Homeward Bound - The Plan - Are We Nuts?
Our routing options to get home are two-fold:
(1) NORTH THEN EAST: NZ to Fiji to Samoa to Phoenix Islands to Hawaii to Vancouver - which includes possibly a lot of upwind sailing between the Phoenix Islands and Hawaii in the predominant NE trades, or
(2) EAST THEN NORTH: NZ to Australs to Tuamotus to Marquesas to Hawaii to Vancouver - which involves colder weather straddling the Roaring 40s on the way to the Australs with possibly a greater incidence of storms, but hopefully, consistent downwind sailing.
When Lo read that John Neal, a famous American professional charter boat skipper/instructor for offshore cruising hosts his Heavy Weather Course on this passage, has completed this passage nine times and has encountered 50 kt winds or more nine out of nine times, she thought that beating upwind from the Phoenix Islands to Hawaii sounded pretty good! This route is longer and likely tougher, but we've chosen it anyways as it should be better, faster sailing and hence easier on the boat...and hopefully us.
This next passage will likely be over 30 days long, likely the longest on our return trip. We're targeting the end of July to get home (Gary's sabbatical at Azimuth ends mid-August), to give Gary a short break before returning to work (yah, yah, we know he's just had two years off...). Anyone who wants to be a fly on the wall at Gary's first day back at work, sign up below. 8:31am..."So, you guys ready for a coffee break yet?"
posted by G.Mann at 2:33 AM
1 Comments:
Hey world travelling bloggers. Thanks for the great updates! We were getting parched. We needed a drink from from your very cool stories. We love hearing about your adventures and can't get enough of them. Yes you are definitely nuts! You know we were just in Hawaii and it only took us six hours to get there. Yes it was a bit of a bumpy stormy ride but it was ok ... we were strapped in and didn't spill a drop of wine! Ah well, not near as much fun and adventure as your plans.
We're wishing you good weather and safe seas and a safe return to Vancouver. Can't wait to see you back and hear about all the experiences in person, especially the first day of work.
Cheers,
Michael and Gail
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