A sailboat navigation question?

Question

If I provisioned my bluewater sailboat with a water maker, and stores upon stores of food ( say 6 months worth ) and set sail with just a compass and the knowledge that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.. Would I ever see land again? Is it possible to just go and get lost and have great fun and adventure along the way?

Answer 1

.Suggest being aware of weather patterns and shipping lanes, rouge waves, and shallow water. and pirates. fast talking mermaids, siren's , sea monsters and gout. Good luck and I mean it !

Answer 2

Explorers of old set out to discover what ever might be out there. Today we can enjoy sailing in many places. Many cruisers set out to see the world, but they do take charts,up to date tide and current books, and GPS. Also the sun does not rise in the east and set in the west, exactly. and it varies by how far north or south you are and what day of the year it is. As some one said, you need alot of space for 6 months' food.We know people who have sailed around the world and people who have gone out from Atlantic City and not come back. Take a navigation course, take the navigational tools we have and then have fun.

Answer 3

Yes, you would see land again. Perhaps up close and personal.

And yes, you would have adventures. Adventures are things that happen to people who are unprepared to deal with them. They are known, at the time they're occurring, as fear and panic. If you are prepared, they become experiences.

The good Lord looks out for fools and madmen, but the sea is pitiless and unforgiving. Make your voyage. I heartily recommend it; you'll have tales to bore your grandchildren with. But for the love of God and your own sanity (or, at least, that of those who love you), if not your life, I beg you to prepare yourself better than you describe.

Yes, Magellan circumnavigated the globe with nothing but an astrolabe and a compass. There was nothing better. Yes, even today some Marshallese can navigate by reading the shape of the ocean waves. When the going gets tough, they'll break out the GPS.

Making an ocean voyage pits you against the most uncaring force on Earth. Please don't handicap yourself by not taking advantage of the technology available to you.

Answer 4

Well Dear...............my husband and I have spent many happy years ocean sailing, but I doubt that we would have got very far without decent charts.

Some zany projects have seceded but many many more have ended in disaster. I for instance have personally experienced more storms whilst out sailing than Alard Coles did in his lifetime - this I believe is testimony to the fact that Global Weather changes now produce more storms per year than say 60 years ago - so be warned - the sea is a dangerous place for the unwary .

But Good Luck if you go!

Dorothy Mills (Mrs)

Answer 5

Try a sea chart and a gps navigator for a start. It helps to have a navigational school so that you could read any signs when you get close to port. As for your question: It depends on where you start of course. If youre start in a large sea you would find land preatty soon but if you start in the middle of the pacific it could take mounths! Johan

Answer 6

Six months of provisions would require a rather large boat.
But a compass and basic knowledge of the sun and stars was all mariners had for hundreds of years.
A lot of them died at sea.
Most had fun and adventure.

Answer 7

It depends where you set sail from - are you near the sea?

Answer 8

Ferdinand Magellan tried it.

I'm sure he had a great time..till he died.

Answer 9

see you,nice chating,hurry back

Answer 10

PLEASE!,, PUT ME IN YOUR WILL