hi I'm new to sea breeze and sailing. Well after a failed marriage that lasted a year and the last member of my direct family passing away two months ago. I am ready to do my own thing in life.

I have worked on tugboats since I was 17 ( 3 years) but apart from sailing lasers for 5 years as a teen. I haven't had much to do with sailing. My ex has drained me both financially and emotionally. But in think I need to do something i have always loved. Adventure.

So here in am a 20 with no keelboat sailing experience and loads of motor boat experience (have had a motor boat since I was 7). I am thinking about doing the RYA competent crew and maybe day skipper courses. Then buying something like a Top Hat 25 and teaching myself. Starting in sheltered bays in good weather then working my way up into more ****ty conditions. For a few months.

After i I will try and find some sponsorship and refit the boat for about 8-10 weeks to be able to do a trip like mine. So I have a few questions for you guys to help me out with.
1) Is the Top Hat 25 fit to take on a Solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia? If not what boats would you suggest that wouldn't be to hard to sail.

2) would I require more sailing experience? ( I have a lot of experience with navigation and steaming motorboats long distance)
3) What companies would you suggest to ask for sponsorship?

Thanks, also I don't really have a lot of time to pull this trip off as I have work commitments. I would be thinking about leaving say February 2020 and the trip taking about 2.5 to 3 months.

PS I have been reading these forms for a while now. I have to say I am impressed with people like Cisco and others giving their honest opinion.
Thanks Again
Mick

1) Is the Top Hat 25 fit to take on a Solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia? If not what boats would you suggest that wouldn't be to hard to sail.

2) would I require more sailing experience? ( I have a lot of experience with navigation and steaming motorboats long distance)
3) What companies would you suggest to ask for sponsorship?

1. A Top Hat is FIT for the job but you will need to LOAD IT UP. therefore it will be heavy and SLOW
2. If you are planning to leave in Feb 2020, with and estimated 6 to 8 weeks refit before you go.
How much sailing time do you think you can put in before you cast off? a couple of weeks?
You ask if you need MORE sailing experience when you don't have any yet.
You will be sailing coastal almost all of the way. When do you think you will be able to sleep? Non-stop means non-stop.
3. getting sponsorship for even famous well established sailors is a long drawn out process. Getting anyone interested in paying up by Feb 2020 is a really big ask. But try Whitworth's.

Get a boat. Top hat if it suits your fancy and budget. learn to sail and handle her. take it easy and take 2 or 3 years to sail around Oz.
There is an adventure for you.
What's the rush?

gary

You can cross ocean solo non stop but coastal navigations for months 24h seams like a really tiring and dangerous thing to do.

Go small, go smart and go while ya still young and healthy

MIck,
life moves on and you will find new direction and adventure in your new plans. You're still young and failed relationships will fade into a distant memory as you move on to new endeavours.
You've got quite a few years of dinghy sailing and heavy tugboats, so that is enough to get you started. A TopHat or similar has the advantage of a cheap outboard motor, although some have a diesel. A book on how to repair and maintain these motors will be handy when you find your yacht.
A 25 foot yacht is just like a big dinghy, in terms of 'learning the ropes', and the main difference between dinghies and yachts is that you need to tie up to jetties occasionally, and you need to anchor them and not pull up on a beach. Also, at some stage you will need to do longer passages, so you will need an autopilot and to manage yourself. I.e. manage your sleep, manage your mental health, ensure you drink and eat enough on passage, because it affects how easily you may succumb to seasickness.
There are TopHats and a bigger Compass28 type yacht for a budget of $10 -15k.
You don't say where you are now, because people might suggest boats for you to look at, or offer to take you out and give you the basic sail training you seek.
A trip around Australia will take you a year. I have never read of anyone doing it within 3 months, and you have to take into account the seasons. I.e. you wouldn't really want to do the Bight or southern Australia in the next few months, nor would you cross the tropical regions when it is cyclone season, and it's hot and muggy, but there are stinging jellyfish about.

Hi Mick,
I was a biginner to sailing 7 years ago. I bought a boat and took experienced people with me for short trips the first couple of years, and also crewed on other boats. Only last year I began to think I could manage a non stop trip around Australia, but there is a great deal to consider to do this. Lisa Blair just this year became the first woman to circumnavigate Australia solo and unassisted. It took her about 3 or 4 months if I remember rightly. Previously she became the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica, losing her mast 900 nm south of Cape Town, rigging up a jury rig to get her to Cape Town for repairs, then going back to the same point and continuing round. She had sponsorship for both ventures, but was already an accomplished sailor before that.

Well thanks you for all your answers so far it is very much appreciated. 1) my route would be one similar to Lisa Blair's. although I would probably go out side the barrier reef and in through the raine island entrance.

2) I have work commitments I need to attend to in Perth in June 2020.

3) I have looked at my
weather patterns for last year using Windyty. If I started in February then I would probably be in the southern ocean late April early March. Which shouldn't be full flown winter yet.

Ps I calculated that I would be 3 months sailing at an average of 3-3.5 knots an hour. Would this be accurate?

Pps another thing I would be worried about is if the weather blew up, would after I got about a 2 metre sea the little Top Hat would stop. Especially with more weight in it.
Thank you for your time
Mick

Well thanks you for all your answers so far it is very much appreciated. 1) my route would be one similar to Lisa Blair's. although I would probably go out side the barrier reef and in through the raine island entrance.

2) I have work commitments I need to attend to in Perth in June 2020.

3) I have looked at my
weather patterns for last year using Windyty. If I started in February then I would probably be in the southern ocean late April early March. Which shouldn't be full flown winter yet.

Ps I calculated that I would be 3 months sailing at an average of 3-3.5 knots an hour. Would this be accurate?

Pps another thing I would be worried about is if the weather blew up, would after I got about a 2 metre sea the little Top Hat would stop. Especially with more weight in it.
Thank you for your time
Mick

That is a big undertaking Shanty1. It is certainly doable but you need to work your way up to it I think.

NSWSailor and Blue Moon are the guys to talk with about Top Hat 25 capabilities.

Wow!

I have a tophat 25 and you'll need to do a couple months of work on it, prep it, trial it and prep and trial it again...

Speak to NSW Sailor,

Hi Shanty1,

Love the idea, but I think you will be pressed for time and budget. Also a sponsorship is a business deal, think about what advertising or press will they get out of it, and how it will generate them at least 10 fold in revenue, if you can't articulate that clearly your hopes of gaining a sponsor may be very slim.

Instead of thinking of this as an adventure, maybe think of this is a project and in any project only 3 things will flex, being time, cost and quality. As the people above have stated quite rightfully the quality of this trip will be fairly poor due to lack of sleep and not being able to time the weather patterns.

You have stated your constraints are time, and money. I would rethink time, by rushing you are making this an accomplishment and not an adventure, and adventure are for yourself where accomplishments are for others. You are in a unique position where you are free from obligation so take two or three years, theres no rush, there will always be more jobs in the future.

Read the story of any great adventure (I suggest you read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, its fiction but I feel it might resonate) and you will find it always took at least twice as long and cost twice as much, also read the blurb of yachts for sale and you will see a lot of people that spent years fixing up a boat to take a great expedition but then something came up and they never started.

So if I may, I suggest an alternative, if you could be on a yacht tomorrow, with no upfront cost, would that be a better means to an end, have a look on gumtree and www.findacrew.net/ for crew positions, you may find you can start tomorrow as crew on someone else's yacht for relatively little or no money and start the adventure immediately. This increases your effective time at sea, as no time spent doing a refit and you will get to learn from a seasoned skipper.

From there come back and plan the trip, to do it solo.

Mick, I have a TopHat and know NSWSailor and Bluemoon very well. One of my reasons for buying our Top Hat 10 years ago was because of two boats in particular. "Caprice", in which Ian and Jan Mitchell circumnavigated the world over four years from 1974 to 1977 www.writingsfromjanmitchell.com/two-in-a-top-hat.html and their son Jamie's adventures in "Possibilities". Jamie traveled the world for 10 years in a Top Hat, arriving home in Sydney in 2009.

There are plenty of Top Hats for sale at very good prices, they have a lot of storage, but are quite slow when weighed down with supplies. If you're going non-stop, you'll need plenty of food and water, not to mention fuel for emergency. 3 to 3.5 knots average will be hard to keep up if you want to keep to a deadline.

There has been at least one Top Hat go around Australia too, if you drop over to the Tophatyachts.com website and search for Sundowner, you can read all about Rob's trip around anti-clockwise with plenty of stops to see the scenery. It also outlines some of his hairier moments on the WA coast, and in the Bight. It wasn't all plain sailing (sorry for the pun ) Sector Steve, Blue Moon and NSWSailor have all been to the Whitsundays in Top Hats, some more than once. So they're eminently capable, as are Compass 28 and a few others from the same era and style.

The question is, are you up to it? As others have said, there is no rush, simply sailing around is going to be very tiring, very boring and you won't see anything of the coastal areas you're passing. You'll need to keep plenty of sea room and keep out of the shipping lanes to get any sleep (witness Jessica Watson running into a container ship off QLD while she was asleep www.yachtingworld.com/news/jessica-watson-hits-ship-11579)

I don't think you need do any courses, unless you really don't have any clue about sailing and ocean safety. Most of it can be read and studied on-line, then you can do as others have done and simply bite the bullet on a good solid starter boat. Others will have a different opinion, some will recommend to join a race boat crew to get experience.

I'm in Pittwater, and would be happy to show you over our old girl. She's not as flash as Phil's or Shaun's after their re-fits, but you'll be able to see what they're like to sail and how they can be set up for a trip such as yours.

If it was me, I'd be going and stopping at every port available and seeing whether there was a young lady up for an adventure, who wants to go with you.....

PM me if you want to investigate, and good luck getting it sorted!

Select to expand quote

cazou34 said..
You can cross ocean solo non stop but coastal navigations for months 24h seams like a really tiring and dangerous thing to do.

Similarly for sea-kayaking. Paddling 12h+ days across Bass Strait was more relaxing and straight-forward while island-hopping, compared to the frustratingly strong and variable-direction winds encountered while paddling up the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. We still circumnavigated all of Bruny Island, though.

We have just taken our compass 28 Sydney - Bowen - Hobart and then a circumnavigation of Tasmania.

The trip you're proposing is a big undertaking. Coasting is really demanding - much less easy to get sleep than on ocean passage.

Using Lisa's actual distance sailed and at 3knts, that's 3 months and 18 days.

Since the plan is to stay at sea in any conditions rather than make port like normal coasting, you'd need pretty good sailing skills - probably equivalent to a well-experienced RYA Yachtmaster (not suggesting you need the formal training / exam, but the syllabus is a good guide to the range of skills)

You'll also need ;

Stores management
Long-term sleep planning
Be able to repair/maintain everything
Strategies to maintain mental & physical health during a very challenging trip

Soloing is a well respected part of the sailing experience, but does need careful thought to manage the risks appropriately.

Dealing with frustration is a big thing - days with no wind, days with so much wind on the nose that you can't make progress, stuff breaking, water in the stores etc etc. Just a conventional circumnavigation solo in a small boat is a big achievement.

Best of luck.

Cheers

Bristol

The top hat Caprice (a MK1 model) was moored in the bay I grew up at and every time I saw her I couldn't help but think what a small boat she was to have circumnavigated. It just goes to show that some people are amazing and the Mitchells have my total respect.

I have always liked Top Hats and the hand-laid Geoff Baker built MK1 is a proven blue water boat. I am not so sure about the MK2 and MK3s (both with the straight coach house). A friend had a MK3 and it felt flimsy to me. Another friend worked in the MK3 factory and was not a fan of the chopped strand technology and on how they were put together.

If I wanted a budget cruiser a MK1 Top Hat, Compass 28, Walker H28 or similar solid hand laid glass boat would give me some confidence at sea.

Best wishes Mick. Sounds like a fantastic adventure.

any more information about the top hat would be lovely if anyone else knows anything.

Hey Shanty , If i was you I would be considering taking the non stop out of my itinerary .... just my two bobs worth ...

Hey Shanty , If i was you I would be considering taking the non stop out of my itinerary .... just my two bobs worth ...

Select to expand quote

SandS said..
Hey Shanty , If i was you I would be considering taking the non stop out of my itinerary .... just my two bobs worth ...

But mate that's part of the challenge

Hey Mick, what is the date you start?
Where are you leaving from and where will you finish at?

Select to expand quote

Shanty1 said..

SandS said..
Hey Shanty , If i was you I would be considering taking the non stop out of my itinerary .... just my two bobs worth ...

But mate that's part of the challenge

fair enough

Select to expand quote

MichaelR said..
Mick, I have a TopHat and know NSWSailor and Bluemoon very well. One of my reasons for buying our Top Hat 10 years ago was because of two boats in particular. "Caprice", in which Ian and Jan Mitchell circumnavigated the world over four years from 1974 to 1977 www.writingsfromjanmitchell.com/two-in-a-top-hat.html and their son Jamie's adventures in "Possibilities". Jamie traveled the world for 10 years in a Top Hat, arriving home in Sydney in 2009.

There are plenty of Top Hats for sale at very good prices, they have a lot of storage, but are quite slow when weighed down with supplies. If you're going non-stop, you'll need plenty of food and water, not to mention fuel for emergency. 3 to 3.5 knots average will be hard to keep up if you want to keep to a deadline.

There has been at least one Top Hat go around Australia too, if you drop over to the Tophatyachts.com website and search for Sundowner, you can read all about Rob's trip around anti-clockwise with plenty of stops to see the scenery. It also outlines some of his hairier moments on the WA coast, and in the Bight. It wasn't all plain sailing (sorry for the pun ) Sector Steve, Blue Moon and NSWSailor have all been to the Whitsundays in Top Hats, some more than once. So they're eminently capable, as are Compass 28 and a few others from the same era and style.

The question is, are you up to it? As others have said, there is no rush, simply sailing around is going to be very tiring, very boring and you won't see anything of the coastal areas you're passing. You'll need to keep plenty of sea room and keep out of the shipping lanes to get any sleep (witness Jessica Watson running into a container ship off QLD while she was asleep www.yachtingworld.com/news/jessica-watson-hits-ship-11579)

I don't think you need do any courses, unless you really don't have any clue about sailing and ocean safety. Most of it can be read and studied on-line, then you can do as others have done and simply bite the bullet on a good solid starter boat. Others will have a different opinion, some will recommend to join a race boat crew to get experience.

I'm in Pittwater, and would be happy to show you over our old girl. She's not as flash as Phil's or Shaun's after their re-fits, but you'll be able to see what they're like to sail and how they can be set up for a trip such as yours.

If it was me, I'd be going and stopping at every port available and seeing whether there was a young lady up for an adventure, who wants to go with you.....

PM me if you want to investigate, and good luck getting it sorted!

Thanks mate, are you "that sailing guy" on YouTube or was that someone else? Well one of the reasons I want to go non-stop is that i have always loved staying offshore. Awhile back I was on a tug going over to Port hedland from Brisbane and we did that non-stop and I loved it. Anyway how do you find top hats to sail. I have had people tell me they are like a dinghy with a jib, but I'm not sure about that because of their weight, ballast ratio and 3/4 keel. Also I have sailed sabots and some lasers. Do you think I will need the courses?
i must be getting a pest by now with all the questions.
kind regards
Mick

Select to expand quote

Craig66 said..
Hey Mick, what is the date you start?
Where are you leaving from and where will you finish at?

I live at different locations mainly Gladstone and Darwin for work. But to start this voyage I will probably start from Cape Moreton.

Select to expand quote

termite said..
The top hat Caprice (a MK1 model) was moored in the bay I grew up at and every time I saw her I couldn't help but think what a small boat she was to have circumnavigated. It just goes to show that some people are amazing and the Mitchells have my total respect.

I have always liked Top Hats and the hand-laid Geoff Baker built MK1 is a proven blue water boat. I am not so sure about the MK2 and MK3s (both with the straight coach house). A friend had a MK3 and it felt flimsy to me. Another friend worked in the MK3 factory and was not a fan of the chopped strand technology and on how they were put together.

If I wanted a budget cruiser a MK1 Top Hat, Compass 28, Walker H28 or similar solid hand laid glass boat would give me some confidence at sea.

Best wishes Mick. Sounds like a fantastic adventure.

That's interesting you think the mark 3s might be flimsy. Will be sure to check that out. Any other handling or build comments that you can think of.
kind regards,
Mick

Select to expand quote

Shanty1 said..

Craig66 said..
Hey Mick, what is the date you start?
Where are you leaving from and where will you finish at?

I live at different locations mainly Gladstone and Darwin for work. But to start this voyage I will probably start from Cape Moreton.

And your start date is?
And where do u plan to finish?

Select to expand quote

Craig66 said..

Shanty1 said..

Craig66 said..
Hey Mick, what is the date you start?
Where are you leaving from and where will you finish at?

I live at different locations mainly Gladstone and Darwin for work. But to start this voyage I will probably start from Cape Moreton.

And your start date is?
And where do u plan to finish?

About Early February 2020

Select to expand quote

garymalmgren said..
1) Is the Top Hat 25 fit to take on a Solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia? If not what boats would you suggest that wouldn't be to hard to sail.

2) would I require more sailing experience? ( I have a lot of experience with navigation and steaming motorboats long distance)
3) What companies would you suggest to ask for sponsorship?

1. A Top Hat is FIT for the job but you will need to LOAD IT UP. therefore it will be heavy and SLOW
2. If you are planning to leave in Feb 2020, with and estimated 6 to 8 weeks refit before you go.
How much sailing time do you think you can put in before you cast off? a couple of weeks?
You ask if you need MORE sailing experience when you don't have any yet.
You will be sailing coastal almost all of the way. When do you think you will be able to sleep? Non-stop means non-stop.
3. getting sponsorship for even famous well established sailors is a long drawn out process. Getting anyone interested in paying up by Feb 2020 is a really big ask. But try Whitworth's.

Get a boat. Top hat if it suits your fancy and budget. learn to sail and handle her. take it easy and take 2 or 3 years to sail around Oz.
There is an adventure for you.
What's the rush?

gary

Hi sorry for the late reply. The true is after reading all the Jesse Martin, Jessica Watson, Jon sanders and the like. I have always wanted to do a solo nonstop circumnavigation of the world. At the moment i simply don't have the money nor the experience in sailing keelboats for this ( I sailed a sabot and laser for a couple years but that not a keelboat). I just want to do something that is something not many people have done before. If I succeed at this dream then maybe I will be able to do a non-stop around the world trip.
Thanks for your reply
Mick

Select to expand quote

Shanty1 said..

garymalmgren said..
1) Is the Top Hat 25 fit to take on a Solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia? If not what boats would you suggest that wouldn't be to hard to sail.

2) would I require more sailing experience? ( I have a lot of experience with navigation and steaming motorboats long distance)
3) What companies would you suggest to ask for sponsorship?

1. A Top Hat is FIT for the job but you will need to LOAD IT UP. therefore it will be heavy and SLOW
2. If you are planning to leave in Feb 2020, with and estimated 6 to 8 weeks refit before you go.
How much sailing time do you think you can put in before you cast off? a couple of weeks?
You ask if you need MORE sailing experience when you don't have any yet.
You will be sailing coastal almost all of the way. When do you think you will be able to sleep? Non-stop means non-stop.
3. getting sponsorship for even famous well established sailors is a long drawn out process. Getting anyone interested in paying up by Feb 2020 is a really big ask. But try Whitworth's.

Get a boat. Top hat if it suits your fancy and budget. learn to sail and handle her. take it easy and take 2 or 3 years to sail around Oz.
There is an adventure for you.
What's the rush?

gary

Hi sorry for the late reply. The true is after reading all the Jesse Martin, Jessica Watson, Jon sanders and the like. I have always wanted to do a solo nonstop circumnavigation of the world. At the moment i simply don't have the money nor the experience in sailing keelboats for this ( I sailed a sabot and laser for a couple years but that not a keelboat). I just want to do something that is something not many people have done before. If I succeed at this dream then maybe I will be able to do a non-stop around the world trip.
Thanks for your reply
Mick

Jessica Watson was very lucky to survive the encounter with Silver Yang, talk about things that go "bump" in the night,

Select to expand quote

Craig66 said..

Shanty1 said..

Craig66 said..
Hey Mick, what is the date you start?
Where are you leaving from and where will you finish at?

I live at different locations mainly Gladstone and Darwin for work. But to start this voyage I will probably start from Cape Moreton.

And your start date is?
And where do u plan to finish?

Cape Moreton. Will probably leave from a yacht club in Brisbane and then motor sail 5 hours to cape Moreton before sailing the rest of the way round Australia back to cape Moreton

Select to expand quote

Craig66 said..

Shanty1 said..

garymalmgren said..
1) Is the Top Hat 25 fit to take on a Solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia? If not what boats would you suggest that wouldn't be to hard to sail.

2) would I require more sailing experience? ( I have a lot of experience with navigation and steaming motorboats long distance)
3) What companies would you suggest to ask for sponsorship?

1. A Top Hat is FIT for the job but you will need to LOAD IT UP. therefore it will be heavy and SLOW
2. If you are planning to leave in Feb 2020, with and estimated 6 to 8 weeks refit before you go.
How much sailing time do you think you can put in before you cast off? a couple of weeks?
You ask if you need MORE sailing experience when you don't have any yet.
You will be sailing coastal almost all of the way. When do you think you will be able to sleep? Non-stop means non-stop.
3. getting sponsorship for even famous well established sailors is a long drawn out process. Getting anyone interested in paying up by Feb 2020 is a really big ask. But try Whitworth's.

Get a boat. Top hat if it suits your fancy and budget. learn to sail and handle her. take it easy and take 2 or 3 years to sail around Oz.
There is an adventure for you.
What's the rush?

gary

Hi sorry for the late reply. The true is after reading all the Jesse Martin, Jessica Watson, Jon sanders and the like. I have always wanted to do a solo nonstop circumnavigation of the world. At the moment i simply don't have the money nor the experience in sailing keelboats for this ( I sailed a sabot and laser for a couple years but that not a keelboat). I just want to do something that is something not many people have done before. If I succeed at this dream then maybe I will be able to do a non-stop around the world trip.
Thanks for your reply
Mick

Jessica Watson was very lucky to survive the encounter with Silver Yang, talk about things that go "bump" in the night,

Indeed she was I am a fan of Jessica Watson but here are some things that could have been done better. She was 13 nautical miles east of point lookout. That is in the middle of a shipping channel and also a trawling ground. She was sleeping for 2 hours before her collision. What I also find concerning is that she said she was doing 6 knots at the time. This means if the wind changed at the boat started sailing for the shore. She could have very nearly been on the rocks at point lookout. If it where me I would want to go about 70 miles dead east. This will get me out of both trawling grounds and shipping channel. It will also mean prevelent SE winds will mean I am on a broad reach. I would then pick up speed with waves behind me and also going outside the Great Barrier Reef. Coming inside the reef through the raine island entrance.

I have been thinking this trip through.
Kind regards,
Mick

Hey Mick
so what will be your song that you sing while your on your voyage ?