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The coastal passage
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News
Submitted by john on Mon, 2006-04-24 09:13.Sorry we haven't updated this in so long - here is the news:
Last year we finally upgraded our boat. We bought a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37. She has a full sized galley and will be big enough for us to retire onto and live aboard on the hook. Photos to follow...
Our long term cruising plans have been set back a bit by this, so we are now planning trip starting late 2011. This might be a Pacific loop, an Aussie cruise, a trip to Asia or something.
Frequently Asked Questions
Submitted by john on Fri, 2005-11-25 08:14.Did you get any storms?
Yep, but not often. Pilot charts have the percentage likelihood of gales on them, normally 1 to 3 % along our trip. We usually got one gale in a month of sailing.
About Us
Submitted by john on Wed, 2005-11-16 22:52.
Welcome! I am John Banfield, and with my wife, Alison Banfield, I hope to give you a glimpse of what life on a blue water cruising boat is like. We live in Sydney, Australia, and now have a Crealock 37, Liberty, which we will eventually circumnavigate on.
Before that we were the proud owners of True Blue Voyager, a classic 32ft cruising yacht. She is a 1976 Allied Seawind II.
A review of the Crealock can be found at Boat US. Going to a bigger boat was a very difficult decision and only time will tell whether it was the right one. Interestingly True Blue had more storage. The Crealock is a very different boat in that she is narrow for a 37 footer - 10" 10. She is more tender, much faster and points much higher. The bed is smaller but everything else is bigger, including the galley, head and main cabin.
After living in the US for a number of years we left Florida in 2002 for Australia. Our trip took us around the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and across the South Pacific. (Read more about our trip here.)
Liberty, and PSC 37 resources
Submitted by cruisin on Sat, 2009-07-18 23:50.Links to Pacific Seacraft sites
I have put out a call for PSC sites. Here they are so far:
Sarana at Sea
Voyage of a circumnavigating PSC Orion
The blog of Toodle-oo
The Kon Jeni-Al
Norstar
23. Noumea, and the last leg to Bundaberg
Submitted by cruisin on Mon, 2007-07-09 06:57.We sailed out of Fiji with good conditions but we were very conscious of the date: It was December and we were well into the cyclone season which officially started on the first of November. From the start I was worried about it. For our entire trip so far we had sailed ‘responsibly’-- within the generally accepted parameters of responsibility that tend to govern the cruising community.
Lessons from a long passage
Submitted by john on Mon, 2006-05-22 22:48.Looking back on this passage I remember how hard it was to do things in the middle of the ocean, feeling a bit lonely and worried about what might go wrong. Any boat can break. When I sailed on another boat to the Azores we heard a mayday from a brand new French boat on its maiden voyage. Their rudder had fallen out of the bottom of the boat and the crew abandoned it, probably after reading their insurance policy a couple of times. True Blue broke too, despite being a strong, purpose built blue-water boat. Everything that broke was equipment of some kind, and equipment that deteriorates over time.
Self Steering
Submitted by john on Fri, 2006-03-17 03:28.Almost nothing is as important on a cruising boat as self steering. Recently Alison and I have been sailing on Sydney Harbour, and have had to hand steer. This is a shock to the system, because we have probably steered more this year than we did on the whole trip from the States.
