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https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/sailing-skills/how-to-sail-across-the-atlantic-and-back-76276

this is gold

# What’s the right boat to sail across the Atlantic?

A good place to start might be with the question: can I sail across the Atlantic and back in the yacht I have now?

In most cases, the answer is yes.

Almost any well-prepared yacht of 30ft and upwards can tackle the downwind crossing, and indeed there is no reason why an even smaller boat can’t do it successfully.

People have crossed in Folkboats; the legendary American sailor Webb Chiles sailed across the Pacific in a converted 24ft dayboat, and some masochistic adventurers have crossed oceans in micro yachts not even long enough for them to stretch out in.

so this means the only question for me is "is it big enough to keep a #catstr on?

also, i'm wondering, doesn't have to be wind powered, does it?

so long as it has fuel capacity and a reliable enough motor... maybe a backup motor would be needed, something i can sling over the rear of the boat and get enough propulsion to make it to the nearest port to get the main engine repaired

could even be just the motor from the dingy for non-docked landings

the thick plottens

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

10 meter long boat is not expensive, it just needs sleeping quarters, some protection against the cold winds, an anchor, a dinghy with a motor and some way to back up the main propulsion with a backup

i guess the worst case scenario i could use the dinghy motor and a tow rope to act as a tug

i want to keep kitty in the picture so kitty comfort is the primary feature

i would also need to kit out for some fishing, and 100% i can catch live fish and spike their brains and throw it straight on kitty's feeding plate and done, let nature take its' course

so i think even a fully open cabin is ok, just needs to be 10m, be able to sling a dinghy off the back, maybe just towed

i can see this being done in under $20k if i hunt around the markets

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gojiberra 1y ago

Next you'll be watching Sailing Uma videos.

https://youtu.be/WWeVWvgieb4

gojiberra 1y ago

2 architects sailing a boat. It looks beautiful. I'm pretty sure sailing doesn't have to be this hard. But I'm not sure.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

well there is all kinds of schemes for the sailing rigging, but they are pretty demanding physical labor

if you have a decently reliable motor, enough fuel, and can back it up with a dinghy that can (slowly) tow it the worst case distance to a point you can get it to be repaired... and of course definitely would want to have it thoroughly seen to before a big trip but i don't see why not

could even be a possible scenario where there is already a backup engine that you can switch over to in the boat, since it would presumably be reasonable to have two drivers connected to a belt on your main propellera, and i believe there is boats with dual ... impellers, that's the proper name... likely a boat with dual impellers can be set up with two small individual engines and have a failover coupling that lets you drive both with just one for the case of failure

anyway, stuff i'm gonna look into, but i'm sure i don't have to sail only to do this, or, better, there might be a nice, simple, small sail setup that is easiest for noobs and works well enough, just maybe not very fast, i don't mind if i take 50% longer than having to spend so much more time and energy learning and using a more sophisticated, and probably expensive rig

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

also, yeah, now that i live with a sea view, moments like now as i notice yet another ship out in the distance it's an idea that keeps on reinforcing itself to me...

the whole thing with how if i adopt the cat to keep him for life i can't travel by plane i have to go by sea and i have to do it in my own ship because nobody else is gonna put up with that, and when i get to where i'm going, well i'll deal with the importation of the live animal at that point but i sure will spend whatever resources i can muster to make sure they don't steal him from me...

these are two definitely influential things impacting where my thoughts are coming from

the third thing is the thought that having a ship is a kind of independence i've never had before, and out there in the sea while i am in transit i can catch my food, for me and the Mochi and revel in the fact that i'm in international jurisdiction beholden to no-one and only under the law of Lex Merchant, that's quite cool too

i want the underground bunker-citadel in the high prairies also but maybe in between the swabbie's life is for me

gojiberra 1y ago

Cats can't go by plane? I think I saw one , but he was drugged to sleep or something.

The diesel fuel is very efficient. I took a cruise that went prob 1500 miles and powered all the lights and elevators onboard for a whole week.

There's probably space for extra fuel to get you across the ocean. I've even read that people take old sailboats and don't even use the sails. Since they are made for sailing, the hull shape is quite efficient. It prob just won't be super fast.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

yeah, i don't mind the speed part, i'll be happy to get across in 3 weeks, given i'd stop a few islands along the way to rest between several day long all day no land no nothing doom aaaaaaargahahahha!!!haha sorta situation, and the occasional freakout when it seems like i mis-guessed the weather for the time period and am very far from a bay, but i'll plan that out in painful detail before i depart, all the places i can stop, how to navigate to them, backups for all the things, etc

it will be fun, i will be fully offline, disconnected, i will not take any stupid internet with me, just a durable waterproof navigator clamped to the console lol, and a wind up clock, mechanical barometer hanging in the cabin and lots of candles and waterproof matches

and omg, the thought of laying back on the prow, looking up at a clear sky, with the whole milky way beaming down on me, on a new moon night... ✨

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

oh yeah and of course i'll have paper maps, compass and protractor, and an astrolabe

i'm gonna do all the planning work with a computer but once i'm out there i'm just reading off paper and verifying against my plan and estimating my position every day based on star readings just before going to bed after dumping the anchor

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

and of course, yes i have to have a long distance radio setup in case i do get in big problems

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

and oh yeah, of course i want to learn some basic star reading and check my clock's calibration against the stars

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

also yes, cats can go by plane but i wouldn't wish that on my mochi

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

yeah, probably nah

the main thing i have is questions so probably i need to get some time with an expert person and do it right, i mean, really, as far as i can tell ok you can go a long way with sails but this adds a lot of extra things to learn and work that is physically a lot harder, but for powered propulsion there is the question of "how much fuel do i need and how can i get enough storage to make it between fillups

other than that just doing a bunch of lessons to get some certificate or something and maybe at this point continues to be a good plan to have better portuguese since the route i think i'd be taking goes out via canaries and cape verde and probably lands in brazil somewhere so yeah