with lines to the cockpit to do so. (I lash the tiller and dash madly up to the bow to do whatever I need to do).

Yeah, I've seen/heard/read about those people, but in my personal opinion they were all insane

As for the speed, i don't think a 30 ft boat would be any faster than a 19, but i could be wrong.

Seriously though, I don't know much, but having two people in a 26ft 1976 Grampian on the water in key west was a bit uncomfortable after a while, and sailing my friends 40 ft concrete boat to the dry tortugas were were bouncing around like crazy on a calm day. I just can't see taking the 26 across the ocean (although it had been done and the grampians have been sailed all over the world, I don't know if it would be very fun).

But don't let me tell you what to do, do it and get back to us and let's us know what it was like! Especially for two months! Damn!

Are you going to take pictures? Dunno if there's much to see in the middle of the ocean, but maybe before leaving and upon arrival.

 

[travelin]

good post!

I saw the little boat from japan at san Francisco. the story is fascinating. he told no one what he was going to do.

you go have as much fun as you want with whatever size boat you want.

when I mentioned I thought it a bit small , that's small for ME.

 

[Cavemansailor]

The longer a boat is, the faster it can go under sail--it can't pass its own bow wave unless it has a flat hull that can lift and plane over the water. The formula for hull speed is 1.34 * the square root of the length at waterline.

30 footer = 7.3 knots
19 footer = 5.8 knots

This means that you could travel in 24 hours:

30 footer = 175 nm
19 footer = 139 nm

Those 36 nautical miles make a huge difference if you are racing, trying to make port or anchorage before dark, or trying to outrun a storm (so big boats can be safer in some respects, I concede)

(note that these numbers are slightly high due to the fact that length at waterline is generally less than length of hull overall)

Giant maxi yachts and trimarans can actually sail faster than the wind on certain points of sail and can attain speeds of 20 to 40 knots!

Yes, we small boat and single-hand sailors are widely considered "insane" and probably are by the definition of domesticated mass society!

Sven was locked in a maximum security prison and diagnosed as a psychopath
Shane called himself "the black sheep of the family"
Bernard was on a quest to "save his soul"

Its not adrenaline we seek, but something much more profound--to heal tortured minds by shutting off self-consciousness, to realize our own insignificance before the immense power of the ocean, to face death and yet survive, to drift in a calm when sapphire sky and mirror sea blend into one--to enter an ecstatic trance and experience the world in the moment as an animal does.

At least that's what I've felt. Its the best therapy I have found so far.

 

[Ekstasis]

Do you have any other great sailing stories to suggest?

 

[Ekstasis]

Oops. I was lazy and asked that before looking beyond the kindle app. A search gets you a free PDF of Shrimpy and other related reads from bluemoment.com

 

[Cavemansailor]

Here are my favorite true sailing stories and films (most films can be downloaded via torrent)

Documentaries:
With Jean-du-Sud Around The World (greatest sailing documentary ever made)
Hold Fast
Deep Water
Kon Tiki
Alone Across The Pacific

Books:
*Maiden Voyage
*My Old Man and The Sea
*A Voyage for Madmen
*The Long Way
*Fatal Storm
*Adrift
*Shrimpy -- www.bluemoment.com/pdf/shrimpy.pdf‎
*http://www.yrvind.com/my_life/

 

[Ekstasis]

Ty. Ahh Adrift is a great book. Have you seen Freya Hoffmeister's book/blog? She circumnavigated Australia and is working on S. America, all done in a KAYAK.

 

[travelin]

I read kon tiki when I was a kiddo. loved the tale.

my teacher would send me to the high school library during our reading hour and I would pick books out and read them. the librarian would not let me check out the book kon tiki because "428 pages is too long for someone your age"

I came home, told the parents and they scheduled a meeting with the school board.

after that I was allowed to take any book in the high school library.

I was in fourth grade.

a seriously good example of navigation under extreme, desperate circumstances is the voyage of captain bligh and his officers after they were cast adrift from the bounty. say what you will about his commanding skills, the man was a navigator and a sailor!

my current fuzzy thought is that once I get the farm up and operating there should be some spare time here and there so I envisioned purchasing a 35+ foot boat and sailing the gulf for two or three week stretches. I realized after a while that this time limit would preclude any carribean cruising, but who knows how long I could actually break loose. it all depends on how many people are involved in the farm and how long I determine I could be away.

and looking in the mirror I realize that, at 50 and poor health those kind of adventures might be best left to younger or healthier people...

I dunno. in the fullness of time it may come about...

 

[rationale]

So I am also interested in this, but don't really want to risk my life. Fuck mass society -- getting out of it has immense appeal. But I don't want to do it if I have a significant risk of dying (despite the fact that taking risks does have some appeal). So, Caveman sailor, can you elaborate on what you think the risk level is? It seems like you might be doing this to prove you can survive -- is that the case? Or do you not think it's really that much of a safety risk?

And what is the timeframe -- when would you be able to take additional people on?

 

[Cavemansailor]

Certainly not trying to prove anything--wouldn't be asking for crew in that case (more like begging now, as I was supposed to cross the Gulf almost a year ago with a crew that bailed--fucking lazy wage-slave robotic morons).

After many close calls with death (unintentionally--with mother mountain lions, 18-wheelers, child soldiers, storms, snakes, dehydration, starvation, etc) I try to minimize risk whenever possible. You reach a point though, where you just say, "fuck it--I've waited long enough--gotta go before I die from smokin these cigarettes, cold and alone anyway!"

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico ALONE will be next to suicidal--for two simple reasons: tanker ships and the ability of one person to stay awake for only so long. I dodge'em all day right now, but can't imagine going below for more than 10 minutes, let alone taking a nap!

The Gulf has some of the heaviest commercial shipping and oil drilling activity anywhere. I will probably not show up on their radar (if they even have someone on watch--those things can run on autopilot now). Going alone, you are basically playing Russian Roulette with tanker ships.

Storms can be terrifying, but unless the boat gets cut in half (by a tanker ship) its not going to sink. The biggest non-human threats are people falling/getting washed overboard and getting rolled and losing the mast. Both these dangers can be greatly minimized by prudent seamanship.

Just one other person on board would raise the odds of survival to something like 98%. Of course, its impossible to eliminate risk completely (unless you are in a super-max prison in solitary, and even then....there's earthquakes, asteroids, nuclear missiles, Texas, suicide, and god forbid, OLD AGE!).

Without another person, I might be pretty much fucked. If I had radios and radar, I'ld probably be just fine, but it is very unlikely that I'll ever be able to afford the robotic versions of a human watchkeeper.

But hell, I might do it anyway. Sure beats being locked in the mental hospital (I've been there).

Anyway timeframe....lookin to leave whenever hurricane season looks like its wound down to a close. Probably late October/early November. Crossing the Gulf should take about 2 weeks.

 

[ByronMc]

I thought hurricane season ended,in early December, & of course,I'm saying that,to give me,more time

 

[Ayurveda78]

Sounds like an awesome time. I have spent a little time I the water. Avid fisherman, SCUBA, chef by ex profession and a general jack of all trades. I do have my passport and after a little running around together maybe in islands or such would be down for a long voyage. Currently in Grand Rapids would like to keep in touch and possibly meet up sometime. Whether it be Texas or the keys which would probably be most likely for me.

 

[ByronMc]

I'm emailing the owner,he wants to find a good home for her ! Price,you won't believe it !

 

[clockwise5000]

If you were to stop in Mexico or central America I'd get out there.

 

[bardamu]

Well also the longer the hull the larger the mast it can support and hence more feet of sail. With any decent amount of wind the power given by a larger sail far exceeds the extra weight of the boat.

 

[bardamu]

View attachment 11124 I'm emailing the owner,he wants to find a good home for her ! Price,you won't believe it !

Watch out for wooden hulls way the fuck more tlc required than fiber glass, also harder to identify serious problems like internal rot.

 

[Kittwoopsiessmith]

How fast do I need to be there?

 

[DrRabbit]

This sounds way cool, I wouldn't be able to crew for this voyage but would be very interested in any future trips.

 

[PeterBryson]

fuck, if you make it to europe/africa alive, I'd drop everything and come along, or either way I want to meet you, good luck, bon courage

 

[kai]

19 footer with crew on an open ocean passage is gonna be intimate, to say the least. I hope you get along really well with whoever you find to crew on your vessel.

But logistically it's no big deal, J.C Voss sailed from Vancouver island to England heading west in a dugout he'd converted to a yawl with crew and this was in a time before winches, radios, gps and what not. His book is really good 'Venturesome Voyages' by J.C. Voss.

Your trip sounds really fun but my mind is a bit boggled by the thought of having enough water and food for more than one, tools, gear, spare halyards, extra tackle, spare parts and odds and ends that suit a long voyage all compressed into a 19 foot boat.

I've lived on a Crown 23 before and just alone with hardly anything it was really uncomfortable, I've also owned/sailed/lived aboard a Newport 30 (claimed recently by a 60 knot storm RIP) which is more comfy of course but obviously more hassle single handing.

Anyways I'm off topic but it sounds fun and people have perservered through worse then a tiny space to share while ripping it up on the ocean.

May the wind always be at your back and your big jib always draw.