26 differences from most other cruisers, part 2 of 2
23 April 2026 · 24 min · 944 views
Sailboat cruising open ocean under full sail
What this video covers
During a 2022–2025 circumnavigation aboard Sea Change, a 1989 Pacific Seacraft 34, Hugh Robertson sailed 26 practices that differed from most cruisers he encountered.Watch His 34-footer, with a 27-foot waterline and hull speed around 7 knots, was typically the smallest boat in anchorages; the 4,000-mile Panama-to-Marquesas passage took 35 days at an average 5 knots.2:02 He ran aground five times: mud in Faroe Bay in the Society Islands, sand at Rioteer and Maipiti in French Polynesia, coral in the Hapai group of Tonga, and a costly hard grounding on rock at Pancake Creek, Queensland, which let a buyer negotiate the sale price down.2:31 He rigged Dyneema backup standing rigging independent of the existing chainplates, using masthead strops, and kept it in place even after replacing the wire shrouds in Fiji.6:02 He used an Iridium GO with a PredictWind subscription rather than Starlink, iSailor charts rather than Navionics, and a bucket instead of the onboard head.7:07 He never used the asymmetrical spinnaker solo, skipped paper charts and a sextant, and carried substantial unused gear including a spare transmission that ultimately proved its worth when swapped in Cape Town.15:49
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