Tahina's Circumnavigation Route

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The route Tahina will be taking around the world is partially determined by winds and weather, and partly determined by our desires to see certain places. Most sailing circumnavigators take the trade wind route which is from east to west. The trade winds are favorable winds for a sailing vessel (generally in the same direction you want to go). These winds are also generally favorable speeds and fewer storms if you go during the right times of the year. The route takes those leaving from the eastern US through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific to eventually end up near Australia. Then it takes you north of Australia across Indonesia and into the Indian Sea.

From the Indian Ocean we will have to choose whether to go the shorter route through the Red Sea and Suez Canal (the southern Red Sea being somewhat dangerous due to the increasing incidents of piracy). Or, we could take the MUCH longer route around the continent of Africa across the Atlantic and northwards then back east to get to the Mediterranean (if you're determined to sail and visit the Mediterranean waters). After visiting the Mediterranean, we would cross the Atlantic via the Canairy Islands and possibly the Cape Verde islands and complete the circumnavigation in the Caribbean.

The route you see in the map above is our current rough draft. Our plans may change as we go along. We think we will learn about other places we want to go along the way, and weather and other factors may alter the route. We will start by going out to Bermuda and then down to the Caribbean (the winds make it easiest to go to Bermuda first). After passing through the Panama Canal, we definitely plan to stop at the Galapagos Islands before heading to the French Marquesas. Also, we plan to see the total eclipse of the sun near Tahiti in July 2010. We include a trip down to New Zealand, then back up to Fiji and other Pacific Islands. We plan to spend six months in New Zealand, from November 2010 through April 2011, while avoiding the cyclone season in the south Pacific. It's been our dream to visit New Zealand for many years. Then we want to return to see more Pacific islands before heading to Australia. We also currently plan to visit Indonesia and Singapore, and Thailand.

Another important point: we will extend our travels over land and by plane to see other countries not visited by boat. We currently plan to visit China, India, and several countries in Africa in addition to the many countries close to the rough draft route we have drawn. And, we may change this route to change the countries/islands we visit by boat as well.

You might think there is no way we would take the longer route to the Med. But, we are currently favoring the longer route. It gives us the opportunity to visit more African countries and see some really unique islands. And, we may even be able to visit Brazil if we complete the Atlantic crossing before continuing northeast to the Med. The longer route would add about 9,000 nautical miles further than the Suez Canal route. That's about 50 days of extra sailing. Out of five years, that's not a huge amount of time.