Chrysler Sailors Forum

I want to plan a week long trip sailing from key largo to key west on a c22. Looking at end of october or first of november. Is this a realistic 5-6 day cruise? I have done little or no research on this...any thoughts???

Im about to do a 2 month trip in the Sea of Cortez complete with 80 mile open water crossings in my C22. These boats have sailed to Hawaii before basically stock. Just make sure all the systems are good, chainplates, rudder and keel pivot especially.

Z

Of course your biggest concern will be weather, that is hurricane season and you don't want to get caught out off guard.

Hawaii!!!! WOW...thats pretty courageous!

So has anyone here had any experience sailing in the keys?

Not sure if it is this year or next but I plan on having my C-22 in the Fl. Keys the last week of Oct.

Because weather plays a major part I want to make sure and plan on current and wind conditions around that time. I will be starting out from the N.C. coast and want to continue on to the Caribbean.

My experience of sailing in the Keys is limited to day sailing. My grandparents retired to Long Key (66 mile marker) in the early 70's and my dad had a C22 we trailered there every Christmas and spring break. I bought my C22 last summer and trailered it to Sunshine Key (mile marker 39) last Christmas. Mostly day sailing with the family and back in the marina by happy hour.

Sailing from Key Largo to Key West is roughly a 100 mile trip one way. Even with the C22's 2' draft you will need to know your route and have charts for the areas you are sailing. The water on the ocean side can get rough at times. The water on the bay side is usually smoother but much shallower. There are only a handfull of places to cross from the ocean to the bay without dropping your mast.

Hawaii??? in a C-22??? we are talking crossing the pacific! let's hear some more crusiing or blue water or even racing stories... maybe even have special forum sections for sailing and for repairing.

For tales of major cruising in small boats try sailfar.net .

I wouldn't go too far out offshore in a swing keel boat.

Great web site BTW -- thanks!

Gus,

As you can imagine this is a hot topic on the sailfar website and there is much discussion about the Chryslers. I happen to agree with you Gus, but they actually recommend inserting a bolt to hold the keel in the down position.

I've been looking for the story of sailing to Hawaii on a Chrysler sail boat on the web. Not finding anything yet.

Sailing to Hawaii is one of my long range plans. My plans are years out and I was definatly thinking, as they said in Jaws... "I think we need a bigger boat."

Anyway I'd love to hear about others who have done it.

Thanks
Alan

Alan,
Ive read a story about it online somewhere. I talked to a guy in AZ whos friend had gotten half way to Hawaii in his C26 before the rudder folded in half. It seems to me like any boat without a keel hung or full skeg hung rudder should have atleast one back-up rudder system for that reason.

People have done some pretty ridiculous trips in little boats like ours.
As Lin and Larry Pardy say "Go small, Go now".

viewtopic.php?t=41&highlight=hawaii

Here Hawaii is mentioned. I think Ive read other stories as well.

-Zak

WOW, that is so cool, rolled the boat 360 and kept going. Did the round trip more then once on a C26. Now that is sailing with confidence and skill.

I'll be sticking closer to home with my Chysler till I get a lot more time and skill under my belt and I'm going to use a bigger boat.

Thanks for the story,
Alan

Yeah, you can bolt the keel all you want, but its the capsize ratio that counts, our Chrysler 22's are not built for blue waters. Just my opinion, of course.

NYCSAILOR wrote:Great web site BTW -- thanks!

Gus,

As you can imagine this is a hot topic on the sailfar website and there is much discussion about the Chryslers. I happen to agree with you Gus, but they actually recommend inserting a bolt to hold the keel in the down position.

What part of NC do you sail? Also, your name is spanish, right? Where are you from originally?

Gus

Mario G wrote:Not sure if it is this year or next but I plan on having my C-22 in the Fl. Keys the last week of Oct.

Because weather plays a major part I want to make sure and plan on current and wind conditions around that time. I will be starting out from the N.C. coast and want to continue on to the Caribbean.

I looks like I will sail Belews lake near Greensboro to start and then to the coast where I have talked to a few people that have blue watered their C-22 and said it sailed great as long as you aviod heavy storms.
I really think the C-22's was setup to do bluewater/coastal crusing, If not I will find out the hard way...


I'm originally from NY and I'm 1st generation Italian.

Oh cool, my dad's Italian, but I'm from Argentina.

Be careful, I'll get a nice EPIRB if I was you, better safe than sorry, but again, I wouldn't venture too far out in a 22 feet, swing keel sailboat boat.

Gustavo

Mario G wrote:I looks like I will sail Belews lake near Greensboro to start and then to the coast where I have talked to a few people that have blue watered their C-22 and said it sailed great as long as you aviod heavy storms.
I really think the C-22's was setup to do bluewater/coastal crusing, If not I will find out the hard way...


I'm originally from NY and I'm 1st generation Italian.