Start by reading, reading, reading. Old Joshua was pretty experienced
before he headed off.




Captain Joshua Slocum: A Time-line
a.. Born February 20, 1844, in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, by the Bay
of Fundy.
b.. Ran away at age of 14 to be a cook on a fishing schooner, but returned
home.
c.. Left home for good at 16 (1860) when his mother died, shipped as
ordinary seaman on deep-water sailing ships, merchant vessels to Europe and
the U.S.
d.. Obtained his first command on the California coast in 1869, and sailed
for 13 years out of San Francisco to China, Australia, the Spice Islands,
and Japan.
e.. Married an American girl, Virginia Albertina Walker, on January 31,
1871, at Sydney, Australia.
f.. Built a steamer for a British architect in Subic Bay, P.I., in 1874.
g.. Bought shares in and commanded the three-skysailyard ship Northern
Light in 1882, considered at the time by many to be the finest American ship
afloat.
h.. Sold the Northern Light and bought the bark Aquidneck in 1884. In the
same year, his wife Virginia died (July 25) and was buried in Buenos Aires.
i.. Married Henrietta M. Elliott ("Hettie") in 1886.
j.. Made several voyages on the Aquidneck before she was lost in 1887 on a
sand bank off the coast of Brazil.
k.. The Libergade, a 35-foot sailing canoe, built after the stranding;
Slocum sails with Hettie and his oldest and youngest sons to Washington,
D.C., 5000 miles away.
l.. Voyage of the Liberdade published in 1890 at Slocum's expense.
m.. In 1892, a friend, Captain Eben Pierce, offers Slocum a ship that
"wants some repairs" Slocum goes to Fairhaven, MA to find that the "ship" is
a rotting old oyster sloop propped up in a field. It is the Spray.
n.. Slocum prints Voyage of the Destroyer from New York to Brazil in 1893,
again at his own expense.
o.. Slocum departs from Boston Harbor, MA on his famous circumnavigation
on April 24, 1895, at the age of 51, in the rebuilt 37-foot sloop Spray.
Click for Map of his Journey
p.. Slocum returns, sailing into Newport, RI, on June 27, 1898 in his tiny
sloop Spray and after single-handedly sailing around the world , a passage
of 46,000 miles. This historic achievement made him the patron saint of
small-boat voyagers, navigators and adventurers all over the world.
q.. Sailing Alone Around The World published in book form in 1900 by The
Century Company. It describes his experiences on this adventurous voyage and
became an instant best seller. It has been translated into many languages,
and is still in print today.
r.. Slocum buys first home on land in 1902, a farm on the island of
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
s.. Slocum sails each winter to the tropics, 1905 - 1906, returning to New
England in the summer.
t.. On November 14th of 1909, at the age of 65, he set out on another lone
voyage to South America leaving from Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard,
but was never heard from again.
================
Here is some more info.

Modern ocean racing has its roots in open ocean sailing. The first person to
complete a solo circumnavigation was Joshua Slocum. Slocum was a retired
Master Mariner, originally from Canada, but subsequently a citizen of the
USA. He sailed in 1895 on a route that took him across the Atlantic, down
South America and through the Strait of Magellan, and then on to Australia,
South Africa and home. He had rebuilt his 35 foot sloop Spray by himself
before he sailed and proved a good and safe sailboat bringing him safely
home in 1898.

Even with the publicity gained by Slocum there was no attempt to repeat his
voyage for more than 20 years and this, again, was also in a boat built by
the sailor. In 1921 Harry Pigeon set off from California in his 35-foot yawl
Islander and completed a fairly uneventful circumnavigation. Alain Gerbault
of France followed in 1924 in his 39-foot cutter Firecrest. The year 1942
would appear an unlikely time to try to circumnavigate the world, but that
was when Vito Dumas set out from his home in Argentina in his ketch Legh II,
making the voyage completely in the Southern Hemisphere.


More than 20 years passed before anyone attempted another solo
circumnavigation. This time it wasn't a cruise like the previous voyages but
an attempt to beat the sailing times of the great Clipper ships. Francis
Chichester set out from England in his 56-foot ketch Gypsy Moth IV taking
107 days to reach Sydney. After a re-fit he continued his voyage, which
totaled 274 days at sea. Even as he returned Alec Rose was setting out in
his 36-footer Lively Lady and completed his circumnavigation, with two
stops, in 11 months.

After Francis Chichester brought Gipsy Moth IV back to Plymouth in 1967, he
challenged all single-handed sailors and adventurers. In his mind a nonstop,
solo circumnavigation was the only voyage left. Although a non-stop voyage
was seemed an impossible achievement, people were soon announcing their
plans to make the attempt.

Chichester's challenge manifested itself in the 1968 Sunday Times Golden
Globe. In January of 1969 Robin Knox-Johnston answered Chischester's call in
his 32-foot ketch Suhaili, after a 9 month beating though the Southern
Ocean. Knox-Johnston proved that what once was though impossible, was indeed
possible and in fact possible with one of the slowest boats to have actually
crossed an ocean.

After the Golden Globe most of the circumnavigators were cruises. In 1970
21-year-old Robin Lee Graham made history by becoming the youngest person to
solo circumnavigate the globe. He completed most of his 5 year journey in
the 22-foot Lapworth sloop Dove. After Graham completed his journey many
people realized that a circumnavigation or even a journey across an ocean
was possible and in fact within reach of people with just a little bit of
sailing experience.

Not much was to happen to ocean sailing until a large man by the name of
David White had an idea while having a drink in a Newport, RI bar. White had
just returned from sailing the Bermuda One Two, a single-handed,
double-handed race from Newport to Bermuda and back. While at sea he had
thought about the idea of a solo race around the world, and that night,
after a few too many beers, he proposed his plan for a new race, which he
called the Around Alone. His idea was met with inebriated enthusiasm. A
course was quickly sketched out on a napkin, plans for a new design were
floated, and a set of rules devised.

After securing sponsorship for the event from the British company BOC, the
inaugural BOC Challenge finally got away at the end of August 1982 with a
fleet of 17 boats setting sail for South Africa, the Southern Ocean and
beyond. They were a rag-tag bunch, but among them one entry stood out, an
unknown Frenchman by the name of Philippe Jeantot. He arrived with a
purpose-built 56-foot sloop named Credit Agricole, and went on to win all
four legs of the race with an overall elapsed time of 159 days, 2 hours, 26
minutes and 1 second.

Around the same time the Vendee Globe got it's start in France. The Vendee
Globe is probably one the hardest races out there right now. It features no
stops and forces the skippers and boats to be tough as nails; pacing
themselves as they journey down the Atlantic, around Antarctica and back up
to the finish line to the Vendee coast in France.

Some aspects of ocean sailing haven't changed since the days of Joshua
Slocum. Other aspects have changed; the boats and gear have taken huge step
forwards since the turn of the 20th century. Slocum's boat Spray was held on
course by tying the helm in place, while Chischester's boat used a
self-steering wind vane to keep his boat sailing as fast as possible.
Bluewater sailboats didn't change much from the days of Chistester until
Jeantot's Credit Agricole. Credit Agricole closely resembled today's Open 60
sailboats.

That pretty much brings us up to speed. Of course I left out a lot of lesser
events, but as this is a brief history I chose only the events that had some
significance to the big picture. Feel free to msg me if I have left any very
important details. Again this is a brief history.

===============



As to draft.... I just looked on the Spray Society of Australia site. The
average draft for Spray look a likes, copies .. is 5'.

These are boat of considerable size... 40' to 50'. .. yet they are very
shoal draft. Something to keep in mind. Big beam, shoal draft.

------------------------------------



I still think you should see if Paris Hilton will come along with you on
your single handed cruise. She and I have broken up. It was the
toothpaste, she was always squeezing the tube from the top.



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"JohnM" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for a suitable boat for single handed cruising the Bahamas for
a
year then up the East coast and eventually across to the Mediteranian. I
realize many sailors single hand with guests or spouses aboard but I will
have more than myself aboard only on rare occasions, and perhaps in port.
I
was thinking of Beneteau 35 or similar. Would this be enough boat to be
safe
and comfortable.Thanks in advance for the help.