Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run

by Nadine Slavinski, Markus Schweitzer

Overview

Sail away on the voyage of a lifetime with the help of this practical & informative guide.
Pacific Crossing Notes covers everything from preparation, weather, and safety to detailed information on the island groups of the Coconut Milk Run: the trade-wind route from the Americas to Australia.

Along with information on clearing-in procedures, availability of supplies, and top anchorages and sights, this book covers Panama, the Galapagos Islands, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Separate sections describe a trip down the US East Coast, the Panama Canal, New Zealand, and Australia (including tips on selling a boat there for a one-way trip).

This guide strives to balance facts with flavors, making it a book to keep you company during the countdown to your own passage as well as a practical guide to pull out as you face each successive landfall in the voyage of a lifetime - and all for less than the price of a single issue of a sailing magazine!

"An attractively priced, no-nonsense guide filled with useful information... A recommended and delightful read." - Ocean Navigator Magazine

"If this passage is in your dreams, put this guide on your bookshelf." - Cruising World Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780982771488
Publisher:	Rolling Hitch Press
Publication date:	08/19/2018
Pages:	388
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Nadine Slavinski is a teacher, writer, and erstwhile archaeologist with a penchant for blue horizons. She holds a Master's of Education from Harvard University and has been teaching in international schools since 1996.

Markus Schweitzer worked in the tourism, logistics and aviation industries before casting off the shorelines. His background is in engineering and computational mathematics.

Table of Contents

Part I: Preparation (From Weekend Warrior to Ocean Voyager, Getting the Most Out of a Survey, Fitting Out a Small Boat for Pacific Cruising, The Costs of Cruising, Solar Power, A Cruiser's Library)

Part II: Safety (Offshore Safety, Installing a Life Raft, Simulating Life Raft Entry, Other Safety Considerations, Family Health in the Pacific)

Part III: Underway (Radio Nets, Weather, Celestial Navigation, Convenience Foods for the Offshore Sailor, Working While Cruising)

Part IV: US East Coast to the Caribbean (Shakedown Cruise Along the US East Coast, The Intracoastal Waterway, To Panama in a Hop, Skip, and a Jump)

Part V: Panama (San Blas Islands, Portobelo, Approaches to the Panama Canal, Transiting the Panama Canal, Islas Perlas)

Part VI: Easter Pacific (Panama to the Galapagos Islands, Galapagos Islands, Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas, The Magnificent Marquesas, Marquesas to the Society Islands, Atoll Cruising 101: the Tuamotus, Highlights of the Society Islands, Tahiti's Heiva Festival)

Part VII: Central Pacific (Connecting the Dots in the South Pacific, Book Swaps, Niue: the Rock of Polynesia, A Tongan Feast)

Part VIII: New Zealand (Picking a Weather Window, A Season in New Zealand - a Practical Guide, New Zealnd to Fiji)

Part IX: Western Pacific (Fiji, Southwest Pacific: Lessons Learned, Paradise Unplugged: Southern Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Comparing Two Routes from Vanuatu to Australia)

Part X: Australia (Sailing Sydney, Navigating The East Australia Current, Along the East Australian Coast, Sail to Sell Down Under, Practical Considerations for the Return Home)

Editorial Reviews

"This book reads like an easy conversation with a friend and covers the gamut, from ways to gain experience and choose and outfit your boat to radio nets, offshore weather, and tropical landfalls. If this passage is in your dreams, put this guide on your bookshelf." - Cruising World Magazine

"Part cruising guide, part personal journey, Pacific Cruising Notes combines to provide a conversational and informative resource that will be easy to come back to again and again." - Blue Water Sailing Magazine

"...a very readable cruising guide that covers everything from buying and equipping a boat, preparing for a long passage, understanding weather, and safety at sea to detailed information about the islands along the route. Whether you're an armchair sailor looking for a good story or a voyager contemplating a crossing of the world's largest ocean, Pacific Crossing Notes is worthy of a place in your library." - Windcheck Magazine

"...an attractively priced, no-nonsense guide filled with useful information. A recommended and delightful read." - Ocean Navigator

From the Publisher