Whether your coastal sailing plans are extended to blue water cruises or the open sea, this Blue Water Checklist has advantages for new boat owners who want to spend weeks, months, or even years on the water. This Blue Water Sailing checklist helps you understand what you need to learn and experience before you go ashore. It includes the knowledge, skills, and experience you want, how these skills and experiences are variable (compare and contrast), how to find the right blue water cruiser for you and your partner or family, the purchase process of a bluewater cruiser, preparing for Sailing at sea and how to live the sailing life cruising life. This list contains all the things you need to know before you go on a blue water cruiser.
Buying A Boat
Owning a Bluewater boat does not mean it is ready for Bluewater sailing. There are some traps to avoid when defining what a bluewater boat is. Still, at the very least, it should have enough stability and robustness to withstand gale-force weather and meet a variety of wind conditions while sailing from Hove. If it is set up to travel long distances to remote places, it will need various items to make life a little more sustainable.
I have learned that people who have learned offshore Sailing know how to keep their boats moving. Different people draw the line at different locations, but if you want to go Sailing, you have to put up with preparing the boat before starting. Below are all these topics, starting with preparing your boat with everything you need if you ever want to sail the ocean.
Experience
The challenge of open water sailing will be to figure out how to control and keep the boat running. An intimate understanding of the boat is necessary to prepare it, but in situations where things do not work, nothing seems to come naturally. It would help if you do some homework, plan, and create a routine and checklist that works for you and your boat.
Know Your Boat
In your boat, you should check batteries, bilge pumps, floorboard lockers, propane, and freshwater tanks, pumps, VHF and other radios, electronic navigation devices, as well as hoses and clamps. Boats lounging in the Chesapeake or other inland waters all year round can fill the bottom of the fuel tanks during the first harsh weather, and you’re guaranteed to have a way to climb up and search for clogged filters. It is not a problem if you are sailing in the daytime. Still, suppose you are planning an offshore voyage. In that case, you need to consider additional equipment, including sails, sea anchors, additional engines, spare tools, EPIRB, offshore rescue missiles, satellite phones, SSB radios, extra drinking water, food, and fuel.
Which Bluewater Boat Should I Buy?
New production boats designed for coastal cruises and light weather are more expensive than production boats of the same age, but if you look at older models, you will find Blue Water Cruisers at the same price as the newer production boats. Budget is important because everyone is different, and everyone can find a boat at a wide range of prices, but all are workable and able to cross the oceans. As mentioned above, the obvious fact is that older boats cost less than newer ones. A factor to consider is the cost of retrofitting an old boat, as stated above, to make it suitable for bluewater cruising. Trade winds and passages make up the bulk of the Bluewater cruise, so there’s no argument that a well-prepared production boat makes it across the ocean.
Hallberg-Rassy 44
The forecourt is a conventional double berth with plenty of standing room and good storage space. The heart of the Hallberg Rassy style is the center cockpit with its individual wheel. The jib and furler are embedded in the deck, and the sail control line runs from the gallery below the deck to the cockpit. As with most current aft cockpits, this design is ideal for serious passages over long periods when there are no more than one or two people on deck – the ability to wedge into a comfortable seat is important. This boat is a yacht. It is a serious ship for serious sailors.
Oyster 495
Built by some of Britain’s best craftsmen, the Oyster 495 combines modern styling, creative details, and a host of practical, seaman-like features not normally found on 50-foot yachts. Handcrafted by Oyster Yachts, the pure Blue Water DNA which runs through the Oysters 495, the highly anticipated 50-foot yacht of the company that promises to set the standard in its class, comes from the stern of the yacht and offers many of the exceptional features found on larger luxury yachts, making it unique from its peers. The hand-built new 50-foot cruise yacht, the Oyster 4 95, is a collaboration between Humphrey Yacht Design, Oyster Yachting Houses Design Studio led by Oyster’s CEO and owner Richard Hadida, and Oyster founder Richard Matthews.
Swan 48
The new Swan 48 is an all-new model developed in collaboration with a team of experts, offering the best equipment, materials, specifications, and solutions available on the market. The Swan 48 will be the smallest Swan to go into production at this time, unlike the Clubswan 36, which is a flat racing boat. Designated by Sparkman-Stephens, the Swan 48 is considered one of the most iconic Bluewater sailing designs of all time. Swan yachts are the so-called luxury sailing class of yachts and are the safest and most beautiful in the world. Take a classic example of the Swan 48 from the 1970s and turn it into a weekend yacht suitable for 21st-century families and brave little heretics.
Baltic custom
All Baltic yachts are custom-built, from hulls and decks to cabins and furniture, using advanced carbon fiber composites. To ensure that their owners do not miss out on this experience, Baltic designers and engineers, together with automotive experts, have developed a steering system that transmits the feeling and power of the rudder to the wheel of the yachts.
Jeanneau 439
You can board one of our cruise yachts Jeanneau 439, and sail to practice the heavenly navigation skills that you learned in the first part of our Blue Water Sailing Course. Our Coast Fast Track Passage Making Course is an advanced blue water sailing certification course for experienced sailors that want to build skills, knowledge, and confidence in preparing for long passages in open water.
Lagoon 440
The Lagoon 440 is the best solo sailboat if you want to take a long-distance trip or spend a lot of time at sea. The panoramic view from the salon window may not be the most appealing, but it is handy in bad weather, especially if you are sailing the boat on autopilot in comfort. The Lagoon 440 is a pleasure to sail comfortably in the heated interior and observe through the large cabin windows and radar display. The high sailing plan and the fine hull attachment make the new Lagoon 440 a fast, seaworthy, comfortable, and elegant catamaran.
Which Preferences Do You Have?
Bluewater sailboats are designed to cross open waters for long voyages. They are meant to be the traveler’s home, one that strikes a balance between comfort and performance. Those on board are comfortable to live in and also able to undertake long ocean voyages.
The Build
A Bluewater sailing boat is a boat designed for extended voyages in open water. A bluewater boat must be strong, stable, and capable of transporting a lot of fresh water and fuel for long-distance travel.
Deep keel sailboats are not the only type of Bluewater-capable vessels, but they are the most proven designs. Smaller sailboats may have a skeg or hanging rudder, but most of them are full keelboats.
Size
Most of the ideal liveaboard safaris are balanced along the length of the beam to make the most of the space in the hull shape. Most lifelike Bluewater sailboats sacrifice cockpit space for cabin space. Approximately 42 to 45 feet is the ideal size for a bluewater sailboat for cruises, coupled with a well-equipped interior with ample accommodations for occasional guests and additional crew.
Books
There are a huge number of sailing books on the market today that will help sailors for a considerable time. In addition to our list of the best sailing films, we have decided to provide you with one of the 12 best sailing books for yachtsmen in 2021.
There are not many sailing books that reflect the dispositions and quirks of their authors, but Sailing Fundamentals is a pre-test to ensure that it offers a quick, straightforward and precise approach to learning the basics of Sailing and beach cruising.
Offshore Sailing
Offshore Sailing tells readers about safe and comfortable Sailing in offshore Sailing and shows them clear, step-by-step instructions and over 200 detailed drawings and photographs of how to do it.
Seaworthy Offshore Sailboats
John Vigors Seaworthy Offshore Sailboats is the best book to buy the right sailboat, learn how to upgrade your own sailboat, and extend offshore Sailing beyond the cruise. John Vigor is a practical sailor, and this book of knowledge will inform you more about boats and Sailing than you can imagine.
Sail the World
Sail the world is one of the best sailing books ever written. Originally published by national bestsellers Steve Callahan (Adrift) and Dougal Robertson (Surviving the Savage Sea ), Primary Source for Sailing contains true stories and practical survival chapters.
Left For Dead
Left for Dead is one of those stories that definitely merits being included on our list of the best sailing books. The book ends with the traditions of boat maintenance that make sailing the beloved pastime it is. All sailing books tell the story of ultimate freedom and are a helpful guide to creating it.
World Cruising Routes
World Cruising Routes is an established textbook for long-distance cruisers and a bestseller for over 25 years, an indispensable planning guide for over 1,000 sailing routes covering all oceans of the world, from the tropical South Sea to the Arctic and Antarctic high latitudes, with the necessary equipment for cruise sailors.
Ocean Passage to Landfall
As a companion book to Cornell’s World Cruise Routes, this handy edition provides a rich source of essential information for planning and conducting overseas trips. The new edition of Ocean Passage to Landfall is a reference for world cruises and sets the standard for practical reference books for dreamers. This is not just a sailing book; it is a book that shows how to be a sailor, updated and enhanced with cutting-edge GPS routes.
Chapman’s Pilots Seamanship
John Rousmanier’s Annapolis book on seamanship, Chapman’s Pilots Seamanship, is thorough, encyclopedic, and a bit more sailing-oriented. This book on small cruise boats is a good starting point for purchasing portable sailboats and pocket cruisers for sailors. This publication dates from the first edition in 1983 and is still a great book that sets the benchmark against which all sailing books should be judged.
Godforsaken Sea
Godforsaken Sea is an exciting true story of survival against all odds and it is one of the thoughtful sailing books to teach other intrepid sailors lessons. Nick Imber’s book is particularly interesting because it describes the special challenges and skills that Sailing on the bottom of a yacht brings with it. It is both a psychology book and a sail, which gives it an exciting insider quality.
Safety Gadgets
Once a healthy boat has been chosen, it is time to turn your attention to the equipment that makes it safe for the crew. If a bluewater boat travels long distances to remote places, it needs a variety of items to make life a little more sustainable.
In the age of satellite telephones and safety and rescue technology, communications systems are the next to help with offshore Sailing, crossing the ocean for hundreds of miles. You could get sick, fall overboard, get hit, lose the rig, catch fire in the water, get out of the boat, get pulled off the sail, break a leg or, at worst, sink.
If your boat is an autopilot-equipped Bluewater boat, it will be easier to navigate. The techniques for sailing a boat are the same, but your exposure to the weather and the sea will be greater.
The Safety Basics
Learn how you, the captain, and the boat crew can find out the state of preparations. Make sure that the boat you’re hopping on has all the essential and recommended services for sailing safety: equipment, measures, communication technology (VHF, satellite telephone, radar, radar reflector, foghorn, life raft, man-on-board equipment, flares, firefighting equipment, EPIRB manual, image-pumped bucket, additional lines for storm sailing, storm anchors, spare parts, spare parts, and spare parts. On your boat, you should also check batteries, bilge pumps, floorboards, propane, fresh water tanks, pumps, VHF, and other radio and electronic navigation equipment, as well as hoses and clamps.
The Bottom Line
There are a few safety considerations to consider when preparing your boat and your crew for the rigors of ocean sailing. Check out our top ten boat safety tips to make your next adventure on the water fun and safe. A boat must be safe, so be prepared.
