• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Boat Shipping - Hawaii back to West Coast

racushman

O34 - Los Angeles
I'm contemplating a trip from LA to Hawaii, but wouldn't have time to do the sail back.

Anyone have experience shipping a boat from Hawaii back to the mainland? And what it costs? I assume a lot of the Transpac boats come back that way.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I know of a local guy that found a way to ship a borrowed trailer over while he raced in the PacCup, and then have his J105 brought back on it. I do not know him personally tho.
It must have been on a barge, IMHO.
You would have to check with some shipping companies.

Plan B (or C) would be to have some sailors from this group do the delivery trip back for you.
 

racushman

O34 - Los Angeles
Having someone sail it back is certainly an option, just has more wear and tear compared to shipping it back (I assume).

I thought one of the shipping companies (Matson?) did this frequently. I'll call. Just thought someone else might have crossed this bridge.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The guys who know all about this are SSS. Their forum discusses it every race year. https://www.sfbaysss.org/forum/

It saves people looking up your information if you put boat and location etc in the signature line. You have an Olson 34, I think that;s a lot of boat to ship. Again, the SSS guys might be able to set you up with a delivery crew, since they'll appreciate the reputation of your Olson offshore.

Also. shipping has wear and tear and then some. Margie Woods got a new boat out if it a couple of years ago when they dropped her old one.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
When (roughly) is the boat going there? And then when should it come home? Starting where?

The Hawaii trip is on a lot of sailors' bucket lists...... I have thought about it, every so often, since buying our Olson, since that's almost its "birthright'.
:)

There's the "deck cargo" idea, but you'd need a cradle. Over the decades we have seen a number of merchant ships coming up the Columbia with those huge turbine blades on deck bound for for inland wind generation projects, and one occasion a 40-something powerboat.

Info in this thread : https://www.sfbaysss.org/forum/showthread.php?2236-Shtp-2020!
Reply #10 is a humdinger.

Edit: add a link (altho I have no idea how pertinent the info is).
One other note: average speed for most E boats and my Olson will be faster than 5 kts, perhaps much faster. Some ego in that opinion, but I have done an off-wind delivery in an E-38 that maintained 8 kts plus for hours, and sustained faster speed than that in our Olson. All depending on.... the winds....
 
Last edited:

racushman

O34 - Los Angeles
Thanks guys it sounds like shipping a >30 foot boat is more of a production than I imagined. I guess I will have to quit my job and sail it both ways :)

Timing would be summer 2021.
 

goldenstate

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
This is a problem I too have been working on. I don't have a good answer. Choices include:

1. Sailing it back myself. Add another 30+ days. How will I feel about turning around and doing the same thing again, after three weeks at sea?

2. Paying someone else to sail it back. My sailing instructor in Sasualito said his day rate (the instructor and one crew) was $500 plus expenses. 25 days * $500 = $12,500 Add a couple of plane tickets and provisions. Maybe $15k all in?

3. Ship it back. Here's video of the seminar that the SSS just held on the topic.
I spent some time before Christmas on the phone with a guy in Hawaii trying to price this up. I wound up with a range of $15-20K for a 32' boat. If you go with one of the races (or can be treated to the racer 'group' pricing you do better. It's still very expensive and that does not include shipyard work at home to re-step your mast etc. Worth it if you have a $175K carbon racing rig. For my $30k '90?.....

4. Sell it in Hawaii. Pricing doesn't seem to be terrible in HI for boat sellers, but who knows how long it will take to sell etc. Plus by the time you sail your boat to HI, you probably love the boat a lot, and just puking it to someone else doesn't seem fair.

5. Keep the boat in HI over a year and bring it back the next summer?...

My wife doesn't like #1 or #5 - expensive in time. All of the other ones are expensive in money.

$.02,
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
This voyage is worth doing both ways. The preparation is so consuming, the thinking-through so daunting, that it would be a real disappointment to take a sail there then sorta give up. It;s two or three weeks at sea. It goes by in a flash.

Treat it like a one-time life event, push everything else aside, and devote the summer. Windows to this stuff open and close. Opportunity knocks and then slams the door closed again.

The sail home is entirely different. You;ve done it now, you;re not in a rush, your eyes are open. There are no hurricanes north, although a gale may await on the homeland shore. To sail only outbound is to achieve half the voyage.

I know it;s expensive in money and time but make time and when you return make money again.

Let's face it, the whole singlehanded thing is quite selfish. To accomplish it you push people out of the way, focus and bull forward. Which is pretty much what it feels like out there anyhow.

I was listening to a guy lament how he couldn;t afford to sail solo TransAt. Just didn;t have the dough. Unfortunately this was to a guy who just had.

"Sell your truck," the guy said and walked away.
 

wynkoop

Member III
I have not worked on the big iron boats in years, but I can tell you as deck cargo on a freighter the boat may well take hard treatment in ways it would not in the water. Remember it will be supported in a cradle which puts point loads on the hull. If there are heavy seas it will get hammered both by any seas that break over the ship and by the up and down motion of the ship.

To be sure when things get rough professional mariners slow down to minimize strain on the vessel, but it is something to think about.

Whether you ship it back, or sail it back there will be a cost. My vote is to sail back and as others have said have the full experience, but then again I was mate on the big iron boats and always expected to return home in the bottom I left in.
 

racushman

O34 - Los Angeles
Looks like all signs point to sailing it back. And probably myself. Which of course I would prefer to do, it's just a matter of the time.

I just turned 50 so probably a good point that one just has to take the summer and make it happen. Would be a good thing to look forward to.

As an added bonus, no coronavirus to contend with out there... unless you bring it with you.
 

wynkoop

Member III
Have plenty of food, water, and of course make sure you have a working SSB and I would also add a SPOT to my kit. Of course EPIRB as well.
 
Top