Los Angeles to Peru on a 1975 30ft sailing sloop for this family of 5.

[jean-marie cabri]

You can share your sailing experiences with Pierre and his family who is ready to sail to Peru from Los Angles on a 30ft sloop.
His 3 children are 1 to 6 years old. He has some sailing experience. Never done this type of sailing.
They came to L.A. to find a cheap deal. They find one and love it.
Any support will be welcome

[LOLA]

Wow quite the adventure

[John Shasteen]

What kind of boat? Is it capable of an offshore venture of that duration? Assuming it is, here a couple of thoughts.. Get very familiar with the boat before casting off into the blue. Learn every system on the boat and how to fix it, because once you are out of sight of land, those systems will begin to give problams. Learn how to reef and otherwise reduce sail. Tie knots in the bitter end of every line so it won't run through the blocks, go overboard and tangle in the prop (ask me how I know).

[jean-marie cabri]

Hi John,

Thank you for your feedback. Very pertinent! The boat is a 1975 Catalina 30. I never sail her before the sea trial. I got a positive feeling about the boat. She is very simple. The fact they will follow the coast all the way down is a plus. Very light wind half way to Baja California so enough time to get familiar with the sea motion. I recommended first 2 weeks to do only day sailing with a stop every evening.

[Captain Bill Scanlon]

Hi,

Is there a blog to follow their trip? Being a Catalina 30 owner, I feel they may benefit from being a member of the Yahoo "Catalina30" Owners Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Catalina30/

The Catalina 30 is the sailboat model that has the most ever number of production boats ever built, over 7,000 from 1975 through 2006 or 2007 .. It is a member of the Sailboat Hall of Fame, and obviously the most popular cruising sailboat in the world. There are numerous stories of Ocean going trips for this sailboat that is NOT blue-water rated; 2 that come to mind are a retired phone company guy from southern Calf. who made a round trip to Hawaii, his return trip was not as easy or uneventful to his return trip. Another couple sailed from Calf down to Central America through the Panama Canal and up to Florida and to the Caribbean. It's a fun, popular, easy to sail and affordable sailboat. It also holds its own in the re-sale market. It’s the #1 entry level “family cruising” class sailboat with the most cabin room of any 30ft sailboat. You would have to go to a 34ft or larger sailboat by other manufacturers to get comparable space & comfort. I have been very happy with “Ruby” over the past 10 years.

Captain Bill Scanlon

[John Coburn]

Pierre
I am a Catalina 30 owner and sometimes cruiser (longest cruise 7 weeks on inland waters). You had better be good at getting along with each other if you are going to spend that much time in that tight a quarters. You might pick up a book, StarGazer's Diary by Shirlee Sasenbery which details a trip from California to Florida in a Catalina 30.
Good Luck- Enjoy
John
Midnight Blue C-30 TRBS 3212
Watkins Glen, NY