Get yourself a 30-footer and go!

Myself | November 11, 2013 | Matt Bracken

[Kenny Bunk]

FYI

[Kenny Bunk]

portable head ....outboard ....MacGregor sailboat ....

MacGregor? Well OK, offer $3500 you'll buy it. But keep her in the slip; you'll live longer. Learn how to furl and cover your main, get a proper marine toilet, ... etc. ad inf

... or save up the $6500 and put toward a real boat. This is by no stretch of the imagination a boat for the open sea, especially around Wilmington. This is a day sailor, at most a weekender in VERY quiet water. Danger.

BTW, Obama has been an absolute boon to lobux wannabe escapist yachtsmen. Since NOBODY has any cash, that $6500 would go a long way toward a real boat.

[Cicero]

If you read the sailing stories, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and South Africa is relatively easy, and there are ports there to put into. Sailing around Cape Horn at the tip of South America is another matter. It’s much further south, the storm winds hardly ever stop, and there are few safe places to put into.

[CJinVA]

It’s a pretty cool story. He gets beat up on some of the sailing forums about not being an “experienced sailor” . But the bottom line is, he bought a boat and sailed around the world. A lot of “ on the job training”.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Travis, thank you for posting this. You are a man after my own heart, though you have lived much more of my dream than I have.

I learned to sail on a 26 foot Pearson Commander on Lake Erie in the early 70’s. I crewed in races on Lake Erie at every opportunity. I learned and taught navigation. In 1976 I had an opportunity to bare boat on a 39 foot center cockpit Pearson 390 in the Bahamas. I sailed in the Irish Sea. I am attuned, but short of my dream. Joshua Slocum and Sir Francis Chichester are my heros.

I have sailed on a friends Islander 34 with my feet on the transom opposite the cockpit, in the water.

We often would go out on Lake Erie when all the other boats were coming in because of the weather. If you can’t sail in foul weather, forget about sailing!

But you have nailed it...sailing is a life! In my early 40’s I visited a boat builder on the Chesapeake eastern shore in the 70’s and almost traded my house for a 40 ft ketch. Been sorry several times since.

[Travis McGee]

Real hard. I have no plasn to climb Mt. McKinley or Mt. Everest either.

[Travis McGee]

Hey, you got your sailing licks in! That counts! I always wanted to sail on the Great Lakes. Maybe someday. First I want to get up to Maine in the summertime. When you are sailing you are connected to all of those old sailors from the Vikings and back then to the ones you mentioned to today. Sailing is sailing. It’s literally universal.

[Rebelbase]

I’m enjoying the heck out of it. In the past two nights I read from Ft. Lauderdale to Eritria.

[DuncanWaring]

Fair enough.

So if you wanted to go “Down Under”, you’d do it via a canal or not at all?

[Travis McGee]

I have no plans to leave the Atlantic. If I was to head for NZ or Oz it would be totally post SHTF, and SW radio said things were okay there. In that case, I don’t expect the canal to be operating, so I’d have to take my chances with the southern capes. No other choice.

[CJinVA]

Nordhavn 46 Scott & Mary Flanders Cruising 2

12 years full time cruising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCKi3T791pA

[CJinVA]

Another from them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRNjNiS7dgA

[Osage Orange]

Thanks........

I figure you are right....sailing small boats things happen quicker.

Docking? I have to dock? : )

[Osage Orange]

: )

[Travis McGee]

Docking the big ones means a controlled crash, hopefully at near zero MPH. You don’t shove off of a piling.

[Osage Orange]

Ha!!

Thanks, Matt!!

[Travis McGee]

Here is a pretty serious commentary about this essay by “Max Velocity,” an American now who was a British soldier before crossing the pond for good. Turns out he’s also an accomplished ocean sailor. Very good essay, worth reading.

http://maxvelocitytactical.com/2013/11/sailing-away-comment/#comment-3028

[Osage Orange]

Thanks, much!

[WVKayaker]

1975 Morgan yacht corp, Out Island 51 sailboat

Just looking at the Government surplus auction site and they have lots of larger sailboats for sale now at Patuxent River Basin...

Description:

1975 Morgan yacht corp, Out Island 51 sailboat, hull identification number MRY14013M75C, length over all 51', water line length 42'6", beam 15', draft 10'2", displacement 41,000lbs, water to antenna 67', re-powered with Perkins 4.236 series 4 cylinder diesel engine, hour meter reads 214 hours, driven through Borg Warner velvet drive transmission model A515-71C, ratio 2.91:1, 21"X12" left hand rotation prop, 2 each 150 gallon fuel tanks, 200 gallon fresh water tank, hydraulic steering, equipped with Apelco DLX6500 Loran C, Vigil RM Radar, Si Tex 950 VHF, Heart Interface power inverter, 60 lb anchor, sails include: main, mizzen, 4 foresails, and 1 spinnaker, sail area: main:384 square feet, mizzen 2090 square feet, fore triangle at 100%: 494 square feet. running condition of engine is unknown, hull has sustained damage to hull above water line in multiple locations from rubbing against dock, Vessels are located at the West Basin Marina on Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Previews will be held on Wednesday December 18th at 10:00 am by appointment only. Appointments must be made 48 hours ahead of time. Buyer Load. No GL assistance available. Point of contact is Justin Miller 602-284-8668

[Repeal The 17th]

Do you have an opinion one way or the other about catamarans?