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Bluejacket 28 OK for run from Miami to Cuba? (In a Caravan of course)


ErnieKim

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Hi,

New here!

My wife and I run the intercoastal and the Gulf of Mexico. We are ready to graduate to a boat that we could do occasional trips to the Bahamas and Caribbean. I was planning to buy a Panga because I could easily outrun bad weather, but then saw the Bluejacket. I could still outrun the weather but comfort would be an order of magnitude better!

Would Y'all consider using the BJ 28 for a trip to Cuba? In a caravan of course. The Panga has made the trip MANY times.

Thanks for your thoughts.

ErnieKim

PS; I'll be getting rid of the 1998 Scout (in excellent condition) if anyone is interested.

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Many people have made it from Cuba to the Keys in craft that most of us would not trust on a small inland lake.  Some of them were just lucky and some had craft that, while not ideal, were capable of ocean passages in decent weather.  Many foundered and were lost and many were rescued along the way.  An outboard skiff has crossed the Atlantic to Europe and it appeared to be no more seaworthy than your present boat and perhaps not as good.   One of the design goals of the Bluejacket 28 was for a trip up the Inside Passage of the Alaska Archipelago.  All such passages have some risk in any small boat and a prudent seaman operates within an envelope of safety that they consider acceptable to them.  A 90 mile offshore passage requires some planning with weather being the highest consideration. 

 

A Bluejacket is a very solidly built boat as designed and can be expected to operate in some pretty rough conditions.  Water is water, wherever you find it, and ocean waves are often far less demanding than the short steep variety often found in inshore shallow sounds.  One BJ28 completed a 7500 mile passage of the Great Loop last year, including some rough conditions off Florida as well as offshore around New Jersey and the Great Lakes.  A Bluejacket is similar enough to the hull of your boat that these passages should be possible.  It will be slower but on one of the calm days the trip to Cuba might be done in five hours or even less.  To the Bahamas, it could be quite a bit less if the landfall is Bimini.  No reasonable person is going to tell a stranger that they should just take off an go across an ocean in any small boat and I will not do so.  The final responsibility is with the skipper of the boat as it always is.

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You can put almost any boat and any location into this question, caravan or not. Just because someone is along to maybe rescue you will not always make a trip an okay decision. If you are boating with your wife and she depends on you to make the correct experience, as she has not always been in command on other ventures, then you may find yourself sleeping and boating alone on your next venture if you have a bad day on the water from making the wrong decision.

 

 

. It all comes down to the operator and their knowledge of the sea. But at the top of the list is COMMON SENSE, which has been proven to vary across the human race. Row boats have crossed the oceans successfully while people have swan the distance from Cuba to Key west. But that area has a similar set of nightmares as going around Cape Horn. In the wrong weather conditions current and wind and will create a disastrous set of circumstances for the inexperienced person with big ideas and no fear of the sea.

 

At the end of the day I consider the Bluejacket as being a pleasure boat, where timeframes and goals are like being on a sailboat. Its not always about the destination.

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You can put almost any boat and any location into this question, caravan or not. Just because someone is along to maybe rescue you will not always make a trip an okay decision. If you are boating with your wife and she depends on you to make the correct experience, as she has not always been in command on other ventures, then you may find yourself sleeping and boating alone on your next venture if you have a bad day on the water from making the wrong decision.

 

 

. It all comes down to the operator and their knowledge of the sea. But at the top of the list is COMMON SENSE, which has been proven to vary across the human race. Row boats have crossed the oceans successfully while people have swan the distance from Cuba to Key west. But that area has a similar set of nightmares as going around Cape Horn. In the wrong weather conditions current and wind and will create a disastrous set of circumstances for the inexperienced person with big ideas and no fear of the sea.

 

At the end of the day I consider the Bluejacket as being a pleasure boat, where timeframes and goals are like being on a sailboat. Its not always about the destination.

So your answer is that it is NOT good for either trip.

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My answer is that the  crossings  are  historically bad in the fall and winter time in particular if this is your projected time to take the journey to both Cuba and the Bahamas. That's when the cold fronts with opposing winds and currents are common.  So no matter the boat the  miles in open water can yield you some crappy to down right ugly sea conditions. Its not fun in any small craft and can be very deceiving when leaving the land mass along the eastern seaboard of Florida, where the seas can be calm when starting out. So a mariner needs to consider more than just their boat and the size of it. Do I consider the Bluejacket to be not fit for the job? No more fit or unfit than what the mariner is, and my point was that there is no real answer with such a wide variety of experiences of mariners right along with a wind variety of conditions depending on the time of year that you go. in particular.  On the opposite side of the coin, open outboard makes the trip to the Bahamas all the time right up there with rafts from Cuba with people sitting on top of them.

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The real answer is within you. The primary key in these types of passages is skipper skill. Simply put, a well founded yacht in the hands of a foolish skipper, can have quite poor results. Conversely, a less than well founded yacht, in the hands of a skilled skipper can carry though, in spite of the yacht's shortcomings. So, ask yourself, "how's my offshore skills?".

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