500 Days Around the World in a 12 ft. Yacht

[ThistleCap]

500 Days Around the World in a 12 ft. Yacht by Serge Testa (Trident Press), 206 pp., is an account of an Australian that built an aluminum boat of his own design for a record-breaking circumnavigtion.  This is not a how-to book, but a narrative of his trip.  Two interesting facts about the boat is at 12 ft. LOA, it has a 4.5 ft. draft.  The boat was so stiff it travelled through four cyclones without ever being capsized in the storms.  Besides rounding in the smallest boat, he must also hold the record for the greatest number of groundings---I lost count.  It's an interesting and enjoyable read.

[Amgine]

::grin:: Sounds like a great read!

I wish we had a good nautical bookstore nearby to purchase a bunch of books. We're leaving in a couple days for a month afloat. When not actively sailing I tend to go through a book a day, so I need a lot of book cargo!

[ThistleCap]

Check your cruising guide.  I've seen authors list marinas, etc. that have book swaps.  Something else we used to do was just load a shopping bag full of books (paperbacks mostly) into the dinghy and cruise from boat to boat around the anchorage.  Usually worked pretty well, and gave you a chance to meet some nice folks.  If you come across a book swap that's not in your cruising guide, shoot a note off to the author, c/o the publisher, for inclusion in his next update.

[Chattcatdaddy]

4 1/2 ft draft on a 12ft boat! If take a 36ft boat and with straight proportion you would have a 13 1/2 ft draft.  Wonder what the capsize ratio was on that boat!

[Bluenose]

I can't help but wonder what the sail area was.

[ThistleCap]

Converting metric, she would have 1764 lbs. displacement with a 4.92 ft. beam, which would give her a capsize screening factor of 1.629.  I looked back through and couldn't find a sail area reference.  The CSF doesn't give righting moment, but with all the ballast in a lead torpedo bolted to the very bottom of the keel, it must have been tremendous.  With 772 lbs. of ballast, she'd have a ballast/displacement of .437.

[hearsejr]

  I read it a few years ago, and I think after the stove caught fire, I would have went a diffrent way to cook meals..lol.
 I can't remember where I sent my book off too..I might have gave it away or loaned it out..maybe I put it in a box so I wouldn't lose it...I failed miserably

[Steve Bean]

I met Serge and have read his book.  Great sense of humor!  A necessity for such a voyage.
Steve