Sailing to India ?

nevermind

This is certainly intriguing. I can't help, although I wish I could. What boat? 27ft is a little on the small side for long passages.

well, isn't this an intriguing thread! <cross-posted with In-the-parlor!>

short answer: yes. even shorter (but much more realistic) answer: no.

still, i'm curious about your plan. what type of boat? how much experience and what type of equipment do you have? are you transporting the boat or do you just want to sail to india? what's your proposed route?

i'll be following this thread with great interest!

oh, and welcome to indiamike.

It's just a "brain fart" i have. Unless i find someone that is an experienced sailor who thinks it's feasable, it won't happen, but who knows. I just thought i'd throw it out there and see what happens. It's a 1981 27' Hunter sailboat with a 7.5 horsepower deisel Yanmar engine. The sails are in excellent condition and it has a draft of 4'3", heavy lead keel.

Ahh, Trauma. I was afraid of this. I have a 1981 Hunter, too, but even though Cherubinis (Hunters built in that time frame were designed by John Cherubini, and have good reps) may be the best of the Hunter brand, they are not built for long passages. They are coastal cruisers, not blue water cruisers. Passages have been done with far less, but that doesn't mean it is safe. I wish you the best of luck, however.

27-footer. I don't think that would be fun.

In fact, it could be traumatic.

By the way, the forum rules ask that signatures be limited to 4 lines of plain text, which means English.

OK in the parlour. You talked me out of it.

OOPS.

I dream of a trip like that, too, but a 1981 Hunter 27 would take a pounding in high seas. There really is a difference between blue water cruisers and our boats, I'm sorry to say. Replace the standing rigging, bulk up most of the supports, and supplies for two. That, and the instrumentation you'd probably want, could make this a very costly trip indeed. Maybe a trip to the Bahamas would be a good place to start, if you are on the east coast. See how she handles the Gulf Stream. With a 4.5 ft draft, you'd want to make sure your depth sounder works, however, and that your navigation skills are sufficient to keep you off the reefs.

Remember: BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand.

Fair winds!

death on the high seas. no, no fun at all.

"captain trauma". hmmm...it doesn't have a very confidence-inspiring ring. have you considered a name change to solicit crew?

aw, gee, and i was so looking forward to following this thread.

There's a word you'd probably use quite a lot on such a passage!

It's a great idea. Haven't sailed for years, and no ocean stuff anyway, but I think that about 36-foot might be my starting point if I was to. What's the boat called? The trouble with boat names is all the classics have been thought of, used and registered, which leaves a lot of people rather scraping the barrel.

One solution is combined names, couples, the children, joint owners, and so on. My friend Paul and I once mused that, if we jointly owned a boat, we could call it Panic

I don't have a name for it, but Panic or maybe even Trauma, especially if i found myself out in the middle of the Pacific and 25' seas.

I like it: Captain Trauma, of the SV Panic and Crew Indiamike!

There are a number of cruising boats that stop in India while circumnavigating, so it's not impossible by any means.

Some good friends on an eight year around the world trip left their boat (Cape George 42)in Cochin while exploring the northern mountains. Had hoped to meet up with them, but schedules didn't work out. They could only stay 3 months as that was all the time left on their visas upon arrival. They did the trip west to east leaving from the Canadian west coast going through the Straights of Magellan and Red Sea. From their stories the Red Sea was a scary place with too much pirate activity for comfort.

I used to be a keen sailor and dreamed of off shore cruising aboard my own boat, but only around the Pacific. My work in oceanography took me to many places in the Pacific, but not to enough palm fringed islands for my liking. The boat I built for the task was a Fraser 36 cutter with all the right stuff. After being diagnosed with Crohn's disease after a difficult passage from Vladivostok to Hilo aboard a Soviet ship I was forced to give up my dream. Kept the boat for a few more years hoping health would improve, but finally sold it and took early retirement at 57. Would probably still be sailing in the local Gulf Islands except moorage and upkeep costs were going up at a huge rate. $5K per year in the late 90's was more than my small pension could absorb, it would be ~ $10K today.

By 2005 health had improved enough that I was able to make a trip to South India to see places I'd missed during the 70's. My old boat is probably in the South seas by now with her new owners. After swallowing the anchor (becoming a land lubber) all I kept from my sailing days were memories, photographs, and my sextant. Here's a link to a photo shot during better days.
Wanderer22 out on the bowsprit with wide-angle lens, my 80+ year old father is at the helm...
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/4593329-lg.jpg

W22

Wow, great photo!