15 lessons in circumnavigation

With the development in design and technology you might think modern-day circumnavigation is an easy task but girdling the globe is far from a case of setting the autopilot and sitting back.

A panel of experienced owners – Sietse Koopmans (Zeepard), Tom Perkins (Andromeda La Dea, Atlantide, Maltese Falcon), Mike and Judy Ryan ( Tenaz) and the owners of Twizzle – have each completed a circumnavigation and here they share their 15 lessons in circumnavigation.

Choose the right superyacht

The first thing to consider when planning a circumnavigation is your choice of superyacht, says Koopmans – go for the wrong one and you’ll be paying for it all the way around.

“My experience is that yachts are designed in committee by people that have no cruising experience,” he says. “My boat, Zeepaard, is an explorer which is as close as you can get to the best boat. I don’t believe in sailboats – I like day sailing and racing – but cruising with a sailboat is cumbersome. For the same price you have a motorboat with three times the space.”

"Go with the current and the winds, then you will stay in the bandwidth of good weather,” advises Koopmans.  Zeepaard’s circumnavigation started in Malta in 2009. The superyacht cruised the Mediterranean before setting off west across the Atlantic – the best way, according to Koopmans.

The owners of Twizzle have gone round the world twice: east to west and west to east. The best, they say, is westabout. “The most practical direction (taking into account weather and seasonal winds) is to go counter-clockwise. Head for the Panama Canal, then through to the Galápagos and across the Pacific, then on to the Far East, Indian Ocean and Suez. Going clockwise is much more complex to programme,” they counsel.

Another headache on Koopamans’ trip was caused by red tape, most notably in Cuba. “Watch out in Cuba,” he warns. “Eleven government officials came to inspect, fill in and sign the same papers.”

Perkins recalls: “There was a crewmember who got stung by a Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish while cooling off mid-Atlantic and went into anaphylactic shock – twice. He pulled through thanks to the extensive medical facilities on board, but still wears the whip-like scars across his back.”