Circumnavigation Plan V3.0

After some discussions it has been agreed to make a major revision to the plan: extend the circumnavigation time by about 9 months.

The previous plan had two drawbacks:

1. It did not give enough stopover times in places like New Zealand and Hawaii.
2. There was no slack in the system. Of particularly worry was that any serious delay would push us closer to a mid-winter rounding of the Horn

The attached plan gives generous notional stopover times at key places which really translates into spare time to explore interesting places in the area. So for example, the 28 days stopover in Tahiti really means 28 days in which to explore French Polynesia. Thus the plan is only a framework subject to two overarching constraints: (1) avoid storm areas (2) round the Horn at a propitious time.

It is likely that I will fly to Perth for a visit during the stopover in the Seattle area (Juan de Fuca).

Note that we've notionally plotted a path to the Horn via Callao, Peru and Valparaiso, Chile. I've received conflicting opinions on how the approach the Horn. Ocean Passages advises to stand off several hundred miles to avoid the north-set Peru current. An experienced sailor has advised a circuit all the way West to at least Pitcairn Island to avoid the Horse latitudes. Another very, very experienced sailor, Peter Maxwell says that hopping along the Chilean coast worked fine for him and Geraldine aboard their boat Mithril. This plan will give us plenty of flexibility to make our decisions as we go along.

A big advantage of the revised plan is that it puts us round the Horn and at the Falklands in December, the optimal time.

I've made some changes to the Excel spreadsheet:

1. I've added the coordinates of the "from" destinations. This was the basis of establishing the straight-line distances between the successive points.
2. I've set up a choice of 3 notional speeds: B26 contains the estimated number of miles per day in coastal sailing or adverse conditions (currently 80 nm), C26 contains the estimate for the ordinary long passages (100 nm), D26 is the estimate (conservative, I think) for the fast rides to Cape Town and Fremantle in or near the roaring 40's (120 nm). These are factors are used to calculate the "Sailing Days" cells.

Below is a copy 'n paste of the spreadheet.

Robert

Pachuca's Circumnavigation Plan			V3.0
From	To	Distance Nm	Sailing Days	Stopover	Travel Days	Departure Date	Arrival date	Core Storm Season	Knots	"From" Coords
Fremantle	Adelaide	1360	20	7	27	01-Mar-08	21-Mar-08		2.78	32S04, 115E44
Adelaide	Port Phillip	540	8	7	15	28-Mar-08	05-Apr-08		2.78	34S55, 115E36
Port Phillip	Whangarei NZ	1600	19	14	33	12-Apr-08	01-May-08	Jan-Mar (Nov-May)	3.47	38S03, `144W54
Whangarei	Tahiti	2200	26	28	54	15-May-08	11-Jun-08		3.47	35S45, 174E20
Tahiti	Palmyra	1587	19	7	26	09-Jul-08	28-Jul-08	Jul-Sep (May-Nov)	3.47	17S52, 149W56
Palmyra	Honolulu	958	11	10	21	04-Aug-08	15-Aug-08		3.47	05N53, 162W05
Honolulu	Juan De Fuca	2300	28	160	188	25-Aug-08	22-Sep-08	Jul-Sep (May-Nov)	3.47	21N19, 157W50
Juan de Fuca	San Diego	950	14	3	17	01-Mar-09	15-Mar-09	Jul-Sep (May-Nov)	2.78	47N34, 122W23
San Diego	Golfito Costa R	2400	36	100	136	18-Mar-09	23-Apr-09		2.78	32N43, 117W03
Golfito Costa R	Galapagos	750	9	3	12	01-Aug-09	10-Aug-09		3.47	08N38, 083W11
Galapagos	Callao,Peru	1058	13	30	43	13-Aug-09	26-Aug-09		3.47	00N00, 090W00
Callao	Valparaiso, Ch	1292	19	30	49	25-Sep-09	14-Oct-09		2.78	12S05, 077W08
Valparaiso	Cape Horn	1453	22	0	22	13-Nov-09	05-Dec-09		2.78	33S02, 071W08
Cape Horn	Falklands	435	5	3	8	05-Dec-09	10-Dec-09		3.47	56S58, 067W17
Falklands	Cape Town	4320	43	7	50	13-Dec-09	25-Jan-10		4.17	51S45, 059W00
Cape Town	Fremantle	4870	49	0	49	01-Feb-10	22-Mar-10		4.17	33S55, 018E27
Avg Speed Knots	3.4
Dist Sailed Nm		28073
Days Under Sail			342
Lay Days				409
Days Away					751
Assumed Miles	80	100	120