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Thread: Around the World from West coast?

  1. #131
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    Is this worth blowing up a marriage?

    i can't answer that question, only you know the answer to that.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  2. #132
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    May 2015
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    One thing I was wondering is if maybe I should present my experience at yacht clubs and follow with a call for sponsors.
    I did my presentation at NASA. I asked for a show of hands at the end to see who would donate for this other crazy adventure. Not one went up. My host did suggest I should try the St Francis Yacht Club; maybe I'd get luckier there :-)

  3. #133
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    Aug 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamottep View Post
    One thing I was wondering is if maybe I should present my experience at yacht clubs and follow with a call for sponsors.
    I did my presentation at NASA. I asked for a show of hands at the end to see who would donate for this other crazy adventure. Not one went up. My host did suggest I should try the St Francis Yacht Club; maybe I'd get luckier there :-)
    I don't know what your presentation at NASA looked like, but I'm guessing from your posts recently that your plan is still rather hypothetical. I think that is a major draw back. If you're looking for individual donors for an event that is just your voyage, the model Randall Reeves is using for the Figure Eight Voyage seems to be working. He had a unique idea (the Figure 8) and the boat for it, built a nice website which laid out a clear vision, and solicited contributions. Thinking about the crowd you would draw at my yacht club, I don't think you'd get much love for a hypothetical solo romp.

    If you are looking for corporate sponsorship, having the boat and a concrete plan is still probably the minimum. Reeves lists a number of corporate partners, but no telling if that's real money or just gear and tech support. Randall's pretty well wired up out there, so you could send him an email through his website.

    For real corporate money (like, buy the boat money) my guess is you would need to be campaigning in a known event, like Route du Rhum or Vendee Globe. Your victory in your rookie SHTP would be a pretty good calling card, I would think. But again, you would need to have a pretty well designed business plan and marketing pitch to make that work.

    Just thoughts.
    Lee
    s/v Morning Star
    Valiant 32

  4. #134
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    Sep 2007
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    Philippe, I would have a serious talk with Bruce Schwab about trying to do this from the US. Bruce got farther than anyone I know, but had to make tremendous personal and financial sacrifices to get as far as he did.

    https://www.bruceschwab.com/about-us/
    .
    Last edited by BobJ; 11-09-2018 at 01:15 PM.

  5. #135
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    May 2015
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    Yes, the plans are hypothetical. Yes, I emailed with Bruce (and others). I have done a fair amount of armchair research. I just looked at my other thread and from the first time I posted about my interest to the time I bought Double Espresso there was about a full year of thinking there. And that's not including all the reading I had done before that ... If it takes me one year to make up my mind to sail to Hawaii ... Then what's it going to take me to sail RTW!?!?

    I have not yet decided to do this. I'm researching. This is a major decision. I don't want to haphazardly buy a boat and then find that I don't really want to go through the trouble of preparing and sailing. It's one thing to romanticize the idea of being a solo non stop circumnavigator .... it's another thing to imagine oneself doing it one day after another, with all the pain it entails. Thinking through the what ifs and being ok with those. Watching documentary of skippers crying their brain out when things go awry, keels drop, masts come down, hulls are breached, etc ... And I'm not even talking about being lonely, cold, scared, tired, hungry, wet, hurt, depressed, injured. Statistically the shit hits the fan every day out there, multiple times a day. I think most of you have discovered that. Do I really want this? This is not champagne sailing ... I would have to learn so much about boat repair ... And I'm not sure who would teach me. 2020 seems pretty close ...

    At this time the most likely plan, as discussed with a French weather router, is to sail West out of San Francisco, North of Australia, round South Africa, back up North, round Cape Horn and back home, on a 40 foot or less sailboat. The only safe, sturdy, fast'ish boat that fits my small budget for this sort of trip is that not so old Open 40 Anasazi Girl. If you know of another please let me know. There are still a few things that I'm trying to get confirmation on before I finalize that plan. I am slowly lining up all that matters; in no particular order: the route, the boat, the surveyor, the budget, ways to fill up the budget, the family, the berth over here (where do you keep a boat with a little over 11 ft of draft, right?), the sailmaker, etc.

    But yeah ... how hard do I want to do this? If I don't lose steam while researching then maybe at the end of that research I'll have a plan, and I'll feel ready to execute. It would be so easy to stop here, and move on to something else. Who wants to be a boat repair slave for 5-7 months? Why would I want to be that slave? I think I need to answer that question to build a solid mental and emotional foundation first. If I keep talking all the crap out of this project and I still want to do it when I'm done then maybe I should. I'm not there yet. There's more shit to dig out :-)

    The closest foundation I have found so far is Moitessier's "pour sauver mon ame", which I don't think is strong enough; it's not a "positive" foundation. So what's it going to be? My walkabout? It is a f***ing selfish project ... And I need so much support.

    I'd better find out all this before I drop money on a boat that's not practical and nobody wants to buy! Now I'll pack up for France and (very?) light air sailing ...

  6. #136
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    609

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    Your search for sponsorship will be more than a challenge. First, many (like Bruce Schwab) had 20+ years of competitive ocean racing with a very impressive race record before they started knocking on doors. He was raising money to race in known international races with good exposure for ROI. Since you are going after a non-record (ie, no one has done it and it's not on the radar for any record setters) I would change your approach. Speed is not needed since you are not racing so I'd drop the idea of a Class 40 or other highly strung race boat. I don't think you've been on a fast ocean race boat yet so your experience of a wing on wing Olson 30 is a far cry from being offshore in a racing machine. I would look at a solid 40'ish footer that is well built. Slow and steady would be the choice for your intended course voyage. There are a lot of boats on the west coast that could do the trip with some refreshing. You could do it on a shoestring budget since again, you are not racing. Hope you get some breeze on the C40 boot camp.

  7. #137
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    May 2015
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    Quote Originally Posted by solosailor View Post
    Speed is not needed since you are not racing so I'd drop the idea of a Class 40 or other highly strung race boat. I don't think you've been on a fast ocean race boat yet so your experience of a wing on wing Olson 30 is a far cry from being offshore in a racing machine. I would look at a solid 40'ish footer that is well built. Slow and steady would be the choice for your intended course voyage. There are a lot of boats on the west coast that could do the trip with some refreshing. You could do it on a shoestring budget since again, you are not racing. Hope you get some breeze on the C40 boot camp.
    Yep, I know that my experience on that kind of boat is very limited. That's why I am lining up a training program on Class40 boats. That's 10k in my budget.

    I am also considering what you're proposing. From what I know it's a lottery out there. I need to put as many chances on my side. As examples I think it took JL VDH 4 attempts to go round westward. Considering the original and currently active Golden Globe races many boats simply didn't/don't survive the beating. Even Randal's boat, which is a purpose built sailboat, didn't make it the first time. And that's going East.

    Such a boat would then need to be designed/refit to survive pitchpoling, rolling 360, repetitive knockdowns, likely with some sails up, and keep the rig intact. That's some serious re-fitting for any boat, bumping the budget.

    There is still the third option of going East from the East Coast with a Class40 boats, but that is more expensive and less practical.

    I'm not sure how I can do this on a budget. Here's a tentative budget: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

    The reality is that all these choices are possible and could work/get me home. I need to figure out what I am most comfortable with.

  8. #138
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Capitola,CA
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamottep View Post
    Yes, the plans are hypothetical.
    At this time the most likely plan, as discussed with a French weather router, is to sail West out of San Francisco, North of Australia, round South Africa, back up North, round Cape Horn and back home, on a 40 foot or less sailboat. The only safe, sturdy, fast'ish boat that fits my small budget for this sort of trip is that not so old Open 40 Anasazi Girl. If you ...
    Above proposed route is 75% off-the-wind, and basically follows Webb Chiles route on the Moore-24 GANNET in his ongoing circumnavigation, at least as far as St. Helena in the S. Atlantic. Chiles has made some stops and detours, but did go north of Aussie, and rounded Cape Agulhas. No weather routing for Chiles..he'd leave at an opportune time, and take it as it comes. https://my.yb.tl/gannet/7708/

    Difficulty I see is ANASAZI GIRL has a wing mast and has to sail "hot" angles, gybing downwind, as there are currently no whisker poles to wing out a foresail or twins...Though "hot" angles likely gets one downwind faster on a Class 40, you're also sailing a ton more miles if the wind is dead aft and doing a lot of hand steering with a spinny to boot. AP's and spinnakers singlehanded on a high performance boat is not always a good mix.

    Anchoring on this proposed route is also a possibility for rest and relief. As long as one stays aboard and doesn't accept help, anchoring still counts as "non-stop." Anchoring = good skill and equipment to have aboard.....
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-10-2018 at 05:09 PM.

  9. #139
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    Jul 2012
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    There are 2 Freya 39's for sale in the area.
    Keep the wheels on the bus and complete the course.

  10. #140
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    Sep 2008
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    SF Bay Area
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    Quote Originally Posted by everydaysailor View Post
    There are 2 Freya 39's for sale in the area.
    Keep the wheels on the bus and complete the course.
    Philippe, This is good advice. This may not be your current vision, but it it’s worth considering. Freya 39’s are very capable boats that have a remarkable history. For what you are considering, they would get you there with reasonably good speed and not a lot of drama.

    Best, Tom

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