Blue water sailing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blue Water Sailing (also offshore sailing called) is a form of mobile life on sailboats , in which long trips on deep sea far from coasts, harbors and marinas ( Marina ) with periods of free on-anchor chaise longue mostly in coves or on reefs without connection to alternate modern infrastructure.

Cruising yacht with solar panels
Circumnavigation route, here by Laura Dekker

The term is derived from the deep blue color of the sea on the open ocean. Blue water sailing is in contrast to sailing in coastal waters, where the color of the water is mostly greyish due to suspended particles.

Depending on the route, crew and boat, the spectrum ranges from camping on the water to traveling in the field of high-performance sports. The crew often consists of married couples who fulfill a lifelong dream with this type of sailing, or single-handed sailors . Since life often takes place far away from modern resources, the boat must be specially equipped and allow its crew to live independently for weeks and months.

Long-distance sailing on the oceans is still determined today by global weather systems . A classic route for many sailors is the circumnavigation of the world on the Passat route near the equator. This trip follows the trade wind belt , which is located between the tropics and is fed by the large high pressure areas on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The course runs from east to west, with European sailors usually starting from the Canary Islands and then sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean to Panama . In Panama the trip goes through the Panama Canal to the Galapagos Islands and from there to the Pacific . From the Pacific, the route continues through the Indian Ocean , the Red Sea and the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean . An alternative route through the Indian Ocean follows the coast of South Africa around the Cape of Good Hope . From there it goes on to Brazil, through the Caribbean and the east coast of the USA, to then return to Europe with the westerly winds in the northeast of the USA via Bermuda.

Married couples' blue water trips became popular in English-speaking countries in the 1950s and 1960s. Well-known pioneers in England were Susan and Eric C. Hiscock . The first German couple to sail around the world were Elga and Ernst-Jürgen Koch , who were on board the KAIROS I from 1964 to 1967 . Important German blue water sailors are Wilfried Erdmann , Rollo Gebhard , Erich and Heide Wilts and Bobby Schenk .

See also

  • Blue water routes - the most important routes along the world's oceans

literature

  • Sönke Roever and Judith Roever: Blue water sailing compact Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3667101730 .
  • Bobby Schenk: blue water sailing. 7th edition, Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3768834575 .

Web links