Resources on trans-oceanic cruising

[bpgt3]

Hi everyone.

Can you list for me websites, blogs, books, videos with info on crossing oceans and blue water cruising.

Just starting to research a trans-Atlantic crossing...a few years from now.

I am having some trouble finding resources. Thanks for your time!

 

[Tingum]

“Voyaging under power” by Robert Bebe

 

[Airstream345]

“Voyaging under power” by Robert Bebe

Yep, start here

Also, Google:

MV Dirona
Dauntless at Sea
Nordhavn Atlantic Rally
The Great Siberian Sushi Run

YouTube has a number of passagemakers on there. Mostly sail/catamarans but some power boats.

Happy reading and come back here with more questions.

 

[Wxx3]

Yes, as stated above, that's where I started.
Except for the Dauntless at sea!

Once you run out of the limited readings of power boats crossing oceans, then start reading all the sailing boats of people doing long passages.
90% of the challenges are common to both.

A must read is also Les Weatheritt's "Your First Atlantic Crossing".

 

[bpgt3]

Thanks for the great replies. Ordered the book.

There really is not much info about this stuff for power boats. Kind of frustrating. I am certainly looking at the sail info as well.

 

[Airstream345]

Thanks for the great replies. Ordered the book.



There really is not much info about this stuff for power boats. Kind of frustrating. I am certainly looking at the sail info as well.

Not many people do it in power boats but as Richard said, the sailing community has lots of info and the percentage of knowledge cross over is high.

 

[BandB]

You read it all because there isn't a lot written and there's likely no one who did it just as you plan or in the same boat. However, you'll still learn the challenges and different conditions faced. Hopefully you'll also pick up information on different routes.

There are more sailboats that do it but also a lot of powerboats above 150 and 200' and they don't provide much useful information to the rest of us.

Be careful about reading books from those Weatheritt refers to as "sailing heroes," those who are fearless, often unprepared and write about the most problems and threats to themselves unless you intend to go unprepared.

I also believe that in an ideal world, you take someone with you your first time who has crossed before. Experience is valuable if nothing more in calming you as you start.

 

[twistedtree]

Search for blogs too. Probably a dozen Nordhavns do it every years in one direction or another, and many have blogs like Dauntlass. The past couple of years there have been impromptu groups crossing together.

 

[South of Heaven]

Yes, as stated above, that's where I started.
Except for the Dauntless at sea!

Once you run out of the limited readings of power boats crossing oceans, then start reading all the sailing boats of people doing long passages.
90% of the challenges are common to both.

A must read is also Les Weatheritt's "Your First Atlantic Crossing".

Would you say that being a thrill seeker /adventure seeker on LAND is a prerequisite (sine qua non) for doing an ocean crossing on a smaller boat?

To me, the thought of crossing the Atlantic in a recreational boat seems frightening. Never mind solo....

Your blog is very inspiring.

 

[markpierce]

Made several trans-Atlantic cruises via NCL. Despite two hurricanes, no problem except for a wrenched knee and a wet lap from a cereal-with-milk bowl.

 

[nemier]

My wife and I have crossed the Pacific Ocean, and put plenty more miles under the keel through out the islands. We have a blog which covers the whole deal, but it's certainly possible that you will not find exactly what you are looking for, in a timely manner.

Post your questions here. I'm sure there are many others who are also interested in crossing oceans in a powerboat.

You could also try Steve Dashews website.

The info is out there, but crossing oceans under power is a relatively new concept. (mainstream for the last 20 years?). The industry is only now beginning to catalogue the resources. Good luck.

 

[sunchaser]

Yes, Dashew's website. When there order the 4 exhaustive books covering ocean passages he and his wife Linda have put together.

For maintenance guidance get plugged in to books by Calder and D'Antonio. One guy who is a great resource for ocean passages is Milt Baker. He is very open with his experience and wisdom, particularly for Nordhavn crossers.

 

[Wxx3]

The "thrill seeker" comment made me reflect over a couple of things:

1. I'm a traveler. I've always loved taking trips. Even when I was in high school, It was obvious to me that one of the attractions of attending the University of Washington, was that it was 3,000 miles from home.
I once drove home, Seattle to NYC and return, just for the 8 day Easter break. Yes, it meant I had only days at home.
When bored some evening, I'd drive around Mt. Rainier just to test my new driving lights.

So the trip was as important, if not more so, than the actual destination.

2. While never great with mechanical systems, I was at least comfortable with them. And thru the years, I'd been burned enough by "real mechanics" who could not solve whatever problem any better than I.

This gave me the confidence that I could fix things as needed.

 

[bpgt3]

Again, thank you all for the responses.

At this point I'm getting all my ducks in a row. Been a boater my whole life. 47 now. Spent a lot of time fishing the NE canyons with my parents and now with my kids.
I have loved trawlers and cruisers my whole life. At the point now where I can afford one and would like to eventually cross oceans, possibly circumnavigate. Long way off however. Lots of research and blue-water cruising to do in the mean time.

I would not say I'm a daredevil but certainly like adrenaline. This endeavor is actually in part to try and slow myself down. Stay in the moment so to speak.

I'll keep searching! Love the stuff you've pointed out so far!!

 

[mvweebles]

For some reason, the people who circumnavigate or cross oceans in power boats are not as "clubby" as Sailors (exception is the nordhavn set).

Bruce Kessler circumnavigate around 2000 in a 62' Northern Marine

I forget his name, but I spent a half day with the owner of one of the very first diesel ducks built by Seahorse Marine in China. Owner brought it to California on her own bottom. He was a self admitted novice and single handed.

A sistership to my Willard 36 went from California to Hawaii (2200 nms) in 1987 burning just 335 gallons of diesel

I recall an early PMM article about an owner of a GB42 who crossed to Hawaii single handed. He removed one prop and ran on one engine. Hard to believe, but I seem to recall that, mid ocean, he removed the prop and installed the other to balance engine hours.

I also recall PMM article from early 2000s nordhavn 40 that went from acupulco to the Marquesa Islands, something like 3000 nms, an incredible trip in my mind.

Also aabout 2000, our own Steve d'antonio and PMMs Bill Parletore took a new Willard 30 from the Zimmerman yard in Virginia to Bermuda (700 nms).

A couple years ago, there was a kiwi family on a trawler who had the misfortune of a pirate attack in Honduras (father, around 60, was tragically killed). About 62-foot steel trawler as I recall, and they were on their way back to NZ.

And these are just cross ocean treks I know of.

Unlike sailboats, there are no media outlets for Trans oceanic powerboats except manufacturers marketing efforts such as PAE. Despite its moniker, a large percentage of boats featured in Passagemaker Magazine are not designed to make this type of trip. Contrast that to a handful of sail-oriented rags that feature long passage cruisers (personal favorite is Latitude 38 - free, with PDFs download able online - out of San Francisco, which is collecting a registry of circumavigators).

If a survey of boats represented in this TF is representative, on a tiny percentage of "trawlers" are equipped for a multi-day open ocean journey.

 

[twistedtree]

I’d suggest working up to it to see where your own limits are. I think there is nothing wrong with working your way through a few boats as you size up what’s right for you. We started with a 30’ cruiser and concluded we liked doing multi day trips vs day trips. But we also realized we wanted more creature comforts for longer trips. But we also still wanted the capability of speed, so got a Grand Banks 47 with planing hull. Then we took an extended trip of about 10 weeks, liked it, and wanted to do more. At that point re realized that on extended voyages speed didn’t matter and 95% of the time we were running slow. And we needed much more range, so we switched to a displacement Nordhavn 60. We ran that in the PNW up to Prince William Sounds, actually beyond to Seward, and down to La Paz Mexico and back up to the midriff islands in the sea of Cortez. After several years spending half or more of each year on the boat, we wanted it to be even more like home and are now building a Nordhavn 68. It’s definitely a journey, and my point is to not feel you need to get it right forever. You need to get it right for now. My step father used to say you never bought your last boat, just, just your next boat. I poo poo’d him at the time, but he was right.

 

[balder8]

Unlike sailboats, there are no media outlets for Trans oceanic powerboats except manufacturers marketing efforts such as PAE. Despite its moniker, a large percentage of boats featured in Passagemaker Magazine are not designed to make this type of trip. Contrast that to a handful of sail-oriented rags that feature long passage cruisers (personal favorite is Latitude 38 - free, with PDFs download able online - out of San Francisco, which is collecting a registry of circumavigators).


Hello, bonjour,

I am currently in Canary Islands, perfect location to start a passage to Carribean or Brazil aboard Balder VIII ( mmsi 227 399 280). The real issue is that many sailing boats are ready to cross waiting for the trade winds after hurricane season via Capo Verde or straight from Lanzarote or Gran Canaria in december or january.
But for us, trawler passagemakers, we are not looking for strong winds coming generally with huge waves. All the litterature is dedicated to sailors and not powerboat. One of my english friend with an Oyster 57 stayed 7 days completely with no wind and swell, in the middle of atlantic ocean. This is honestly what I should look for, by the way, it should give me opportunity to avoid running permanently my very efficient and reliable Keypower hydraulic stabs and have a pleasant passage for family and crew. I have crossed atlantic long time ago on my sailing yacht, ketch Fisher37, we had really serious swell and more or less 25 to 30 knst of wind during all the passage...
So the question is: what should be the best course and the best moment to do it, as well from Gib or Canary or on the way back from Florida, East coast or Carribean.
The northern passage is also an option but more cold and humid certainly even shorter...?

 

[ben2go]

I really want to do some ocean crossings. I don't think I could do it on a sailboat no matter how romantic is seems. I watch Barry Perins on youtube. He bobbed around in the south Pacific for nearly three months before making it to land. Something like 78 days total.



https://www.youtube.com/user/barryperrins/videos


One trip that fascinates me to no end is the Northwest Passage around the northern shores of Canada from the east coast to the west coast. That really gets my daydreamer dreaming.

 

[mcarthur]

But for us, trawler passagemakers, we are not looking for strong winds coming generally with huge waves. All the litterature is dedicated to sailors and not powerboat. One of my english friend with an Oyster 57 stayed 7 days completely with no wind and swell, in the middle of atlantic ocean. This is honestly what I should look for, by the way, it should give me opportunity to avoid running permanently my very efficient and reliable Keypower hydraulic stabs and have a pleasant passage for family and crew.

We were looking at a Caribbean-Spain Atlantic crossing last year and found that all of the routing information and weather was definitely about a) getting good mid-speed wind, and b) getting that wind from the right angles. So planning to hit the Azores High, for example, was the opposite to what was wanted. PredictWind and others would work on polars (sailing!).

Overall, we found that for power vessels, you were forced to do your own planning using base information rather than relying on secondhand and general information and following the pack (which isn't a bad idea for everyone of course!).

I'd love a place to "meet" with other motor vessels to do some travel together. TF is US-centric; YBW is UK centric. THT is North American centric. Any others?

 

[FF]

"One of my english friend with an Oyster 57 stayed 7 days completely with no wind and swell, in the middle of atlantic ocean."

A set of Pilot Charts for the month and ocean you wish to cross would show the most probable winds , or lack of wind for your transit.