Passages

To contact us to indicate your interest in crewing aboard SHIBUMI, click here.

Gain sea time and enhance your offshore skills with a classic trade winds passage. Sail in comfort and safety on a 65' Alan Wright designed New Zealand built pilot house ketch which has already sailed twice around the world. She is slowly heading westward toward New Zealand.

Understand or even be involved in the planning, provisioning and preparation for a trans-oceanic passage. Come aboard and learn these crossing skills so that someday you can do it on your own.

The husband-wife owners are both USCG captains, and each has completed three transatlantic passages. For their sailing résumé's click here. At sea, SHIBUMI is a non-smoking and non-alcoholic beverage environment. At anchor, we have a ball.

Be safe, have fun, eat well and learn:

	to provision a vessel for an ocean passage. Passage meals can be excellent, despite rumors to the contrary.
	to use safety, electrical and support systems prior to departure,
	to determine an initial weather window,
	to manage a heavy displacement ketch to maximize her performance,
	to schedule watches comparing advantages and choices,
	to ensure the safety of personnel and vessel underway,
	to use radar and ARPA,
	to utilize heavy weather tactics and gear,
	to read multi-national weather faxes and GRID files,
	to adjust for weather system changes underway,
	to use and compare three different electronic navigation systems,
	to communicate to onshore trackers while at sea using SSB and Ham radio,
	to maintain property and morale,
	and much, much more!

We will not teach celestial navigation although you may use our sextant for self training or practice.

managing the vessel to maximize performance	using radar and ARPA to track targets
routing SHIBUMI using electronic charting techniques	selecting and standing watches,
provisioning the vessel for all the ship's needs	communicating to onshore trackers while at sea,
hoisting the sails	helmsman underway, making way