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Sailing up the west coast to BOI from Wellington


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2 hours ago, Black Panther said:

Yes, but a lot easier with steering. Maybe a tiller pilot type as a temporary solution? 

What BP says, I will add if you are planning on solo, you will be knackered by the time you hit Cape Reinga and over the top you have tides, currents and lots of marine traffic to keep an eye on.

AIS would really take some pressure off in a solo situation but it is an investment.

Have you just bought the boat? Does it have an inboard engine, if it has sat for a while you def want to look at the fuel, going off shore is gonna stir up the fuel tank, carry spare filters

You will really have to pick a good weather window, getting the snot kicked out of you solo in a 30 ft boat will be no fun at all.

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Talk to boat haulage, if you were a back load you may be surprised at how affordable a truck is.

Once you look at time, buying all the extra crap we all reccomend, getting ready to sail?

Just a thought?

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6 hours ago, Bad Kitty said:

Talk to boat haulage, if you were a back load you may be surprised at how affordable a truck is.

Once you look at time, buying all the extra crap we all reccomend, getting ready to sail?

Just a thought?

Plus 3 nights accommodation at the departure end getting everything ready, plus airfares, plus 10 days off work....

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It's not a great time of year to be going up the west coast, about now the big 960 lows start rolling by every 7-10 days in the Southern Ocean. So you'll need to pick a window then drop everything and go. I presume from asking on here you are probably not that experienced, so another vote for boat haulage. 

As an aside, if this is about looking to buy a boat in Wellington and taking it North then you are probably better to buy one up here since they are very cheap at the moment.

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On 17/04/2025 at 8:55 PM, Paul Nicol said:

I'm looking at bringing a small 30ft yacht from Mana to BOI via the west coast. Has anyone done this. Is it viable as a solo trip. I don't have autohelm.

In addition to the other comments, I would say a multi day solo trip up an exposed coast with only 1 safe harbour is not really possible without self steering of some sort. If the boat is a very old style with long keel and can track straight, then it could be possible.

A large factor in answering your question depends on what you haven't said. Are you intimately familiar with the boat and done several overnight or multi day solo trips? If so, then it is possible, but as Psyche noted, we are into late autumn / winter and the weather is going to become increasingly problematic.

If the boat is new to you, I'd say a big no. There are a bunch of reasons for that, around your familiarity with the boat, established systems of doing things - you need to be able to manage the boat, navigate, feed yourself, be able to take a sh*t, check weather and know what sail combinations are best, all in an utterly comatose state. It takes time in the boat to learn all of that, hence the comment about several overnight or multi day solo trips. If you can't leave the helm, can you do any of that?

And that is just sailing the boat, before considering how to get any sleep...

That, and new to you boats tend to have things break or fail when first used. It is a trueism that boats need to be used to be in good order. If they've just been sold, they've almost always been sitting around for a while and you only discover the things that have failed / seized / given up when you go to use it. These are normally only small things, but can add up to a domino effect on a multi day solo trip up an exposed coast.

Yes, it is possible and has been done plenty of times to take a 30fter up the west coast. Solo without an autopilot less so, but still possible in theory. As Psyche says, if you are looking at a bargain in Mana, I'd flag it and look for a bargain in BoI or Auckland, in that size there are good boats being given away.

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Thanks for that all. I'm a very experienced sailor but the west coast is a pretty finicky bit of water. I've done it the other way round but not up. As I guessed it's a no no without some sort of autohelm.

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