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Langkawi to Auckland?


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I've done this. There are two main routes, clearing Indonesia at Fukfuk, (pronounced fookfook) then down the coast of Australia, against wind and tide. Or, and what we did, around the top of Borneo, over PNG, down the islands of new Britain, Ireland, Vanuatu, new Caledonia, home.

Best time is leaving langkawi in about june/July, arriving in NZ late sept or early Oct.

Happy to go into more detail if you're serious about doing this. It's not an easy sail, against the prevailing winds, but planned right, it can be done without real difficulty. We had a pretty good voyage.

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Thanks IT, going over the top sounds like it would be a really interesting trip. If I go ahead I'll be in touch about it. 

 

Haven't bought yet, looking and talking at the moment. Yes, the Metalu Diam 40 attracted my eye too. It has a lot going for it for the money. Also, more boats are turning up for sale in Tahiti and Noumea at this time of year.

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Opua from about Novemberish and into the summer will be busy, some cruisers from the US and Europe terminate their travels there and put the boat with a broker. Not the langkawi prices to be fair but as discussed elsewhere on crew.org lots of costs to import, some obvious some  not so much. Probably works out about the same in the end. If I'd had another 100K this would have been my choice locally http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1357570905.htm. Incredible boat.

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Or the third main route and come home with Australia on your portside.

But why not buy in the Med or Caribbean and have a an excellent trip home?

 

I have considered it.

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If you have spent the previous 14 days at sea before you arrive, then provided you have a covid test when you arrive, should be no quarantine? BP was talking about boats arriving in Opua doing this now...

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I bought a boat in Langkawi this time last year. Bottom line the shifting Covid restrictions across the whole region made it impossible for any delivery crew to plan a viable trip.

If it was your own boat, you knew and trusted all the systems, had good crew and plenty of endurance then you could contemplate the trip with the very real possibility of having to do the whole thing non-stop.

But that’s not realistic with an unknown boat and delivery crew so in the end I got it shipped from KL to Auck.

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agree with Fogg. I'd also say that most cruising yachts cannot do this voyage non stop - they don't hold sufficient diesel for charging and making water etc for a non stop passage from Langkawi to NZ...

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Good advice above

I ran a weather model on PredictWind and west and south of Australia seems the best option at this time of year. Most of the motoring is down to Jakarta, don’t know but if you can re provision there ? the next leg would be a month, with the options of clearing in any of the clearance ports in NZ

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There’s a reason so there are so many great deals in the SE Asia region - accessibility (or lack of). There are many ex-pat owners who can’t get to their boats and can’t get their boats out to them without the expense of shipping. Hence the numerous sales.

If you’re serious then you really only have 2 options depending on your wallet size and attitude to risk.

If you are budget constrained and couldn’t contemplate the costs + aggro of shipping (it’s a whole project in its own right) then you and / or your delivery crew will need to be bold adventurers to tackle that trip with all the uncertainties it entails. If you watch Peter ‘Plucky’ on sailing vlog “Sailing into Freedom” then you’ll know the kind of attitude I mean.

But if your brain is more conventionally wired and you have the budget then shipping is the only real option right now. And I can tell you that to make the numbers add up you need to be aiming for about 1.5-1.6x return on the purchase price. So for example if you are buying a boat in SE Asia for NZD $300k then by the time it lands in NZ you need to be confident it’s market value will be in the region NZD$450-500k. Although if you’re planning on keeping it long term and it’s a unique-ish boat that is hard to find locally in NZ anyway then the numbers won’t matter so much - you just want to have it here.

If you’re still serious then I can put you onto a good and trusted broker - yes I know that’s stretching the realms of credibility but I did find one - and he can help you find something. And I also still have my network of delivery skipper + crew (who did the 220nm trip from Langkawi to KL) and surveyor etc that I can connect you with.

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