The Plan to Blast Off

 

Part 7 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

Despite the gastroenteric impossibility of a cat actually ingesting that much, the Captain was once again draped over my writing arm, yet another glistening bowl of salmon bits within the circle of his left paw.

‘We’ were hard at it, hammering out the final phase of our action plan. I had just typed the last bullet point, when all feeling drained from the arm pinned under the cat.

So here it is.

The final instalment of our Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

Planning the Voyage

• Sketch out route for complete voyage
• Plan each passage/ leg of voyage: 
• navigation 
• route, distances 
• expected weather
• best times to leave
• Plan crew events for morale: 
• goodbye dock party / start the passage
• mid-passage celebrations 
• milestones & mysteries
• birthdays, seasons, festivals, holidays
• end of passage celebrations etc
• Provisioning:
• food 
• equipment, spare parts 
• medical kit

Admin

• Financial: 
• banking, cash access, credit
• manage monthly payments/ investments
• income stream plan etc
• Personal & ID: 
• passport
• visas
• emergency contacts system
• Health: 
• checkups
• vaccinations
• prescriptions for medical kit
• Housing: sell, rent, house sitter?
• Contents: sell, give away, dump, storage?
• Photographs: scan and store all on hard drive and online
• Communication set up: 
• internet connection
• travel record blog
• land mail collection

Revise and update final cost estimates for all – and add in buffer!

Any other critical departure preparedness areas to cover?

   

Guest post by

–The Can Opener

(supervised and approved by Captain Cat)

The Plan to Refit the Boat

 

Part 5 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

What will need to be done to prepare the boat for blue water sailing? Since we are planning to buy a previously owned boat, chances are – just about everything…

Assuming we decide to buy (or co-purchase) a boat, then the Can Opener will need to get straight to work on preparing the boat for blue water travel. I am allowing for a year of dedicated refit within my Invincible Plan to Get Cruising.

Depending on the needs of the boat, he may need far more (or less?) time, but based on an unscientific survey of others’ experiences, this seems like a conservative estimate to plan around.

If we wind up volunteering as crew on someone else’s boat, it may need to have a refit too, in which case he will gain excellent training and experience. It’s all good.

1. Make a list from bow to stern of what needs to be done – 
• refer to marine survey/ discuss with surveyor from purchase
• emergency preparedness system – life raft, GPS etc
• research others’ refit lists and compare 
• review advice of long term cruising ‘pros’
2. Research solutions for needs above: 
• Internet 
• Club members/friends 
• Forums for owners of similar designs
3. Research prices
• special offers eg at boat shows 
• second hand solutions
• when to buy new
4. Purchase materials
5. Learn to install
6. Install
7. Test and review performance
8. Set up records to track ongoing performance

Any other key refit steps to add?

   

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

N.B. Part 6 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Blast Off.

The Plan to Get a Boat

 

  

Part 5 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising: 

After confiscating Captain Cat’s crystal decanter-ed Lagavulin 16 Year Old (he’ll never find it in the laundry basket) and interrupting his 22 hour nap (“Zazen meditation”? I don’t think so… ), we sat down and hammered out our plan.


Well, I sat down. CC draped himself over my paper, complained endlessly about the quality of tuna for sushi these days and bapped my pen about. Typical.


Here is what we came up with: 




The Plan to Get a Boat

1. Research price points by age of boat for the top 3 yacht designs we have narrowed it down to
2. Research and price in costs of:
• Refitting (for now, assumed at +50-100% of cost of boat depending on age of boat) 
• Marina and hauling fees by length – survey
• Sales tax on boat purchase 
• Registration costs? 
• Insurance costs
• Other costs/s? 
• Expected resale values after 5, 10, 15 years use

3. Compare all these same costs in a country by country survey – where can this most cheaply be done? 

         Also consider vs.

• cost/availability of ongoing offshore training 
• purchase process in region? Is local infrastructure helpful/sane to facilitate/enforce a major purchase like this?

4. Identify short list of potential boats to buy and their real total cost (see 2 above)

5. Research cost/feasibility of a boat loan
6. Compare cost of boat vs. age vs. safety vs. budget

7. Decision node:            
• Go ahead and start purchase process (great advice on ‘How to buy a used sailboat‘ at ‘Messing About in Sailboats’ blog)      OR
• shared purchase – share cost and time share with another owner      OR
• Find right boat to crew on as interim solution – training readiness may get ahead of pulling trigger on purchase solution 

What other critical points should be considered? There’s always more… but we’ll get it done.

Guest post by


— The Can Opener

N.B. Part 6 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Refit the Boat.

The Plan to Find a Boat that Fits

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Part 4 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

Captain Cat: Thursday night and life was good. I was just putting the last touches onto the final draft of my three-storey dream yacht. The Can Opener was gently fanning me with palm fronds and feeding me smoked oysters straight from the tin, when –

Can Opener: Those weren’t palm fronds. They were bed sheets. And I was fluffing them out across the bed before tucking them in.

Captain Cat: I did find those palm fronds rather claustrophobic as you hospital-cornered and ferociously tucked their edges under the mattress around me at lightning speed…

Can Opener: Listen carefully. There will be no three-storey yacht. We will follow a simple, systematic method to research great designs that have stood the test of time and…

… Our Method is as follows:

1. Consider/research one design per week.
2. Compare it versus the Yacht Design Criteria we wrote for the boat of our dreams.
3. Does it fit? What are the pluses and minuses?
4. After narrowing down to 10 or so favourite designs, we go see examples in person.
5. Review top 10 and continue looking until we find The One…

Where to find potential dream yacht designs?

• Internet:
• Sail magazine reviews: Yachting, Cruising World
  
• Yacht designers’ sites 
•  Comparison sites? Forums?

• Talk to club members about their boats and experiences
• Volunteer to crew on different designs

Where to visit examples of these yacht designs?

• Boat shows
• Volunteer to crew on these designs as possible
• Contact boat agents for viewings of yachts for sale

Captain Cat: Sounds very organised. But just a few more oysters under the palm fronds and I could have created exactly what I want and saved us both a lot of effort –

Can Opener: No. No palm fronds. And there were no oysters involved!

Captain Cat: Of course there were. It was a Thursday. I distinctly remember my tin of Crown Prince Best Smoked at my elbow.

Can Opener: Hm. It was a Thursday…

–transcribed by the Can Opener

N.B. Part 5 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Get a Boat.

 

Languages for the Islands

How do you ask ‘how much for each of these’?

I need the Can Opener to be able to successfully communicate while shopping in island markets for my breakfast treats…

What languages are spoken in some of the most popular cruising destinations – the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands?

While English can take you a long way in larger cities, the real magic of sailing is that you can visit the tiny, out of the way villages and islands rarely visited by regular tourists.

Being able to communicate in the language of whatever customs/port official you are standing in front of can go a long way towards making life smoother and more carefree too. 

Mediterranean

Official languages of islands in and around the Mediterranean include: French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Croatian and Turkish, as well as Maltese, Corsican, Sardinian and Arabic. The first four are spoken on the largest of the Mediterranean islands.

Caribbean

According to wiki, only 14% of West Indians are English speakers. Less than 25% speak French. On the other hand, 64% of West Indians speak Spanish. (Although Dutch is still an official language in Aruba, Curaçao and St Martin, less than 0.7% of islanders speak it these these days.)*

Sounds like Spanish in your pocket would be a great help. Especially if you decide to sail around South America before heading over to the… 

Pacific Islands

Almost every island has English as at least one of the official languages (and Australia and New Zealand are not too far away too). The exceptions are French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Vanuatu where French is an official language. There are also 100s of indigenous languages spoken.**

Language Training

Fortunately the Can Opener has a few years of French study behind him and a bit of Italian. But no Spanish. And for the first 3 major legs of our long term passage plan, it looks like English and Spanish will give the best coverage.

So. I have put the Can Opener on a new program of intensive Spanish study for 30 minutes/day, 5 days a week. Starting now. He can learn the other 17 languages I have planned for him while we’re on the boat.

Since his Spanish consists of a few words like ‘burrito’ and ‘tequila’, he can’t get any worse. The only way to go is up.

Cost of Language Study

• Can Opener’s old university textbooks from a Spanish course he dropped years ago – free!
• Library study materials – free!
• University introductory language lessons on podcasts (if you search carefully) – free!
• Bookmarking and reading articles and news sites in Spanish online – free!
• Emailing good friends who are native Spanish speakers – free!
• Pronunciation lessons from Captain Cat – free! (Repeat after me: Soy un gato guapo!)
  

The real challenge is not cost. It’s the discipline to put in the 30 minutes of study time per day, every day.

Fortunately I am very disciplined about the Can Opener’s discipline. I find he absorbs the most early mornings, right after preparing my 6am first breakfast.

Any other recommendations on good low cost ways to study languages?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Next: What Happened to ‘Spanish for Sailing’ Studies??
Previously: Plan to Get Trained

* Languages of the Caribbean, Wikipedia

** Official and Spoken Languages of Australia and the Pacifics, Nations Online

The Plan to Get Trained

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Part 3 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

How much education and training is enough before you shove off on your first really long term voyage? Offshore passage making certifications? First aid courses? Diesel maintenance? Celestial navigation?

It’ll never be enough!

But there are some fundamental courses the Can Opener absolutely must pass before we head out on our merry transatlantic.

Taking care of yours truly is our first priority. Making sure the Can Opener stays safe ranks right up there too. Someone’s got to cut open the clear packs and sauté the deli sausages for my breakfast!

Here’s the sea knowledge and training programme I’ve planned for the Can Opener:

On the Water

• RYA Yachtmaster Offshore

   

Theory

• RYA Yachtmaster Stellar Navigation theory – done!
  
• RYA Yachtmaster Coastal/Offshore Prep Theory   done!
• RYA Day Skipper Theory   done!

Specialist Courses

• Diesel Engine Maintenance
• Marine Radio Short Range Certificate/VHF Operator done!
• Sea Survival/ Emergency Preparedness
• Offshore Safety
• RYA Offshore First Aid – scheduled May 2013

Other Study

• Courses run by manufacturers on servicing and maintaining their equipment – Feb 2013 – done!
• Electrical Systems and Solar 
• How to catch a fish

That should do it… till I think of something more to decree the Can Opener shall study. Like useful languages for shopping in island markets for breakfast treats… Or electrical systems…

The best thing about sailing is there is always something new to learn. Constant challenges and education. What could be better?

Any critical courses / topics to add to the study list?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Part 4 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Find a Boat that Fits.

How to Cruise
Next: Cruising Courses – Cost Survey for 3 Countries
Previously: Sail Training – Where to Get It

Cruising Courses – Quick Cost Survey for 3 Countries

There are literally 100s of sailing schools in England and 1000s in the USA. All prices in this quick survey are roughly eyeballed averages of 5-10 representative schools in each country (except for the top level offshore courses where it was more difficult to find courses offered). 


Prices seem pretty consistent across south England and across Canada. The US schools have a fairly wide price range. The numbers below are a bit painful at first glance – but sailing is never/rarely cheap. It would be quite a feat to take all of these courses in one year, so you can count on spreading the cost over 2 to several years.


And the cost of gaining the skills necessary to keep yourself safe, healthy and alive to continue enjoying life in paradise is infinitely cheap compared to the price of not being prepared when you desperately need to be. Sail training is something that can’t be emphasized – or valued – highly enough. 


This short survey is meant only as a rough indication of prices for learn to cruise courses. It is a place to begin from.

In the UK       

If you live in the UK, it makes sense to follow the Royal Yachting Association Learn to Cruise certification levels. These seem to be run primarily by commercial sailing academies – and there’s a lot of choice.


Smaller less visible companies often charge slightly less for each course. If you can get a group together of 10-15+ people together, say, through a yacht club or at your place of work, you can often find rates offered at a 10-20% discount and get yourself thrown in for free too. Off-season (October to April approx) also seems to bring a 10-20% discount. Can these be combined? Everything’s negotiable.

About how much does it cost roughly on average in the UK to complete the tests in 2011? (in £, VAT included in price)


On the Water

• RYA Yachtmaster Coastal/Offshore Preparation (5 days, live-aboard) £520
• RYA Coastal Skipper  (5 days, live-aboard) £520 
• RYA Day Skipper  (5 days, live-aboard) £520
• RYA Competent Crew  (5 days, live-aboard) £520

Theory 

• RYA Yachtmaster Coastal/Offshore Preparation Theory £350
• RYA Coastal Skipper Theory £350 
• RYA Day Skipper Theory £350

In the USA

It’s easy to find commercial schools that teach the beginner and intermediate levels of American Sailing Association cruising standards, especially in major ports. It was harder – but not impossible – to find Advanced, Offshore courses and Celestial Nav courses. 


But while the ASA curriculum might be standardized, the prices charged and length of courses at various schools are anything but. 


Bigger cities usually meant bigger prices. More days in a course sometimes meant higher prices – but just as often not. I can only assume the discrepancy is caused by the size/age of the yachts and equipment provided. A few schools offered discounts for couples. The prices below are very roughly eyeballed ranges. 


So, about how much does it cost roughly on average in the USA to complete the tests in 2011? (in USD$)


On the Water 

• Offshore Passagemaking (ASA 108) (8-10 days) $3300-4000
• Advanced Coastal Cruising (ASA 106) (2-5 days) $600-995
• Bareboat Chartering (ASA 104) (3-4 days) $695-1395
• Basic Coastal Cruising (ASA 103) (2-4 days) $495-850
• Basic Keelboat (ASA 101) (2-4 days) $400-$695

Theory

• Celestial Navigation (ASA 107)  $400-600
• Coastal Navigation (ASA 105)  $250-400

In Canada

Venues that teach Canadian Yachting Association Learn to Cruise levels are harder to find at all levels. There only seem to be few – if any – commercial schools and they are only found in the larger cities. Some boat clubs will offer theory courses if there is enough member interest. 

I could only find the highest level CYA Offshore Standard course offered in Vancouver, although an RYA Yachtmaster Coastal/Offshore Preparation course can be found near Halifax.

About how much does it cost roughly on average in Canada to complete the tests in 2011? (in CAD$, HST not included in price)


On the Water 

• CYA Offshore Standard  (7 days, live-aboard)   $1500 
• CYA Advanced Cruising (5 days, live-aboard)   $1050 
• CYA Intermediate Cruising (5 days, live-aboard)   $950
• CYA Basic Cruising Standard (28 hours)   $525

Theory 

• CYA Celestial Navigation  $350
• CYA Coastal Navigation  $340
• CYA Advanced Cruising Theory (18 Hours)   $200
• CYA Intermediate Cruising Theory (12 Hours)   $180
• CYA Basic Cruising Theory (12 Hours)   $150

How many tests do I need?

• Theory knowledge has to be demonstrated (usually by taking and passing the relevant theory course/s) before the on-the-water test/s can be taken.
• The pace of the theory courses usually allow you enough time to learn the material over the duration of the course before the exam on the last day. 

• For the (advanced level) on the water practicals, however, you need to get the necessary boat-handling skills before you even start the course. If you haven’t already got this, you’ll need to factor in the cost of getting enough on the water experience.  
• Practical courses tend to run for about 5-7 days straight, all day, every day.
• You can jump in at any level of theory or practical if you think you’ve got the knowledge and skills to pass. (If you don’t, you will have to redo the course to progress).

How much does on the water pre-test training cost?

• Volunteering as crew for cruising in the UK, USA and Canada, you’ll usually be asked to cover your own cost of food and alcohol. Pitching in for the captain’s alcohol is pretty standard too.
• In the USA and Canada, if you are looking for racing training, it’s pretty much the same as above. In the UK, however, plan on paying on average £100+/day for ‘race fees’.
• How much does it cost to locate a crew to volunteer for? Free if you use crew bank sites online, for example on Facebook. Or you can join a sailing club with a crew bank. Then you’ll need to factor in the cost of club membership fees.
• Or you can pay for training weeks at a sailing academy which is charged at about the same rate as the test weeks as listed above.

The grand total?

So. If you took all the practical and theory courses from beginner level right up to the top yachtmaster/offshore level, what would it cost?

• In the UK: £3130 (VAT sales tax already included in price)
• In the USA: USD$6140 (no sales tax on services, prices at bottom of price range used)
• In Canada: CAD$6032 (after 15% east coast HST sales tax added)

Ever taken a cruising certification course? Where did you study?

Comments on the experience? Would you take another course from this provider?

Guest post by

—The Can Opener

(supervised and approved by Captain Cat) 

How to Cruise
Next: Why Get a Yachtmaster Certification?
Previously: The Plan to Get Trained for Blue Water

 

Why Get an RYA Yachtmaster Certification?

Naturally I, Captain Cat, have already got all the training I need to lounge behind our dodger, managing the Can Opener as he sails our yacht from England to infinity and beyond. But I am a cat. 

The Can Opener on the other hand, still needs to achieve his RYA Yachtmaster level and a few related certificates before I’ll let him loose on the high seas.

Why do I insist on so much training? Well, let’s see… Would anyone get in a car and drive it around the world saying, “We’ll just learn how to drive as we go…”? How about taking off in an airplane and figuring on “just picking up the details on flying on the way, how hard can it be…”? I thought not.

Boats may have steering wheels, but they are not cars. Buying a car does not automatically confer the knowledge of how drive it. Inconvenient but true – in the middle of the Atlantic there are no warm B&Bs to pull into to wait out storms with 60 knot winds and 20 foot high waves. 

You might make it through. You might not. You might endanger others who try to rescue you from a situation you could have been – but are not – prepared for.

Sailing is beautiful. It also comes with risks that rarely happen. Fortunately, there is much you can do to mitigate some very low frequency but extreme possible results.

  
Learn, train, provision, plan against the risks with as much knowledge and equipment as you can acquire. Then go sailing knowing that you have done everything you can in advance. The most painful and unfixable errors begin with “If only…”

 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

How to Cruise
Next: Sailing Strength Training
Previously: Cruising Courses – Cost Survey for 3 Countries

 

Cruising Design Criteria

The real list of yacht design criteria for the boat o’ my dreams stretches longer than my crystal decanter-ed whiskey collection.

‘Start simple, refine options later,’ said the Can Opener as he re-stoppered my Lagavulin 16 Year Old and moved it to the top shelf.

Here is our working draft that survived the Can Opener’s brutal revisions.

Key Criteria*

The yacht should be:

1. 30 feet LOA or less for
1. lower acquisition costs
2. lower running costs
3. good for solo handling
2. as wide as possible – good beam for storage
3. specifically designed for blue water travel with a track record of durability and storm safety
4. a design that remains popular over time with a large active fleet
5. a design that holds its value – to maximize costs recouped upon resale

* Note: the stark and unnecessary absence of ‘5 appliance galley with deep freezer’, ‘ship that can sail backwards in time’ and ‘costuming area’ from the list above. The Can Opener can become downright feisty when he’s in one of his efficiency frenzies. No matter. I will wear him down. The deep freezer one day soon will be mine…

Any other must-have yacht design criteria to add?

What yacht design would you choose for blue water cruising?

 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

The Plan to Get Social

 

Part 2 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

Captain Cat: Right. So. Why did my financial wonder cost-watcher blow the bank on a yacht club of all things? Do you know how much caviar that would have bought us?

Can Opener: The Red Tabby Yacht Club made sense for big reasons, Captain C:

1. it has people who are passionate about sailing like we are
2. a cruising section
3. club-run lectures, RYA Yachtmaster theory training and review
4. club-owned training yachts
5. it was nearby.

At a yacht club, we can volunteer to crew on a bunch of different yacht types while deciding which one is the yacht design of your dreams. And we’ll meet the boat owners in advance so we’ll know ’em before we get to the dock. It’s good karma.

Captain Cat: What happened to the Rockin’ Ocelot Race Committee? They’ve got Dee Cafari and she’s a babe.

Can Opener: That’s true… The Red Tabby was just the best mix of what you were looking for. And we can see Dee speaking at the Rockin’ Ocelot open lectures. London boat clubs are friendly that way.

Captain Cat:  In time, I may forgive you.

Can Opener:   The Cost so far

• yacht club membership is £950/year ($1564/year), no joining fee as part of a special offer.

Compared to the cost of training in the UK at a commercial sailing academy or race crew fees, both at about £100+/day, it began to make sense.

Captain Cat:  I will never forgive you.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Next up:
i) Part 3 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Get Trained.
ii) A Visit to the Red Tabby Yacht Club