Useful links for long distance sailors

I will try to collect some useful and interesting links during our sail around the world. Both from other people we meet and to different sites that is good to know about if you are planning to sail around the world.

Useful programs Navigation software Weather programs Weather sites  Information Sites Other cools sailors Useful guides Spare parts Cruising guides Organizations

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Other cool sailing boats

S/Y Ipanema

This amazing Brazilian couple actually started their sailing career aboard our boat! After spending 1 weeks aboard Bay reamer they basically ended their jobs, left their home and bought them self a Lagoon 440 and also a brutal dog named Feijo! Renato and Sarah are the best and you should at least visit their website or why not go for a cruise with them?

Link: http://sailipanema.com

S/Y Attila

This guy is going to cruise around French Polynesia for a couple of years! He has been all over the place and he is one of the most experienced guys I have met during my time on the sea. He is sailing a traditional cutter that is build for true exploring. The boat is super strong and is even ice-classed! If you want an adventure of a lifetime- contact Adrian via his website and go sail Polynesia with this guy! !

Link: http://www.attilaexpeditions.org/

S/Y Rayola

Three SUPER COOL swedish guys from north of Sweden that are out sailing in a very SMALL boat called Rayola. We wish them luck on their trip and I hope that we will meet again!

Link: http://aventyrslysten.com 

S/Y Quest

I truly impressive boat with an impressive Swedish captain!  He is currently sailing around in the Caribbean doing both charters and dive charters!

Link: http://www.quest-sailanddive.com

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Useful information sites

Noonsite.com

This site is like a bible for people that is out sailing around the world, you will find all the information you need about all the countries that you are planning to go to.Regardless if you are looking for checking in procedures or just nice place to stay at- this is the site for you, 

Link: www.noonsite.com

Noonsite.com (countries offline)

Sometimes when you are out on the deep blue you suddenly need to change your plan. Maybe you run into bad weather or you had a serious situation on-board that forces you to change your original plan. Suddenly you have to go to a country you didn’t plan to visit and you don’t have any information about customs, clearance and other important local procedures. When this happens it is very useful to have the whole noonsite.com in off-line mode. I have made a offline copy- feel free to download it!

Link: from our google drive   (unzip the folder and locate and run the file named “index.html”)

World cruising Wiki

Another super site where you will find almost everything you need to know about all the countries you are planning to go to during your around the world cruise.

Link: www.cruiserswiki.org

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Weather sites

Passage weather

Good weather site that shows grib-files from all over the world

Link: www.passageweather.com

Meteo France (Frensch Polynesia)

The one and only weather site you need for French Polynesia. You will also get cyclone warnings during the “bad” seasons.

Link: http://www.meteo.pf/

Pilot Charts

Pilot charts is a must when you are planning your around the world voyage. With these charts you will get all the weather statistics you need to plan it safe. When is the wind blowing from where and how is the currents around the south Pacific in November? Well the charts will tell you everything you need to know! You can download them for free as PDF thanks to Meteo-marine.

Link: http://www.meteo-marine.com/english/marine-weather/pilot-charts.htm

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Weather programs

Ugrib

A pretty good free weather program that helps you to download the weather. We are using this together with our laptop and satellite phone when we are on the sea

Link: www.grib.us

Zygrib

Another free weather program that gives you more detailed information than Ugrib. It download gribfiles to your computer and shows them on a pretty detailed map.

Link: http://www.zygrib.org

Adrena Free

This is my absolute favorite software to download weather (gribfiles) when we are on the sea. You can choose to download from several sources and in my point of view this is the fastest way to get you grib files when you are using your satellite phone (cheapest). It only works on windows though.

Link: http://www.adrena.fr/en/AdrenaFree/adrenafree.html

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Navigation programs

OpenCPN

I used to have at least 3 different software’s for navigation but nowadays you only need one- and it is free!! This open source navigation program has everything you need for navigation and weather routing. We do have a Garmin system as our main navigation system on-board our boat but all route planning is done with openCPN.  This program works on all systems: Mac, PC, Linux etc. However you do need to load the program with navigation maps such as CM93! OpenCPN offers MANY different types of plugins; such as pilot-charts, weather routing, log books and much much more.

Link: http://opencpn.org/ocpn/

Charts: CM93

Just google download cm93 and I am sure you will find many different sites from where you can download you vector charts. These charts will work in open CPN but also in Max Sea or similar programs.

Here is a torrent link for download: Link

SASPlanet

An awesome program that allows you to download maps from basically every imaginable source, google- satellite, marine maps, nokia and much much more. It only works on windows and it is a free program! Just google SASPlanet and you will find yourself a download link!

Download link: https://bitbucket.org/sas_team/sas.planet.bin/downloads

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Other useful programs

VMware Fusion

I am a happy mac user and I would never ever buy myself a windows PC. Unfortunately some of the navigation/ weather programs you can find for free is made for Windows. To solve this little problem we are using a “virtual machine” on my mac with an installation of the old school windows XP. For this you need this program: VMware Fusion.

Link: http://www.vmware.com/se/products/fusion
Download link via torrent: link or just search on “piratebay” or similar

Wikipedia offline – Kiwix

Sailors used and are still floating around with a huge library on-board their boats. To keep the weight down it could be a great idea to have the worlds best and biggest encyclopedia inside your computer. This  is a “killer” to have when you do research or ending up in a discussion about the height of the Eiffel Tower after a couple of beers!

Download the offline-reader and the whole database here: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Main_Page

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Cruising guides

In almost every bay we drop our anchor we meet someone that gives us a cruising guide or guides in PDF formats. It´s a priceless asset to have a good cruising guide when you enter a new area- information about good anchor sites, clearance procedures and other useful information! I don’t know if I am breaking any laws by sharing these guides but let´s see what happens.

• Panama – including San Blas (Erik bauhaus), download here
• French Polynesia (Charlies Charts), download here

 

Just contact us if there is something special you are looking for: sailingbaydreamer@gmail.com

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Useful Guides

Satellite phones and satellite communications

Most long distance sailors has some kind of sat-phone on-board their boat for normal communications or for a potential emergency situation. Another big and almost vital advantage with having a sat-phone aboard is that they will make it possible to download the weather-reports for you, which also is a matter of safety. Here is a good and useful guide for you that is about to choose what system you wanna invest in.

Link: http://www.bluecosmo.com/satellite-phones

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Spare parts

Marine Parts Express (Volvo engine parts)

To get spare parts for your engine when you are in a remote location could sometimes be very tricky! Marine Parts Express has helped me out more than one time and they have an excellent website to find the part you need! They are also extremely helpful when it comes to shipping.

Link: http://www.marinepartsexpress.com

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Organizations

Here is a couple of links to organizations that actually do make a difference for our planet oceans – we support them and so should you!

Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.

www.seashepherd.org

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 www.greenpeace.com