# How difficult would it be for a complete beginner to sail to Tahiti?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 25, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736 "2009-03-25T14:48:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/1 "2009-03-25T14:48:47Z")
Back in the day, Sass heard an expression from people tired on the job, saying something like they wished they could “sail to Tahiti”.
So, for a complete beginner, with no experience of Sailing, how difficult would it be for someone to 1) Buy a sailboat, and 2) learn to sail good enough, and then 3) actually sail to Tahiti?
How do you know what size and type of boat is needed to survive on the open ocean? How much do they cost? How do they navigate–GPS? What if they don’t have GPS, do people still use sextants? Compasses?
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/2 "2009-03-25T16:01:04Z")
I think it probably depends upon where you start…
😉
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/3 "2009-03-25T16:02:26Z")
“Their bodies were later found…”
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/4 "2009-03-25T16:06:09Z")
I think Step 2 is the key one. The difference between a successful and unsuccessful sail to Tahiti is probably going to be how much experience the sailor has.
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### Author:  [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/5 "2009-03-25T16:16:01Z")
Not easy.
We took our ASA (American Sailing Association) bareboat sailing license last fall in Mexico. It took 8 days of study and practical and I still don’t know if I’d feel comfortable buying a boat just yet.
There are a number of things you need to know other then just ‘how to sail’. You need to know basic maintenance, radio procedure, docking procedure, safety requirements, how to read a map (very important one), night navigation, how to read the water, how to deal if you get caught in bad weather, how to do a man overboard maneuver, how to change the sails in the open water, how to do an emergency stop, what the various coloured pylons and signs mean, I could go on and on.
There are differing techniques depending on if you have a head or tail wind, different sails depending on the wind.
I mean really, you _could_ do it, I just don’t think it would be a very pleasant or safe trip.
ETA: On re-reading the OP, if you successfully learn to sail, go for it, but learning to sail can take years, and I really recommend a course.
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### Author:  [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/6 "2009-03-25T17:06:38Z")
It’s like flying a plane with your bare hands!
Anyway, you certainly shouldn’t do what you’re proposing. You really have to have quite a bit of experience under your belt before you attempt the open Pacific.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/7 "2009-03-25T17:08:41Z")
I read a book where some novice sailors had a very hard time sailing into a lagoon to dock their boat. I think it took them a few days to get it done.
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### Author:  [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/8 "2009-03-25T17:22:18Z")
I don’t know much about sailing but until someone who does comes along I’d hazard the guesses:
It’ll be easy to buy the appropriate boat if you have the money. But the distance from California to Tahiti is 4000 miles of open ocean. I suspect that even for an expert that would be a dangerous journey requiring a huge amount of training, preparation and contingency plans for the whole host of things that could go wrong.
There are people who sail around the whole world in those kind of boats so it must be comfortably possible just to go to Tahiti, but unless you really were an expert with years of experience and did a lot of preparation it’d be too dangerous to contemplate that kind of journey.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/9 "2009-03-25T17:24:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> “Their bodies were later found…”
Optimist. The sharks would get them first.
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/10 "2009-03-25T17:37:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> “Their bodies were later found…”
> [@muldoonthief](#):
>
> Optimist. The sharks would get them first.
“Body parts were later found…”
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/11 "2009-03-25T18:26:40Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#):
>
> …how to read a map…
Chart. 😉
landlubber.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/12 "2009-03-25T18:41:20Z")
If you have a lot of money you could buy a boat with GPS that steers the boat. Of course there is still a lot of danger with big storms to worry about or equipment failures.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/13 "2009-03-25T18:54:48Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> If you have a lot of money you could buy a boat with GPS that steers the boat.
No, you really couldn’t. It’s not that easy with a sailboat. The best an autohelm will do for you is keep the bow pointed in the right direction. As soon as you have to trim the sails or tack, you’d have to reset it. If you didn’t now how to sail, an autohelm would be virtually useless much of the time.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/14 "2009-03-25T18:59:12Z")
“The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed…”
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### Author:  [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/15 "2009-03-25T19:04:35Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#):
>
> Chart. 😉
>
> landlubber.
Corrected I stand, barely, on the deck of this rocking sailboat.
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/16 "2009-03-25T19:09:29Z")
Buy a bunch of books on how to sail. Head immediately south to the Intertropical Convergence Zone (aka the doldrums). Read up. If you die a miserable death before you get there and have the chance to read up, that’s the risk you took. Plenty of people have learned on the fly.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/17 "2009-03-25T19:12:25Z")
I’m talking about a super expensive sailing ship where the sails are also controlled by a computer. Not just a GPS that steers the boat.
But yes, even on that kind of ship I am sure it would be much better if you knew how to sail because the equipment can fail.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/18 "2009-03-25T19:17:25Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> I’m talking about a super expensive sailing ship where the sails are also controlled by a computer. Not just a GPS that steers the boat.
Oh, you were? I must have misunderstood you when you said “GPS that steers the boat”.
Could you point me to such a ship? One capable of carrying a person across the Pacific without the physical aid of said human?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/19 "2009-03-25T20:03:06Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#):
>
> Could you point me to such a ship? One capable of carrying a person across the Pacific without the physical aid of said human?
[Project GreenJet](http://gizmodo.com/5015660/project-greenjet-is-the-next-step-towards-fully-automated-sailing-yachts)
> [@](#):
>
> Gizmag has an epic feature about the evolution of sailing that’s focused around Project GreenJet—a huge, 57-meter sailing yacht that can be controlled by one man and a touchscreen. The designer, Erik Sifrer, based the design for the 57-meter Project GreenJet around his earlier SY120 Yacht that functions in a similar manner. Only this time, it’s bigger, faster and more advanced.
>
> What’s cool is a boat like this would eliminate the need for the dozens of athletically-inclined sailors normally required. Instead, one (or a few) just needs to monitor weather systems and adjust accordingly via the touchscreen. The two sails can be raised to their 55m height in 30-40 seconds, and can also rotate 160 degrees.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-difficult-would-it-be-for-a-complete-beginner-to-sail-to-tahiti/490736/20 "2009-03-25T20:15:40Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> [Project GreenJet](http://gizmodo.com/5015660/project-greenjet-is-the-next-step-towards-fully-automated-sailing-yachts)
Yeah, a boat that actually exists would probably be better suited to the purposes of a beginner sailor bound for Tahiti.
A fully automated sailboat has been talked about for quite some time, and is something that will probably be here eventually. However, it isn’t something you can just go out and buy.
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