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Allied Seawind II page
The coastal passage
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True Blue is for sale!
Submitted by cruisin on Mon, 2008-02-11 00:42.FOR SALE:
Allied Seawind II 32ft Ketch, Sydney Australia
Built in 1976, Catskill, New York
$59K
If you are interested please email john@cruisingsailor.net.
True Blue, a world cruising yacht capable of taking you around the world, is reluctantly for sale.
The Allied Seawind II is considered one of the finest, most seaworthy small cruising boats afloat and is built to Lloyds AAA standards.
She has pleasing lines, good accommodations for the cruising couple, and a large cockpit for entertaining and cruising the harbour.
News
Submitted by john on Mon, 2006-04-24 09:13.After too long I have finally finished the first version of the trip from the US to Bundy. I hope you enjoy it!
Next task is more photos and a full edit, but I hope it stands as it is. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback.
Fair winds,
John
Frequently Asked Questions
Submitted by john on Fri, 2005-11-25 08:14.Did you get any storms?
Yep, but not often. Pilot charts have the percentage likelihood of gales on them, normally 1 to 3 % along our trip. We usually got one gale in a month of sailing.
About Us
Submitted by john on Wed, 2005-11-16 22:52.
Welcome! I am John Banfield, and with my wife, Alison Banfield, I hope to give you a glimpse of what life on a blue water cruising boat is like. We live in Sydney, Australia, and are the proud owners of True Blue Voyager, a classic 32ft cruising yacht. She is a 1976 Allied Seawind II.
After living in the US for a number of years we left Florida in 2002 for Australia. Our trip took us around the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and across the South Pacific. (Read more about our trip here.)
When we arrived in Australia we were glad to get off the boat. Guilt eventually set in though, and it was time to start getting her up to scratch. We were immediately struck by how much more oriented towards racing Sydney was. Boats are lighter and faster. Perhaps the dream is different from the USA- there everyone dreams of the South Pacific, whereas here it seems to be the Sydney to Hobart.
23. Noumea, and the last leg to Bundaberg
Submitted by cruisin on Mon, 2007-07-09 06:57.We sailed out of Fiji with good conditions but we were very conscious of the date: It was December and we were well into the cyclone season which officially started on the first of November. From the start I was worried about it. For our entire trip so far we had sailed ‘responsibly’-- within the generally accepted parameters of responsibility that tend to govern the cruising community.
Lessons from a long passage
Submitted by john on Mon, 2006-05-22 22:48.Looking back on this passage I remember how hard it was to do things in the middle of the ocean, feeling a bit lonely and worried about what might go wrong. Any boat can break. When I sailed on another boat to the Azores we heard a mayday from a brand new French boat on its maiden voyage. Their rudder had fallen out of the bottom of the boat and the crew abandoned it, probably after reading their insurance policy a couple of times. True Blue broke too, despite being a strong, purpose built blue-water boat. Everything that broke was equipment of some kind, and equipment that deteriorates over time.
Self Steering
Submitted by john on Fri, 2006-03-17 03:28.Almost nothing is as important on a cruising boat as self steering. Recently Alison and I have been sailing on Sydney Harbour, and have had to hand steer. This is a shock to the system, because we have probably steered more this year than we did on the whole trip from the States.
