Favorite Sailing Destinations

A week or so ago, I asked what your favorite sailing destinations were. There were some beauties. I now have a much longer list of places I want to sail. I will be adding them all to to Great Sailing Places map soon:

Carol Ann had three very different places Wisconsin, New Caledonia and New Zealand:

Well, if you mean where I've literally dreamed of going, that's Wisconsin. I've had this recurring dream, since I was in 7th grade, of packing all of my stuff and whatever cat(s) I had at the time into whatever car I (or my parents) had at the time, and driving to Wisconsin. I have no idea why. The initial occurrence of this dream predated my first experience of sailing by about a year, but I hear that (at the right time of year) there's good sailing in and near Wisconsin.

Then one year, as a project for a school French class, I had to write a report about a French-speaking country. I somehow ended up with New Caledonia, and it sounded like a wonderfully peaceful, off-the-beaten-path place to go. Since then, I've seen the island written up in a couple of sailing publications, and those articles have only reinforced my wish to go there.

As a fan of New Zealand's national sailing team (especially back when America's Cup teams were national), and as the owner of a boat that pays homage to that program, I would also like to sail that nation's waters, not just Auckland, but around the coast of both islands, seeking out lesser-known ports of call.

Danny clearly agrees with you about NZ:

I spent two fo the best weeks of my life in New Zealand. I saw both North and South islands and did not want to come back to the States at the end of the trip. After almost 15 years, I still daydream about going back. It was then a simpler, quieter, less synical place. They have more sailboats per capita than any other nation and plenty of places to sail. Aukland or Queenstown would do quite nicely, thank you very much.

JP is a man after my own heart. Lets do Cape Horn together!

...Bora Bora is on mine and for a contrast have also checked out that company that sells sailing holidays around Cape Horn.

Antigua sailing week is an every year near-miss;)

I was chatting to the owner of West Marine in Perth Amboy. He was heading out to race in both Antigua and St Maarten Heineken Cup on Stars and Stripes. Lucky bugger!

Tillerman's favorite destination is Hayling Island for the 2010 Laser Master's Worlds. Only been there once. Definitely a great place for sailors, up the road from Chichester and close to the Solent.

Last but not least, Annie inspired me with somewhere I have never heard of. Sign me up!

Sailing from anywhere on the east coast of Australia to Lord Howe Island, mooring in the lagoon, going ashore and enjoying a few days in this World Heritage listed paradise.

One of the best things is that there's a limit of 400 tourists staying on the island at any time.

http://www.lordhoweisland.info/

If you feel inspired and want to add to the list just add your favorites as a comment below.

Comments

[JP]

This is the company I mentioned that does Cape Horn sailing:

http://www.pelagic.co.uk/

They have places free for cruising Cape Horn this April!

[O Docker]

Have been to the BVI quite a bit, but nowhere else in the Caribbean. Maybe it's too much of a cliché, but I'd still like to see St. Barts (St. Barths?) at least once. I don't have $100 for a sandwich, but I could pack a lot of peanut butter and just live on that for a week. The idea of being able to dinghy in to someplace warm and tropical that has fresh croissants is driving me nuts.

[Tillerman]

Worst Marine Guy is going to sail Stars and Stripes in St. Maarten? Ha. What a loser. Tillerwoman and I raced that boat in St. Maarten and beat it. Ha!

St. Barts is worth a trip. Loved it there. Not exactly $100 for a sandwich but Tillerwoman and I did spend $100 on lunch at a beach bar there. But what a lunch!