So what is the “Plan”?
I would be remiss if I didn’t first mention the oft quoted phrase that “the plans of sailors are written at low tide” This is because all powerful mother nature often washes away those previously etched plans.
Generally we would like to sail from Point Roberts to the South Pacific and New Zealand and possibly Australia and then see what happens after that. We have allotted two years give or take and will revisit and adjust our plan along the way.
Generally we would like to sail from Point Roberts to the South Pacific and New Zealand and possibly Australia and then see what happens after that. We have allotted two years give or take and will revisit and adjust our plan along the way.
Who knows? Many people make it to Mexico and decide to stay or sell their boat. Others turn left to the Caribbean instead of turning right to the South Pacific. All of these could be us. We have a general plan but things may well change!
The time of year when we set sail for various regions is dictated by weather. For example, we cannot enter Mexico and the South Pacific during cyclone season. And the stretch from Point Roberts to San Francisco needs to happen before mid September because of big low pressure systems that develop off of Alaska in September which translate to nasty upwind conditions heading south. We of course are hoping to time our journey to coincide with downwind conditions along the ‘coconut milk run’ and to increase our chance of favourable weather by sailing during generally favourable weather windows.
All this to say that our rough plan is set out below but it may well change!
- August 2018: Point Roberts to San Francisco
- August – October 2018: San Francisco to San Diego (need to wait to enter Mexico until after cyclone season)
- October – November 2018: Ba Ha Ha Ha Rally (San Diego to Cabo)
- November 2018 – February 2019: Exploring Mexico
- February 2019 – March 2019: Mexico to French Polynesia (first stop Marquesas) About a three week non-stop passage
- March 2019 to November 2019: French Polynesia – Marquesa Islands, Bora Bora, Tuomotus, Society Islands – then Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga then to New Zealand or Australia. This part of the plan is still hazy and variables such as whether we are successful in getting a longstay Visa for French Polynesia (ie more than 90 days) will have an impact on our plans.
- December 2019 – Bay of Islands in New Zealand?