Sailing the Pacific is my next goal. Preparations are being made right now. Crew are invited to join in this adventure. For crew I am advertising at 7knots, sailingvacations24.com and floatplan.com. Please read this entire page before seeing the cost below.
The Pacific passage plan is:
Transit the Panama canal from Colon on the Caribbean side. No later than February 20th 2012.
Depart Panama City across the Pacific soon after transiting the canal before March 20th 2012.
Arrive Galapagos islands before end of March.
Arrive Marquases before end of April.
Arrive Tahiti before end of May.
Philippines and Thailand.
Sailing
A unique opportunity awaits and I am offering this opportunity to unique people!
Crossing the Pacific is a big deal and a great adventure.
The following is information I need to have and you need to consider before getting a week into the passage across the Pacific, perhaps 1000 miles and asking to go back. This is my filter system.
People I welcome on the Pacific passage:
Go to the post Pacific Crew to see one person I have selected.
I welcome people who ‘get it’. People who realize the enormity of this undertaking. Another motto – ‘I don’t have problems I have challenges’. Everyone on my boat should share this understanding and any challenges which inevitably arise.
People whose interest is not primarily the destination but the passage between land masses. The destination is the reward and a confirmation of a job well done.
People who want to challenge themselves both physically and emotionally and rise to that challenge.
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I am not looking for any specific skills. All boats need cooks, cleaners, vegetable choppers, watch-keepers, fuel filter changers , sail reefers, scupper cleaners the list goes on.
During the last eleven years of living on boats I, like most captains, do all of this and more. Given any interest I am more than willing to show you how I do something and you may learn something. I want to spend an equal time learning and improving my skills and indulging in new skills. We are after all only on this earth to learn and help others.
People I don’t want on the Pacific passage:
Dreamers – There is no room for dreamers on a boat; if the motivation to join a boat is merely to fulfill a ‘dream’ then the reality will come as a shock.
People wanting a free ride by saying that they want to ‘work their passage’. Everyone on a boat works; enough said. There is also a realistic fee for the time aboard.
Drinkers – Don’t ask me why I don’t want drinkers in the midst of a group of people who have a shared responsibility – it’s too dumb a question to answer.
Smokers – If you smoke within 100 feet of me I get a headache; how are you going to do that on a 50 foot boat ? There is no good reason to smoke anyway. (However if you want to quit smoking you may come on the passage and go without for the duration).
Baggage carriers: We all have ‘baggage’ I will try to keep my negative baggage to myself and influence the group only with the positive kind – a motto of mine ‘don’t promote the negative’!
Hopers – I avoid the phrase ‘I hope’. Dreamers use it often – you cannot trust your life to hope.
Preparation: (prevention is better than cure )
I am allowing time to get the group together.
This will benefit all concerned by integration and knowledge of each other and forming the group well in advance of going to sea. On that note I would also suggest a week’s sailing before crossing the Pacific. If we all do our homework then this should just be a confirmation of our findings during the run-up and the start of a great friendship!
I expect to have the crew assembled by late February 2012, although I am also keen on early commitment. I intend putting the ‘keepers’ in touch with each other as soon as possible so that we can integrate. You will have plenty of time to back out rather than doing so at the last minute. This will help to prove your commitment and we can fine tune the passage.