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Possible delivery required - Phuket - Auckland


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Hi all, I may be looking for a skipper\team to deliver a 2005 Beneteau 473 from Phuket to Auckland within the next three months.  Busy negotiating a purchase and will want to relocate the vessel before summer if the deal goes through.  Please could any available delivery skipper PM me to talk costs and availability.  Qualification would need to tick the boxes with respects to insurance requirements etc. 


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If you are thinking of going through Torres strait in the next 3 months the boat will need to be good at punching to windward, south of Aus may be the be better option or wait until later in the season.  We went the opposite direction in May and turning around and going back would have been very difficult. We had fairly constant east or SE at 20 to 25 knots.

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I'd be very interested in this passage. Have done several blue water passages, NZ to Tonga, Vanuatu to NZ.

 

Im a land surveyor by trade, so i'm good with directions and maps. I have been sailing my whole life on our family yacht, a whiting 29.

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I can't do it, other commitments, but I've done this trip before. Here are my thoughts

 

Its a long way, and will take at least 3 months to get here. You have two options - via Torres Strait, or over the top of PNG.

IMO over the top of PNG is easier. Both ways can/will be to windward, and both can be difficult and uncomfortable. Over PNG, via hermit reef, New Britain and new Ireland, Rabul, then Vanuatu, New Cal, home would be my preference.

You MAY do it in three months, but it's easy to spend 6 or more, even trying to get on with it. The boat needs to be in A1 condition, and have large diesel capacity - you will be motoring a lot. Make the most distance when you can, motor or sail. The prevailing winds are against you, starting off really light and strengthening as you come south.

Take a dozen fuel filters etc - diesel in Indonesia is often dirty. Use a water separating funnel when fueling.  

The coast of Ausy, on the other hand, can be virtually impossible to make way against the trades. These are typically 25Knts +, on the nose, inside the reef with short, steep seas. There is usually though, a window of a few weeks around October, where the trip is possible - with lots of motoring, while the seasons change.

Either way, you need to get on with it if it's to be this year. Later in the year the currents and head winds are worse.. 

If you are new to this, consider shipping the boat here. If you contract a delivery skipper, its a long time, and wont be cheap. Most experienced delivery skippers worth having are over $250 a day...(I usually charge $300 + expenses)

Sorry if that puts a dampener on your plans, but that's the reality of what your planning.

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