Richards Bay to Cape Town: 850 Miles I'm Planning as Five Short Hops
A southwest gale against a four-knot current is the one thing on our Cape route I can't plan around, only stay out of. Here's how I'm cutting the coast into hops.
Cameron Hunt - Bluewater Navigator
A southwest gale against a four-knot current is the one thing on our Cape route I can't plan around, only stay out of. Here's how I'm cutting the coast into hops.
I can calculate the chain weight to the kilogram, and I still can't decide which anchor goes on the bow.
Roam Devices' Hub can ride your Starlink Wi-Fi for free — battery, GPS, anchor watch, wired bilge and shore-power inputs included. The honest question is what happens the night the dish loses power. Here is how I am stacking the monitor on a family cruiser that already budgets Starlink.
I've priced the Atlantic crossing in days, not dollars: 17 of them, leaving in early December, with weather criteria written down before the party invitations arrive.
I added up what a family of six actually puts on a 50-foot cat and got 3,350 kg. The Outremer 51 I like best is rated for 2,700. Here's how I'm dealing with the gap.
One line about wind pressure being squared changed the number I'm putting on the nav station card.
Roam Unlimited still works for US/Canada seasons. Personal Maritime is the plan that removes the 30-day abroad clock — if Starlink accepts your papers. Here is the eligibility friction, the 40-to-60 ft change, and how I am choosing for a family boat that will not fly home every month.
PredictWind's original DataHub still does the jobs that matter on a family cruiser. The Pro is faster, has built-in LTE, and is Starlink Direct-to-Cell ready — at roughly double the hardware price. Here is when I would spend the upgrade money, and when I would not.
Somebody spent five years and what looks like six figures fixing everything I'd worry about, and now I have to decide if I believe the paperwork.
I kept two versions of our Indian Ocean crossing alive for a year. This summer's Red Sea attacks settled it, and the Cape route asks more of the boat than I'd budgeted for.
I sat down to read about windlass amp draw and fell into a BoatUS claims-data hole instead — now I can't unsee what it says about multihulls.
Nineteen Lagoon 450s on one brokerage page, split cleanly into charter and never-chartered. I itemized where the price gap goes, and it is almost exactly the refit bill.