Aufbruch zu den Kanaren und Weihnachten in Portugal

Am Dienstag ging es endlich los, die Vorbereitungen waren abgeschlossen und das Wetter schien okay.
Kaum aus der Marina raus erwartete uns allerdings ein sehr schwerer Wellengang und ein nicht so schönes Wetter, es war durchgehend bewölkt und nasskalt.
Unerwarteter Weise wurde das schlechte Wetter auch von einer leichten Seekrankheit, oder wie wir es lieber nennen, eine kleine Lebensmittelvergiftung begleitet ;)
Daraufhin und auch wegen des gleichbleibend starken Gegenwinds und dem starken entgegenkommenden Wellengang entschieden wir uns am Mittwoch eine kleine Pause zu machen, bei der Gelegenheit wollten wir auch gleich unsere Dieselvorräte auffüllen.

Nachdem der erste Ankerplatz eher komplett ungeeignet war und wir total ungeschützt vor dem Wind und Wellen waren, haben wir uns für einen Ankerplatz nah bei einer Marine in Cascais, Portugal, entschieden, diesen erreichten wir am Donnerstag Mittag. 
Kaum waren wir weniger als 3 Seemeile vom Ankerplatz entfernt fängt der Motor an zu qualmen, weißer Qualm direkt aus dem Lüfter für das Öl. Direkt danach geht der Motor aus, unsere erste Reaktion war Öl nachzufüllen, da ältere Diesel Bootsmotoren recht viel Öl verbrauchen und wir schon eine Weile nichts gemacht haben. 
Mit ach und krach kamen wir, und der weiterhin qualmende Motor, dann endlich an dem Ankerplatz an, bis zur Marine hat es dann nicht mehr gereicht, und kaum war der Motor aus, ging garnichts mehr.
Ich war sogar ein wenig erleichtert, dass ich etwas ruhe bekomme von dem unruhigen Meer.

Wir hofften, dass wir lediglich den Motor überhitzt haben und oder evtl das falsche Öl benutzt haben, aber dies stellte sich am nächsten Tag als falsch heraus, als wir vergeblich versuchten den Motor zu starten.
Brandon begann den Motor fast komplett auseinander zu nehmen, doch einen Fehler hat er nicht gefunden, lediglich kleinere Sachen die leicht zu beheben waren.
Beim zweiten auseinander nehmen und nach ein wenig Internet Recherche, fiel ihm dann etwas ganz ausschlaggebendes auf, der zweite Zylinder baut keine Kompression auf, ohne die der Motor nicht starten kann, Ausschlag dafür sind festsitzende Kolbenringen. 
Da mittlerweile Samstag Abend war, blieb uns nichts anderes übrig als bis Montag zu warten um im naheliegendem Volvo Penta (Name des Motors) Shop Ersatzteile zu bestellen.

In der Zwischenzeit haben wir uns ein wenig den Ort angeschaut wo wir gestrandet sind, hier ist wohl grade eine art Weihnachtsmarkt. 


Es ist ganz schön hier, wenn man mal davon absieht, dass es scheinbar ein Touristenörtchen ist und alles etwa teurer, wie zum Beispiel eine kleine Pizza für 7,50€. 

Die tägliche Überfahrt mit dem Schlauchboot ist nicht ohne, besonders das Anlegen am öffentlichen Dock ist umständlich, aber es lief bisher immer ganz gut, selbst Xena hat keine Probleme.

Zum Thema Xena, sie ist echt ein Klasse Hund, es stört sie kein Stück, wenn es etwas stürmisch wird und das Boot schaukelt wir eine Kirmes Fahrgeschäft, sie schläft einfach weiter. 
Kaum hatten wir den Anker gesetzt ist sie raus und rannte wie wild auf dem Boot herum, sie kam auf anhieb besser nach vorn aufs Boot als wir. (Foto folgt)

Heute ist Heiligabend und die Ersatzteile sind erfolgreich bestellt, sollen am Freitag eintreffen, und als besonderes Frühstück hat Brandon uns spezial Pancakes gemacht, Rezept wird nicht verraten ;)
Nun ist er dabei den Motor noch weiter auseinander zu bauen um alles einfach mal sauber zu machen, neu zu Ölen und zu lackieren.


Und nein ich sitze nicht nur dahinter und mache Fotos, ich plane unser Mittagessen und gehe ihm gelegentlich zur Hand :)
Wir werden uns nun aber mal etwas stärken und eine Pause machen von all der Arbeit und evtl ein wenig das Weihnachtsfest feiern. 

Wir wünschen euch allen ein fröhliches Weihnachtsfest! :)

The start


We have officially started the next leg of our journey down the Portugal coast.  I'm not sure more could of gone wrong in two days, with the wind and waves in front of us, we were beating the entire way.  I snapped off the bottom of the table when I fell on it, the dinghy smashed the wind and to bits, and the parts of the uninstalled wind generator caused it to leak every where in the boat.  We did arrive safe and sound though! Oh, did I mention we probably fried the engine and have to rebuild it?  I'll write a longer write up when we arrive in the canaries before we cross the Atlantic.


Dog Aboard

    The Jillion will be traveling with a Dog on board through out its travels, and while I know this subject as with money is controversial I feel that the dog's happiness is with its owner, and regardless of the environment it encounters will be happy with me as we travel the seas. Fellow cruisers feel that traveling with a dog is much like traveling with a weapon, and becomes more of a hassle checking in and checking out of countries and fee's added on top that make traveling with a pet un-user friendly, unless it's a cat. There seems to be a cat cult, since it uses a litter box, and is emotional sound with or without you, but there is a reason a dog is called man's best friend and why not on the water?

      I am due to fly out on Sunday, December 15th 2013 with Xena my 50 LB Akita Inu in tow as we travel to Porto, Portugal from Stuttgart, Germany in route to start our journey on board Jillion. I had taken her into the vet four or five times in the last two months in order to get her vaccinated properly and get her documents in order. I was under the impression that if the dog was up to date on shots and vaccination she would only need a medical evaluation and we could be on our way traveling freely. Unannounced to me until yesterday, when I found out the story was completely different. I was under the impression that the Veterinary Office would be educated on the matter of moving animals throughout Europe, I was wrong.

      To find out that my Veterinary service actually knew nothing about flying pets throughout Europe, or to other countries was a surprise to me. It was if they had never flown anyone other then from and to the United States. Here I am, two days before we leave, and I found out my pet has none of the proper documents in order to fly to a separate country. The Doctor tells me this on the last day before I am to fly, and his reaction is basically benign.

     Here is to hoping everything goes well. It seems we will need to get her a blood test, and a Pet Passport in order to get here in the new PETS Scheme that is known internationally. I just don't understand why I am finding this out as I leave and the Vet was not more knowledgeable about the subject, as it took me an hour in order to find this information. The under trained and undereducated system is becoming alarming.

     What we learned from this incidence is basically to always to further research in order to make sure you are covered. At this moment we have Xena's Health Book from Hungary, Her Vaccination Records within this document, A Export Pet document good for exporting pet's out of the United States into Foreign Countries, A health Certificate to travel form the United States into the United States. What the doctor failed to do was to do a titre test for rabies in order to confirm the Rabies Vaccination to be good, and to recommend we see a foreign Veterinary Clinic in order to get a Pet Passport to insure we have traveled, as well as a tapeworm vaccination within 5 days prior to travel. If we would of followed these steps we would be covered to travel internationally through conforming countries.

     Our options now are to hopefully be passed to travel to Portugal, since we are traveling within the European union and she has been in the EU for six months, they may wave the blood test. Once we get to Portugal we will get the blood test and receive the results via email while we travel to the Canary Islands. When we arrive to the Canary Islands with the results in hand we will see a Veterinarian on the island and get a Pet Passport. At this time getting all the documents needed in order to travel further and unhindered in more countries. If our current vet would have given us this information to begin with, we would not be going through the hassle now.

    Once we arrive in Portugal, and Continue to the Canaries I will update my progress with traveling with a Pet, internationally and as we check into different countries. It seems with the Pet Passport, it would have made everything more seamless.
 


Ankunft in Porto und Tag 1

Nach einer gefühlten ewigen Anreise von Deutschland nach Portugal bin ich endlich am Donnerstag  gegen 19.45 Uhr angekommen.
Nach dem ersten kleinen Schreck wie es an Board ausschaut habe ich erstmal die Taschen entleert und verstaut, bestmöglich.
Nach dem das erledigt war, ging ich auf die Suche nach dem WLAN Passwort, geendet hat es aber mit 3 neuen Amigos auf unserm Boot und gutem Essen frisch aus dem Restaurant.
Wie es dazu kam?
Ich habe einfach den ersten angesprochen der mir auf dem Marine Gelände begegnete, dieser brachte mich zu einem älteren sehr netten Herr, der aber leider nur portugiesisch sprach, dieser Herr konnte mir das PW leider auch nicht sagen, aber er versuchte sein bestes.
Der erste Mann mit den englisch Kenntnissen liess mich dann mit dem Mann Nummer 2 allein, dieser fing an zu telefonieren, ich denke er versuchte jemanden zu erreichen der das Passwort kennt. Kurz darauf fuhr ein Auto vor mit Mann Nummer 3, ebenfalls keine Englisch Kenntnisse, der aber das Passwort  auch nicht kannte. Beide haben mir versucht irgendetwas zu erklären, mit Mimik und Gestik haben ich es am ende auch verstanden, sie haben jemanden angerufen der extra für mich zur Marine kommt um das Informationsbüro zu öffnen und mir das Passwort zu geben. was aber keiner der Menschen verstanden hat war, das es sooo dringend nun auch nicht war.
Während wir auf den Mann Nummer 4 gewartet haben boten mir die beiden Herren einen Snack an, es war sowas wie Hühnchenfleich in einer Panade in Dreiecksform, es hat unglaublich gut geschmeckt, vor allem weil ich seit dem Vormittag nichts mehr gegessen hatte. Auch ein Plastikbecher mit White Porto, einem sehr leckeren aber mit wenig Alkohol versetzen Wein, wurde mir in die Hand gedrückt. Ich empfand es als sehr Gastfreundlich, sowas erlebt man nicht alle Tage.
Als dann nach etwa 10 min und 2 Snacks später der Mann Nummer 4 auftauchte, verabschiedeten sich die beiden anderen, dachte ich...
Als ich dann endlich mein lang ersehntes WLAN Passwort hatte, wollte ich mich gemütlich ins Bett legen und einfach relaxen, doch daraus wurde nichts, gerade als ich mich umziehen wollte hörte ich Stimmen, von mehreren Männern.
Ich ging zur Tür und sah dann die Männer Nummer 2 und 3 die mir bereits einige Snacks angeboten hatten, sie brachten eine weitere Flasche White Porto und eine portugiesische Spezialität namens Papa... (irgendwas), frisch aus dem Restaurant und sie brachten noch einen Freund (dieser sprach zum Glück auch englisch).
Ich lud sie dann aufs Boot ein und wir aßen zusammen und tranken noch etwas von dem leckeren Wein, sie waren alle sehr freundlich und es war schön sich mit ihnen zu unterhalten , soweit es möglich war). Als wir dann fertig waren verließen sie mich wieder und ich konnte mich nach einem langen Tag endlich ins Bett legen.

Am nächsten Tag habe ich mich aufgemacht um den von Brandon erwähnten Supermarkt zu finden der mir die Lebensmittel liefert, das ging recht einfach und ich war schnell dort. Was allerdings nicht so schnell ging war das zu finden was auf unsere liste stand, ich verbrachte etwa 4 Stunden in diesem Laden und habe am Ende doch nicht alles bekommen was drauf stand. 
Endlich zurück am Boot war es auch schon wieder Zeit etwas zu schlafen, in der Hoffnung das es etwas weniger windig wird ;) 

Marine in Porto bei Nacht, Jillion versteckt sich leider zwischen 2 etwas größeren Segelbooten.




















The Boat

    As I started this blog after I had purchased the boat, and sailed it form the UK to Portugal; I have left out some important details on the "boat shopping" experience.  Mainly to include where to buy second hand boats, what to look for, and what guides are there available to the second hand boat buyer with blue water in mind.

    I found most my information via forums, Google, and online mass searching.  The information that follows is a credited list of information rather then having to go through the same pain staking search.

Guides on Which (Small) Boats are available with blue water capability.

Good Old Boats List
Mahina Boat List
Twenty Small Boats Book
Twenty Affordable Boats Book
Blue Water Boats List
Latitude 38 Circumnavigation List

Using these list you can be confident that if your boat you are prospecting is on there, you are safe it has blue water experience under its belt.

Second Hand Boat Shopping Markets

Yacht World
Apollo Duck
Boat Trader

While I spent most of my time cruising Yacht World, and then once narrowing my boat selection on the list with the price range I was able to spend, I would also cross reference the other sites, as well as Google additional sites.  This way insuring you are getting the best selection, and price availability.

We are going to skip the entire talk about how long your boat is going to be, where your boat is located, and the registration for your boat, as well as licenses and documentation.  We are going to just understand the process of finding and understand the blue water boat purchase.

Now that you have found a boat on the lists provided, and have found it within your price range.  You need to understand what the boat has on board in order to ensure you are going to get an outfitted boat, otherwise you can be looking at paying 50% of the boat's worth on additional items(this is a statistical approximation, experiences may vary).  Does it have a wind vane, a life raft, a VHF, etc....

Here is a list of Bare Bones Equipment that you should check that you have for budget blue water.

Now you can put all this information to use, and join the fun! We'll see you out there. I'm glad we could share how the boat buying experience was for us.  Any details we left out please contact us!





Courtesy Flags

    While we were in the middle of pinching pennies, and ordering essential parts, we came across the concept of courtesy flags.  This in fact is a law, throughout the marine world, where when you enter another Countries water, you should fly their flag in order to display respect, and also to show that you agree to abide by the said countries laws.

    Now this is written in the rules and can be interpreted different ways, but the way I interpret the rules is that, a person entering another countries water will fly the Q flag until they proceed to customs, and after clearing the country you proceed to fly the countries courtesy to signify that these formalities are complete. This will show two things to the local coast guard, and if you fly this flag without clearing customs, or choose not to fly a courtesy flag can turn bad for you and your parties.  For example in Morocco they take this very seriously (so I've read).

    Being law abiding citizens as we are, and trying to avoid any trouble with law enforcement, as well as any fines that could be attached to breaking these laws; we have decided to procure all of these "courtesy flags" before we depart in December across the Atlantic into the Caribbean.  We proceeded to shop online for courtesy flags and found that an average flag would cost around 10 dollars, with groups of flags around 150 dollars.  This meaning we would need to purchase somewhere around 500 dollars in flags to get a proper set of signal flags and courtesy flags to be in compliance with the laws.  To me this was just unacceptable.

   This is our solution.  I opened paint and searched the internet for PDFs with the flags of the world on them.  I proceeded to print one side of the flag, then rotate the picture on its horizontal access and print on the other side of the flag.  Once the flag was double sided with reverse images of itself, we purchased an laminator for 20 euro, and proceeded to laminate over 100 flags, saving us countless dollars.  We will poke holes and raise these in place of the "flag", and hopefully catch little to no slack in the process.  We will report back with the reaction to the public.


The sites we used for our flag pictures are as follows.

http://www.pdfpad.com/flags/

Which is a great site, because it also separates it by areas, so you can click what is relevant to your sailing grounds.

Also for Signal Flags, we used the pictures from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags


Der Zeitpunkt rückt näher

Hallo,
Nun ist es mal an der Zeit das ich auch mal etwas poste. ;)

Der Zeitpunkt der Reise rückt immer näher, die letzten Vorbereitungen müssen getroffen werden, bzw sind im vollen Gange. 
Zum Glück habe ich die Wichtigsten bereits hinter mir, meine Familie einzuweihen, meinen Arbeitskollegen/Chef von meinen Plänen zu berichten und natürlich das Ticket in die Freiheit gebucht. 
Meine Familie hat es zu meiner großen Erleichterung positiv aufgenommen und freut sich für mich, dass ich die Chance habe, dieses tolle Abenteuer zu erleben und dann auch noch mit so einem Mann an meiner Seite. Ich bin unheimlich stolz auf meine Familie, sie hat mich stets bei allem unterstützt und das tuen sie selbst jetzt, nachdem ich alles in Deutschland abbrechen werde. Ich liebe euch dafür!

Ich werde euch hier in meinem "Schloss" so gut wie möglich auf dem laufenden halten, vllt nicht ganz so professionell wie Brandon ;) aber ich gebe mein bestes.

Picture taken from www.umweltbundesamt.de

Insurance

    Figure I would touch a little on insurance.  Currently we are searching the insurance for an affordable global package, which sounds like it should be relatively easy in today's modern age of gps technology and world cooperation.  Quite the contrary.  Leaving the "Hurricane" limitations out of it, which are completely understandable.  I was told that I would need three blue water experienced crew on board to do an Atlantic crossing.  I suppose they forgot to consider my boat isn't equipped for such a crew, nor would I be willing to acquire such a crew in order to comply for insurance purposes.

  I have heard mix reviews around the net about different companies.  I have been quoted an original amount, but then once I elaborated into my plans of switching areas it seems most US companies sigh away from anyone doing anything that isn't within a few miles of the US coast, and a bit of the Caribbean.

   From the companies that people have mentioned, I have sent quotes to the following.

http://bluewaterins.com/
yachtinsure.com
www.offshorerisk.com
www.imis.com

Which the last is actually a broker that will search for an insurance company to meet your specific needs.

We will get the quotes back tomorrow and make a further analysis of the insurance game, although the lack of information and global insurance is surprising.  They will give me insurance in yearly increments for area's, but this doesn't support the goal of a cruiser, unless I was moving quite slowly, which I do not plan on doing.


The Route

            I suppose to some people the most important part of a journey is the map, although I've come to the conclusion that in sailing putting set plans and destination will only leave you disappointed in the end.  The best option is to follow the winds, and the current, let the tide bring you out to sea, and enjoy the beauty of the world.  That doesn't fret for a few of us dreamers to draw a line on the map and show you what an ideal voyage would be, however unlikely of the events that would hold you from such a journey, to include a damaged boat, an emptying of your sludge fund(rainy day fund), or some family emergency in order to get home, or just falling in love with a location and just enjoying life.

            Regardless of the stereotypes and dilemmas behind choosing a route, we are hardly reinventing the wheel, although when going on different boat, and different economy then past years we must put these into consideration when making our plans.  The questions come in different forms depending on which part of the world you are in, and alot of the routes can be found in Jimmy Cornell's Book, which has been a great find for us in order to plan routes.  The next thing when planning a route is to have global charts, as well as pilot charts.  Although these pilot charts cover mass times of weather in all locations it will give you an idea of where you want to be and which routes you want to take during what time of the year.  Even though there are freak weather as we all know, it is to play to your favor to follow histories example.

          Now that we have our charts, and we have our boat, we need to take into account.......our budget, yes that's right, people who can afford different places and activities will choose on which route to take in order to accommodate their budget.  For Example,  French Polynesia has you put down a deposit for a plane ticket home and refunds you in another currency, usually leaving you out of 1500 dollars depending on your home country, this may not be acceptable depending on your budgetary constraints.

   Also we need to take into account the amount of time we are going to spend in the different areas we are going to visit, as mentioned we look at the pilot charts to see the areas affected by storms, as well as reference history.  We know we don't want to be in the Caribbean during April-November, and we don't want to be in the pacific from December-march.  In order to have the best trip through the trade winds we will follow these principles. So Logic tells us there is only a few options to go in order to fully enjoy ourselves during the best seasons for the right places.

         Below you can see a picture of our various thought process as we went through this process.  Always placing safety and season first we have the option to explore the Caribbean or rush through to the canal, or do we go to New Zealand and wait out the cyclone season, or rush past to get out of dodge before the bad weather hits.  Finally we decide as we leave Australia do we want to go north towards the Gulf of Eden, or South Around Cape Hope?


            While these choices may seem in important in certain areas depending on your experience and surrounding could mean the difference between life and death.  In choosing the route there are not only weather hazards, but the even more dangerous human factor.  There have been reported robberies and stabbing across the Caribbean on cruisers, as well as the known pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia.

            In taking these all into account we have chosen to follow the route to drop to New Zealand in order to avoid the cyclones, and then again drop around the south of Africa in order to avoid the pirates.  These are both decisions on our experience and our lack of being able to bring weapons on our route.  This also would give us an extra year to our trip letting us take it slower and enjoy our selves a little more in New Zealand and Australia.  Although, we were tempted to stream by these areas since they are the most expensive cruising areas in the world.

            I seem to have left out an important part of the trip.  The panama canal.  Although we could go around the south south America, that would add an extra six months to our trip, and we don't have a metal hull boat and it would be very dangerous through the icy waters that far south.  The panama canal has been said to be a headache, from it processing delays and its fees.  Also its rules and regulations make it so most people feel that it is a headache they would not want to deal with.  Although I have not been through the panama canal I do not fret this, as we have a decently powerful engine size for our boat, which was built to fight the currents in the English Channel.

          The initial fees at today's time are around 450 dollars standard for small yachts, and as with any operation its the hidden fees that I am told will get you.  You need rope handlers, two on each side, so four total with 200 yards of rope minimum.  You also need to go a minimum of 7 knots with your boat.  If your engine breaks down you will be fined, if you are too slow you will be fined.  I have heard you wait up to a month to even get through and in the meantime you have to hang out in a city, paying fees.

   I hope you all take into account the points before planning your own route, most importantly the weather, crime rates, and your ability to deal with both.  After you find where you would like to go, figure out where you can afford to go.  Although the world is "free", there are better areas for cruisers on a budget to spend their time then the french Polynesia, although it is some of the best cruising areas in the world, its better to cruise longer then to go bust attempting feet's out of your price range.

    As mentioned before I do not agree on making plans on a sailboat or promising when to be where, and when.  All we can do is point our bow in the general direction we want to go and hopefully the wind favors us, if not we'll just have to enjoy where it decides to blow us!

Doing our Part!

   We are due to part in less then two months and it got me thinking about conservation measures and doing our part on the journey. While I will be attending online classes for college while we travel, I also couldn't help, but wanting to do something more some how. To make the trip worth more, by sharing our love and admiration for the world with others.

    While researching this topic I have stumbled by a few websites that peak my interest and will find ourselves becoming some how involved with while we travel.  The first one is a plankton monitoring system, where we would take plankton samples and record the information to be sent to the university to go into the database so we could monitor the earth's levels.  Since 50% of the world's plankton are in the marine environment this seems like a just cause.

http://www.secchidisk.org

   The second site I ran across was a YachtAid Global, which uses the power of the cruisers to move supplies to locations in need. Since most sailors are traveling around from one place to another, and usually have room for extra supplies, hopefully we get the opportunity to help either of these organizations.  While these are two avenues of a way for us to give back to the world while we travel, we will be on the look out for more!  If you have any ideas, please drop us a line!

yachtaidglobal.org/wp/

picture taken from www.wakerad.com

Stef's Corner

Here is a section for our German Speaking Friends.

                                                picture from schulbilder.org

Final Preperations

   Two months may seem like a long time in between steps, but we are coming on the final stretches of our preparation stage.  I just arrived back home from Porto, after visiting the boat and taking over 240 lbs of supplies and equipment.  Most of the things I have mentioned before, to include bilge pumps, wires, solar controller, wind turbine and tower, etc...  Over all the trip went better then expected. I was also worried about the bilges being filled with water, but was pleasantly surprised when they were bone dry, and I felt a bit silly for having any worry at all.

    Although we have been having a lot more issues then I like to make public. To include getting an email from Boat Registration USCG four months after the submitted paperwork, informing us that we failed to submit one document that was only introduced the same month we submitted the forums. Now we must be put at the end of the Que and hopefully get a proper registration before leaving in December.

   On top of dealing with registration we have to get flags for each of the countries we are to visit, as we are suppose to by law display the flag of the waters we are within in order show compliance with local laws and regulations.  This is a bit humorous as each patch of soil in the Caribbean seems to be a different island, so we'll have to check in and out of customs and regulations every other day it seems like.  Oh the turmoil!

picture Added from condottiero.deviantart.com


   Now the next step is saving our last pennies, doing nothing for two months, and preping.  I have purchased a Go Pro, so hopefully on this next set of pictures and videos are better quality and maybe get some underwater footage!  Than we'll basically be professionals and start sending in our products to magazines and TV Companies!

Budget

   As I am looking around the cruising community it is inherent that I am of a younger class and social status then many cruisers.  My moderately sized 26' boat gets dwarfed by the quad cabin, twin shower, 50' catamaran that is more common in the "online" presence that I usually find myself looking for advice from these days, since I am still maintaining a presence at work and have yet set sail.  While I'm looking towards these boats and their adventures I am beginning to realize how differently not only our expectations of day to day living are, but on life.

   This brought me to the conclusion that my boat necessities and budget would in no way reflect a 67 yr old retired doctor's boat and budget, or even a retired vet with a pension.  Since I will be cruising with basically no income and using the lent out of my pockets to line my way, I needed to approach how I was entering this endeavour differently then the initial excitement lead me to react. 

    I've concluded the unnecessarily electronics were the first to get crossed off the list, shopping for 6000 dollar radar detectors and multi screen chart plotters was unrealistic and out of my price range.  All of these things that others were saying they couldn't leave the dock without, I simply find to be unneeded burdens that will eventually brake, and need repairing in the long run.  The only other purchases for the boat will be in the means of life saving, or boat saving equipment. ie (Sails, Rigging, Rations, etc...)

    There is a consensus that cruising around with 500 dollars a month is an unreasonable low amount of money to cruise with, but this will be our initial goal.  Two people 500 dollars broken down between food, fuel, water, and entertainment.  The idea is to stay away from tourist areas, always eat on board, and never or rarely during extreme weather conditions use a marina.

    This all sounds too easy right? We'll just stay on deserted areas, only provision when needed, and use entertainment and wifi from easily accessed hot spots. Simple.  Then I read more into what certain areas, and countries require for each of there cruising waters.  If you stay 12 NM off shore technically in most areas you end up in International waters and are free to do as you please, but when you need to check in and stay in certain areas, or want to enjoy their luxurious secluded beaches there are tariffs, and fees they like to include to make their island prosperous, even if you choose not to join in on the "fun".

    You can find more detailed information about individual destinations at this great site I stumbled across.  http://www.noonsite.com/

   I'm not sure if the readers are aware, but I am bringing also my 6 month old Puppy Xena along for the travels as well.  Although she does have a passport, is micro chipped, and is up to date on all her shots, I have heard horror stories of areas quarantine pets for up to 120 days paying 10 dollars a day.  Now we are way over budget.  Only time will tell, since we do have a microchip, I have heard good things on the electronics doing justice and alot of these transits may be waved if we conclude we will not bring the dog on the island.

   In the end we are looking ahead on our initial budget limit and hope that we will stay below the mark of 500 dollars a day.  The key will be eating on the boat 99% of the time, provisioning in cheap areas and buying what the locals buy, entertainment is from nature or enjoying local activities, and rarely over indulging in anything.  Less is more as they say.  Obviously there will be emergencies and we will deal with them along the way.


                                         picture from m-ribs.com

Initial Investment

    I've read that financial threads/posts are taboo.  I also have read you aren't suppose to believe everything you read, especially on today's "Idiot-Web".  That being said; I would like to have a layout of our initial investment going in to our finishing prepping stages.  To best explain the idea I have created a spreadsheet to better explain.  This shows our initial budget of 30,000 dollars, and includes our expenses to every detail.


Total Budget $30.000








Expense Amount Paid % budget
Initial Purchase $16.693,06 55,64%

Boat Purchase (+ Launch) $13.792,60
$7.019,95
45,98%

Boat Survey $470,00 $470,00 1,57%

Sailing Education $472,58 $472,58 1,58%

FCC License $160,00 $160,00
0,53%

Boat Registration $133,00 $133,00
0,44%

Findmespot Year Registration $162,93 $162,93
0,54%

Life Raft $194,94 $194,94
0,65%

Dingy $383,40 $383,40
1,28%

Storage in Porto 6 Months $923,61 $923,61
3,08%










Boat Recovery $960,03 3,20%

Plane $528,93 $528,93
1,76%

Fuel $252,58 $252,58
0,84%

Food $178,52 $178,52
0,60%

Other - (Taxi, Slip, Mooring)
































Boat Improvements $2.535,47 8,45%

Solar panel $134,22 $134,22 0,45%

Portable Anchor Light $30,00 $30,00 0,10%

Charge Controller $275,00 $275,00 0,92%

Wind Turbine $634,84 $634,84 2,12%

Turbine Tower $198,00 $198,00 0,66%

Circuit Breaker $8,85 $8,85 0,03%

Tablet + Case $148,36 $148,36 0,18%

Spot $90,82 $90,82 0,30%

Midland CB-Radio $63,68 $63,68 0,21%

Flash Light + Binoculars $37,56 $37,56 0,13%

CB Antenna $30,34 $30,34 0,10%

TV Mount $16,74 $16,74 0,06%

3 Pc Waterproof Dry Bags $7,48 $7,48 0,02%

Shoreline Marine Bow Bi-Color Light Clamp-On $17,00 $17,00 0,06%

Sea-Band Anti-Nausea Ginger Gum $6,13 $6,13 0,02%

Ring Terminals - 4 Pack $3,95 $3,95 0,01%

Waterproof Wallet $5,07 $5,07 0,02%

Press-On Vinyl Letters $11,19 $11,19 0,04%

Garmin Carabiner clip $15,70 $15,70 0,05%

Vinyl Numbers $5,90 $5,90 0,02%

Garmin eTrex 20 $151,23 $151,23 0,50%

Marine Bilge Pump 600 $15,48 $15,48 0,05%

Wire Hose Clamp, 5-Pack $7,99 $7,99 0,03%

Wire Hose Clamp, 5-Pack $7,03 $7,03 0,02%

Marine Bilge Pump $16,36 $16,36 0,05%

Bilge Pump 600 GPH $15,48 $15,48 0,05%

Wireless Keyboard $15,99 $15,99 0,05%

1000 GPH Bilge Pump  $20,48 $20,48 0,07%

Vhf/am/fm Splitter $32,10 $32,10 0,11%

PNY 64 GB Flash Drive  $29,99 $29,99 0,10%

2000 GPH Bilge Pump  $66,74 $66,74 0,22%

RCA x 3.5mm Y-Cable  $2,47 $2,47 0,01%

200-Watt 3-Way System $19,22 $19,22 0,06%

AWG Wire Fuse Holder $5,69 $5,69 0,02%

Extension Cord $7,75 $7,75 0,03%

100 Ft Speaker Wire $10,48 $10,48 0,03%

 25-Feet3.5mm Stereo Cable $3,99 $3,99 0,01%

Mighty Repair Kit $39,42 $39,42 0,13%

10 AmpAGC Fuses(25 Pack) $4,09 $4,09 0,01%

Hagen Laguna Y-Connector $12,34 $12,34 0,04%

Hose Clamp,(Pack of 10) $13,75 $13,75 0,05%

Laguna Y-Connector $7,00 $7,00 0,02%

Discharge Hose with Clamps $12,50 $12,50 0,04%

ENERGIZER 900 Inverter $68,12 $68,12 0,23%

ENERGIZER Remote $15,00 $15,00 0,05%

Television $160,00 $160,00 0,53%

SaltWater TackleKit $8,96 $8,96 0,03%

Carib Map App $14,99 $14,99 0,05%

HF Weather App $10,00 $10,00 0,03%



















Total
$20.188,56
$13.415,91
67,30%









         
                                                            picture from aspanational.wordpress.com

Weather - Passage Planning

     I have reached my budget on what I'm wanting to spend on the boat. As far as extra equipment goes, we are slowing. Other than paying for it, I have to get it from Germany to Portugal, which is becoming unmanagable. We are now focusing on route planning. We have decided on two different routes and have verified the first 3/4 of the route until we get to Australia, where we can decide to go up north or cross Africa at the south end of things.

    We are choosing our leave time in December from Porto, Portugal. This will put us in the Carribbean Shortly in the new year, which gives us just a few months to get out of the way before hurricane season. We should be in or around panama before or towards the end of March at the latest.
   
Moving across to the Galapagos we will catch up by not spending as long in areas where say the WorldArc Would cruise around for a while. The best time being April to October to cruise the Pacific Islands we will try to be through to Australia by then.

    Our reference guides are Pilot Charts and World Cruising by Jimmy Cornell. Will update with further information.

Useful Passage Planning Links

http://www.offshoreblue.com/navigation/pilot-charts.php

http://www.accidentalcruiser.com/features/weatherRouting.html

Not to exclude what most reference as a must read for cirumnavigating and trade winds cruising is Jimmy Cornell's World Cruising Routes .  I will pick up a copy of this as well; but you can see our plan as of today is to get across the Panama Canal by April.

picture from weather.mailasail.com

Electronics

 I find myself shopping for electronics.  Which ones do I need, Which ones do I want, and Which ones are worth sacraficing a fair amount of my Kitty Towards.  As we come closer to the trip I find myself spending more towards the boat, but am wondering how much of the items I am purchasing do I actually need, and what are turning into luxuroy items.  Every Item I add on the boat adds the potential for future repairs, and for future financial responsibility.  Which of these Items are Luxury Items?

   Ofcourse this question is going to be anwsered differently by most every sailor.  While some people won't sail without GPS, AIS, RADAR, WINDVANE, and ofcourse the refridgerator.  Others only need a sail and a compass.  As I narrow the Gap between selling off my land lubber belongings and putting away much needed cash for food and supplies; I find myself down this slope of Boat Electronics that I can't Escape.

Original Purchase:

172C Garmin Chartplotter
eTrex 20 Hand Held Garmin
7200 Navman VHF
Nasa Target Depth
ST1000 Auto-Pilot Tiller

Add-on Purchases: (aprox. cost - $1600)

1600W Wind Turbine
440A Charge Controller W/ 1500W Dump Load
4x20W Solar Panels
3x600 GPH Bilge Pumps w/ Float Switch
1x1100 GPH Bilge Pump
1x1500 GPH Bilge Pump
Element Pantech w/ World Navionics Maps
SPOT + findmespot.com One Year Contract
23" Toshiba TV
64 GB USB

Needs/Wants

AIS Transceiver
Radar
Navtex Receiver
Refridgerator

picture from panbo.com

The Best Of'

The Roll of Pictures is the top 10, or so, Pictures from UK to Portugal.
Enjoy.
Coast of Spain


Uschant
Hayling Island
Hayling Island
Biscay Bay
Off Coast of Spain
Hayling Island


 



Bay Of Biscay
Cape Finisterre



Hayling Island
Cape Finisterre














Coast of Spain
Portugal
Night Portugal
Uschant