Reading magazines as I do (Sailing Today, Yachting Monthly, Yachting World, Afloat.ie) in the absence of actually any sail time, I am left wondering how you define a yacht as being INshore, OFFshore or Blue Water.

Most boats under 30' seem to be inshore.
Most boats over 30' seem to be offshore.
And over 36' seem to be sometimes capable of Blue Water (a recent round the world rally included a 36' as far as I can recall)

Me, I'm looking for Blue Water as much as possible. I want to go round the world (which is laughable considering I've only ever spent 4 hrs on a yacht and that was a year ago!)

any size boat will get you around the world, the big question is comfort -

A good comfortable ocean going boat, perhaps a Halberg Grassy 36 or a Westerly Storm/Ocean 33 -
There's alot of choice out there and definately value for money these days -

Get more time on the water, try get a crew position for some offshore races i.e round ireland etc. to get a good feel for what your starting . - best of luck mate

An ocean passage has to end sometime. Unless you want to spend your time in exotic far off lands exploring the larger marinas you will need a boat with some ability to explore coastine, creeks and other delightful spots.

Which is why the great explorers like Columbus and Cook choose boats that were essentially coastal merchant ships.

Gordon

Thanks for your input, guys.

What sort of boats do you use?
Any long distance trips made?
How long does it take to do transatlantic? I'm guessing 60 days or so?

@cimota You should try the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers...people always looking for crew on that one! Good way of gettin your selaegs, dude!

The Atlantic Rally is part of the plan.

How long does it take?

not to give you a silly answer but it depends what boat you're in but you will need the guts of three weeks for that trip....

www.worldcruising.com/arc/

Cheers, Skipper

All I need is the time off work and permission from the missus.

Do what I did, sail on other boats, get qualified, see the ISA for that and then get your own boat and go for it.
i ended up sailing the ARC and then went on to Australia with a round the world rally.
Bear in mind that you wont see another boat in the ARC after a day or so sailing, the oceans are BIG and boats are small.
Good luck and just go & do it.

I'm glad that I am a member of this forum.

Here's a great place to find crewing jobs that could take you around the world - eventually.

www.sailingnetworks.com/boats/needed

Bon Voyage

Here's anothe place to find crewing jobs but it's £85 / year membership.

www.crewseekers.net/sailingopp.aspx?scat...mp;feq=2&sloc=8#

Nice post, gra na mara. We get lots of enquires like this at Afloat HQ so this is a useful link.

Glad to be of service to AFLOAT:)

You guys do a great job keeping us all up to speed on maritime affairs and are more than helpful when called upon.

Here's another good place to hitch a ride on a boat

www.cruiserlog.com/forums/index.php?

Register free to gain full access to site

I'm feeling particularly helpful on this beautiful sunny day so here's another freebie to help get people AFLOAT:)

www.ybw.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=62

Hope we get a Summer this year!

Full Sails & Happy Trails:woohoo: