Member Jonathan Lloyd s/v Sophia has prepared a detailed paper on the steps that aspiring world voyagers should take in preparing themselves and their boat for distance sailing. We are posting his paper in sections here and ask our very experienced members to comment, providing different perspectives and insights from their own experience. When completed, we hope to compile a paper on Best Practices in Preparation for Ocean Voyaging as a reference. 

Part I: INTRODUCTION

Undertaking a circumnavigation of the world in your own yacht is not only an activity, which takes a substantial amount of time but one which requires considerable planning and preparation. If you join a rally such as the World ARC, the feat can be accomplished in 15 months. However, most cruisers adopt a more leisurely approach and take up to 5 years and even longer. The more leisurely approach means that the vast majority of circumnavigators are retirees in their 50s and 60s, most of whom are double-handed married couples or partners of long standing. However, there are younger couples often with young children, who are able to take a sabbatical or break from work in order to achieve this ambition. In some cases, they break their circumnavigation and return to work in order to obtain the necessary funds to continue. There are also single-handers, who fall into both categories.

In our case, our circumnavigation started when we left the Solent on 1st June 2014 and finished when we crossed our outward track on arrival in Martinique in the Caribbean on 8th March 2018. Cruising up the east coast of the USA this summer has given us ample time to reflect on how well prepared we were for this challenge and the lessons we have learnt in this regard, which might be of assistance to those contemplating such a venture in the future.

While undertaking a circumnavigation had been a long-held ambition for both of us, the requirements of career, children’s education and caring for elderly parents meant waiting until these responsibilities were no longer a consideration before we could start the serious business of planning and preparing for this undertaking. With the death of my mother in 2012 the opportunity arose to do so. Once her affairs and estate had been settled I agreed to retire in April 2013 with my wife Anne following suit several months later. This would give us approximately a year to get organised. We reckoned that we would need at least this long in order to prepare both ourselves and also prepare and equip our yacht, as well as making the necessary domestic arrangements for a long term absence. At this point, we also set a target date for our departure, as it is all too easy to let your departure date slip if you do not have a target.


Vice Commodore, OCC 

Part VII: SPARES

Next we assembled the spares packages to maintain and, if necessary, replace key items for the Yanmar engine, generator, water-maker, winches, windlass and both Lavac and Raritan heads. Inevitably attention focused on the replacement items. In the case of the Yanmar engine, we opted for a spare alternator and a saltwater pump. So far we have had to make use of the latter and not the former. If we were to start over again, we would almost certainly add a starter motor to the list. Similarly, with the Whisper generator, we purchased spares for all the control switches and have had to replace the exhaust temperature switch on two occasions.

The advantage of having the spare on board is that it is there when you need it. You avoid the hassle of trying to source it locally or the inevitable delay if it has to be shipped from the UK or elsewhere. Shipping in spare parts is not only time consuming but can prove expensive into the bargain. While you should not have to pay duty on an imported item as a “yacht in transit”, in quite a few countries you have to use an agent to process the item through customs at considerable expense. There can also be additional charges in lieu of customs duty. For example, in French Polynesia, a charge is levied to process the imported item both into and out of the territory, which equates approximately to what the duty would have been!

DINGHY AND OUTBOARD

Our previous yacht had a conventional inflatable dinghy with a soft bottom and 4 hp Mercury
outboard. Given that Sofia did not come with a tender and outboard, we transferred our existing tender and outboard over to her. This arrangement was perfectly satisfactory for cruising in Channel waters. However, the advice from our mentors was that we would need a hard bottomed RIB by the time we reached the Pacific given the amount of coral encountered when beaching and potentially a more powerful outboard in order to achieve fast, dry dinghy rides. We decided to explore both options once we reached the Caribbean, where we could potentially obtain both items duty-free in St Martin. Before we even reached the Caribbean we were fortunate to acquire a Ribeye dinghy from another OCC member. The paint on the hull had started to peel off the aluminium hull and as it was only months old and under warranty Ribeye replaced it with a new one. Given that we were in Lanzarote at the time Ribeye did not want the old one back. Consequently, we picked it up for a real bargain price!

We decided to persevere with the 4 hp outboard. However, our mentors were correct. It was not sufficiently powerful get the Ribeye up onto the plane and we endured many long and wet dinghy rides as a result. With the benefit of hindsight, we could have acquired a 9.8hp two-stroke outboard in the Caribbean relatively cheaply and it would not have weighed any more than our four-stroke 4hp Mercury.

During our preparations, we did not give any consideration to fitting davits on the stern for the dinghy. Our primary focus was on fitting the Hydrovane self-steering gear to the transom. However, during our circumnavigation, we have noticed that a considerable number of ocean cruising yachts; particularly larger ones with more substantial tenders and outboards are fitted with davits. There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that such an arrangement makes the business of both launching and stowing the dinghy much quicker and more convenient than stowing it on deck, as we do at present. Given that we do not believe that it is sensible to tow a dinghy unless the conditions are very calm and the distance involved very short, as we have seen too many dinghies including our own loss in this manner, we would give serious consideration to fitting davits, if starting over again. That said, we would continue to stow the dinghy on deck for long passages.


Vice Commodore, OCC