# Is this foolish?



## odeapt (Dec 5, 2016)

Is it foolish for me to want to sail from Oahu to Newport California in 2 1/2 years? I have no experience sailing whatsoever; I am going to look at a boat next weekend to buy and liveaboard and I will hire someone to teach me how to sail, then I will practice over the next few years by sailing to other islands and around oahu. 

I am in the Navy and plan to learn all about navigation through people I know on the boat. I've read that the best time to go is like late July or early September. I get out of the Navy November of 2018, or late September 2018 if I take terminal leave. So my option would be to take terminal and leave right away or get out in November, stay in hawaii and leave in July; which i am leaning towards this option because then I will have a lot more time learning to sail. Any advice on this?


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

How can you expect a rational answer or advice from unqualified strangers on the internent who have little knowledge of you, and your boat???


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## Lazerbrains (Oct 25, 2015)

I think June is actually a better month than July - July you run more risk of hitting the tropical storms that blow off from Mexico. 
Keep in mind that you need to plan about 3 weeks for this passage, so leaving at the end of Sept basically has you sailing in October, not something I would want to do on purpose.
Waiting until next summer is the best option, and as you said, gives more time to learn and prep the boat.

The passage from Hawaii to California is much more difficult than it is the other way (California to Hawaii), but if you practice regularly, read lots, and are a good learner, there is no reason you could not do it. Having a good boat is key, also. There is an Albin Singoalla currently for sale in Honolulu for an attractive price, which would make a fine offshore boat and liveaboard.


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## odeapt (Dec 5, 2016)

Yeah there's no way I would leave in Sept.

Do you have a link to the Albin Singoalla for sale?


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## capttb (Dec 13, 2003)

Why don't you try sailing from Hawaii to California on someone else's boat first ? After the Trans-Pac many boats have crew openings for the return trip, you can make the trip in any odd numbered year. :smile
https://transpacyc.com/


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## odeapt (Dec 5, 2016)

becsuse my plan is to liveaboard my boat while i go to school


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## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

I'm guessing that after about a year of sailing around the islands, you will have a pretty good idea if you and your boat are up for the trip. I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing this trip after I had been sailing for 2.5 years, but, you may be able to accelerate the learning curve.


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## Lazerbrains (Oct 25, 2015)

2.5 years is probably easier if you live in Hawaii and have access to sailing on any day off. I know living in SoCal one can get quite a bit of time in sailing as we can pretty much do it all year around - I sail at least one day a week myself. I think the recommendation to do a return on one of the transpac boats is a good one. As for the Singoalla here she is: Sailboat Albin Singoalla 34

Great offshore boats and rare to find as well. Basically a larger Albin Vega.


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

Would it make sense to buy a boat in California and sail it to Hawaii with experienced crew/skipper? It would likely be cheaper and there certainly would be more choice. Probably not wise to focus too much on any one boat when you are inexperienced.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

In 2.5 years of bashing across the channels around Hawaii you should be well ready for the trip to Cal. If you actually go out and sail the Hawaiian waters in all conditions, not just on the nice days, you'll learn all you need to know about your boat and yourself to be able to make the trip. However, it probably won't be a cake walk, as the Pacific Coast can be some of the roughest and most treacherous waters on the planet, with few places to safely get out of the weather. As you will learn, it's not a straight shot, but requires you to sail north to about the latitude of Seattle (depending on where the Pacific high is) and then arcing around the high to sail south along the Cal coast.
I hope the military has an affordable liveaboard slip for you because I doubt that the marinas are affordable on a military salary. It's been some time since a liveaboard slip in the Ala Wai was $39.00 a month for a 65' boat! Plus $5.00 for each person's shower fees, of course.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

Where are you going to school, Hawaii or California?

A lot of good points have been made.

The wind and seas interisland are representative of the potential conditions between Hawaii and California, minus the storms you might not be able to avoid on a 3 week crossing. So in two years you will be able to learn enough to make a crossing if you put the effort in to learn. The one concern is unless you have a lot of money to buy your liveaboard, you might need more than two years to get the boat ready for the journey. The crossing between California and Hawaii is a serious undertaking that should not be taken in just any coastal cruiser or any boat that meets liveaboard standards.

It might be cheaper to find a liveaboard and learn to sail then have it shipped to California when you are ready to move. The cost of upgrading and preparing a boat for this journey could be expensive. You might also need to hire or at least cover the expenses for 2 or more crew members for this journey.


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## odeapt (Dec 5, 2016)

How expensive are you talking to get a boat bluewater ready?

Basically if I start living on a boat now, I will save about 8k/yr when comparing my current rent and the cost of slip fees/boat payments. The Navy is pretty generous with housing allowance in Hawaii so i can save much more if i need to

I will be going to school in California. If i am unable to sail there in 2 years then so be it I will just have my boat shipped, but I know at least I want to liveaboard now and learn to sail.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

odeapt said:


> How expensive are you talking to get a boat bluewater ready?


A lot depends on what your personal minimums of necessities are, and how much you have to spend on the boat now. If you are a minimalist you could buy and do this all a 27' Albin Vega for about $25k or on a Passport 40 for $100k. The cheapest liveaboard you can find might cost more to make bluewater ready than it cost to purchase.

The other thing to consider is where in California you are going to school. It would suck to arrive in Berkeley or L.A. to find out there are no slips available or there is a two year wait for living aboard.


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

On last passage had a crew who bought back a 55' bendytoy to California after a transpac. Said it was the worst trip of his life. Never had full sail up. One storm after another. Lost refrigeration. Short water rations. Needed two up at all times. Needed to nearly go to aleutians before they could turn south. 
For a singlehanded novice this may be a good way to die unless fully prepped and on a very stout boat. Would strongly suggest:
Do a passage. Any passage. Do this before buying any boat. Sailing is the easiest part of passagemaking. It's living and staying safe that's the hard part. Find out if you still want to do this before putting down cash on a boat.
Take a weather course and read Lee Cesnau or like book. Get a weather router if not fully confident in weather skills and at two ways to get weather such as satphone and ssb.
Have two ways to steer. AP and vane are a good combo as you get an emergency rudder.
Have redundancies and spares for all systems. 
Have 1 1/2 times the food and water needed for the longest time passage likely to take in multiple containers.
Have boat fully set up to handle any weather and be easy to single.
As others have said you are going the wrong way. The pacific is pacific until it isn't. Being limited in size trip will take longer. More exposure to to possible weather. If going with an older boat may be likely to not point as well 
If I was doing this on a 30' something I'd be looking at a Baba or BCC or Westsail or albin vega or PSC or Morris Annie or the like. Probably be cheaper to buy a boat where you are, sell it, fly to California and buy another one. Definitely safer.
Hear of people doing all kinds of voyages successfully but it's a crapshoot if they catch weather.


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## Lazerbrains (Oct 25, 2015)

^^^^^^^^^^ Best post yet to the reality of what you are looking to do.

I've done this passage and it is as Outbound says. Sails always reefed pointing as high as possible into the wind, heeled hard for weeks with seas constantly bashing the hull, and many storms - and that was going in June. It's a passage that is very hard on the hull and gear - I can't imagine doing it in a bendytoy, nor would I. Your best bet is a good stout boat around 30' and Outbound has suggested some good ones, and there are more you could add to that list. I'm actually in a similar situation as you in that I singlehand offshore and the boat I chose to go back and forth between Hawaii and California is a Bodega 30, which has made the trip twice. Look through the boats on the bluewaterboats website and see what types are good for this passage.


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

To me it is foolish to have no sailing experience and to start out with a plan for a major crossing. The non-foolish thing would be to say you want to get into and learn to sail and after that consider whether it is foolish for YOU to do a major crossing. Or course then only one person could answer the question and that would be you.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

I think some posts are missing here. Did you post earlier you will try to finance this boat? As adventurous as this is I think it is a possible undertaking at least learning to sail well enough if you are committed while living aboard in Hawaii. I think there are other potential problems in your scheme. Starting with paying for the boat, it may be hard to finance the era of boat you are looking at.

Choosing the right boat to take you back to California in two years with your current knowledge which is only 2 pages of threads deep now.

Newport Beach has almost no slips and the mooring are hard to come by, some selling for $20k just for the right to rent them. Getting any place to put your boat in Newport let alone a liveaboard space there may be difficult. It would suck to get a boat learn to sail it, make this potential arduous passage then have no place to live on it near your school.


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