Bavaria 36 Cruiser Nautilus - World Tour

by Jane Pares on 1 Mar 2007

On July 16 2005, Ron Simm, an Austrian, threw off the lines in Croatia and set off westwards across the Mediterranean in his new Bavaria 36 Cruiser, Nautilus. His plan was a world tour.

'After years of dreaming, planning, preparing and a farewell party with my friends and family - the Nautilus at long last lifted anchor. The preceding months were determined by hard work – installing all additional equipment myself (with a lot of help from my father) – a necessity, because I needed to know every detail by heart. If something failed in a remote area I would be the only expert around.'

Ron and Nautilus visited Malta, Tunisia, Spain and Gibraltar before passing through the thrilling Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. 'Crossing the Atlantic single handed was a great challenge and to be honest, I was more than a bit frightened! Would the wide ocean welcome me? Would I have favorable weather conditions? Would I be able to stand the sleepless nights and the rough seas ahead? And finally: would my ship make it?'

Fortunately the weather got better and better during his first couple of days until he finally had what everybody would expect: perfect downwind sailing in the steady north-easterly trade winds. Poling out two headsails and retiring the main under its cover, he settled into life on the ocean - rolling along with the long North Atlantic swells.

After nine days trouble free downwind sailing things changed dramatically. 'I was only 1500 miles from my destination Antigua, when the wind shifted slightly from NE to E. I couldn’t believe it! What had happened to the trades? Having followed the weather reports daily, I knew that a tropical depression was forming to the far north east of my position and it was disturbing the trades. I had to face a new situation.

The swell from NW grew to 5m, mixing with the still existing easterly swell and producing chaotic seas. To get a better idea of what was happening I called a friend back home on the satellite phone. He fed me with all the relevant weather data he could find on the web. In short the depression had developed into DELTA, a tropical storm, which turned to move towards me!'

The weather was like a washing machine for days, endless squalls, incredible cloud formations, changing winds, gusts over 40 knots, irregular seas of 5m and visibility of less then two miles. Most of the time it was impossible to sleep due to alarms, squalls and beating sails. Nautilus was bashed by waves and rolled so much, 'I really wondered how easily she seemed to handle the situation! What a relief, when at length DELTA made a sharp turn to the east and moved away from me, although the turbulent seas did not subside until the end of the trip.'

'It took me 27 days in total to reach Antigua – 3200 exhausting miles. What a journey! All in all far from what I expected, but worth every minute! I would do it again anytime.'

DELTA went on to hit the Canary Islands, clocking wind speeds of over 170km/h, causing serious damage and even sinking a yacht.

Ron spent almost a year in the Caribbean. He undertook a major annual maintenance including anti-fouling and engine overhaul in Trinidad in 33°C and 90% humidity … He replaced the WAECO water-cooled fridge with an air cooled unit which works maintenance-free i.e. no corrosion in the water cooling system and no clogging of the pipes.

In September 2006 he left for the western part of the Caribbean, beginning in Venezuela. Avoiding the waters just off the mainland where piracy and thefts are a real problem, he sailed on to the islands farther out which are pretty safe and a wonderful destination for blue water sailors. Los Roques (National Park) and Las Aves archipelagos are a must! Protected anchorages … white sand beaches … marvelous diving and snorkeling!

NW to Bonaire and Curacao, both former Dutch colonies and now part of the Netherlands Antilles, Ron was shocked by terrible pollution from the refinery on the latter, so much so that he could hardly stay in its lee. In spite of that, the capitol, Willemstad, is worth a visit, especially the historical floating bridge across the harbour entrance.

'My next destination was Columbia and I’d planned a few stops along the coast, however, due to heavy thunderstorms I gave up the idea. To make things worse, the Rio Magdalena spilled hundreds of trees and floating obstacles far out into the sea, so I was forced to motor 90 miles around its delta at about one to three knots in order to avoid collisions.

500 miles later and one day more than calculated I made it to Cartagena, Columbia’s most historic city. Founded by the Spanish in the 16th century, it has a remarkable old town, which has been carefully renovated over recent years. This was definitely the most interesting historical place I’ve visited on my journey.'

A few days before Christmas Ron and Nautilus arrived at the San Blas Islands which are part of the quasi-autonomous nation of Kuna Indians within the Republic of Panama. They are your archetypal desert island – floating in crystal clear blue water, surrounded by white sand beaches and fringed with coconut palms - colourful underwater worlds which seduce you with their wonders. Kuna fishermen paddle to your boat with all sorts of seafood for a dollar. No cars, no industry, no tourism, no pollution, hundreds of wonderfully safe and calm anchorages behind the fringing reefs.

The Kuna Indians are a friendly, traditional people still living in bamboo huts and harvesting coconuts. Until recently they did not mix with other ethnic groups but things are changing. 'To my surprise, many Kunas own a cellular phone, which they bring along to the yachts in order to get the batteries charged! The Kunas have (at least) two interesting traditions: once married the husband moves in with the family of the bride; they have many gays and transvestites who are fully integrated and respected by the community and who even marry other men and live a normal life.'

After more than six weeks in the San Blas Islands, Ron reluctantly left for Colon, on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, to prepare Nautilus and himself for the canal transit and the voyage through the Pacific.

Ron transited on February 10, equipped with the obligatory fenders made of old tyres and four 40m long Panama handling lines to secure the boat in transit. Feeling a bit nervous, he picked up the canal pilot at 16.45. His instructions were perfect and Ron didn’t even realize that he’d entered the first lock chamber at Gatun! Minutes later the gates closed and the water began to boil as the chambers started to fill up.

It only took about ten minutes for Nautilus to be lifted ten meters and they were off to the second lock. Everything went smoothly and it was already dark when the last gate opened and he entered Gatun Lake. The night was spent moored to a buoy in the middle of the huge artificial fresh water lake - a unique event in the salty life of this Bavaria 36!

Once the pilot was on board the next morning, they crossed Gatun Lake – an unforgettable sailing experience of about 28 miles through sunken trees and flooded islands, surrounded by dense jungle. Three more locks on the south side of the lake carried Nautilus out at the other end of the Canal and into the Pacific Ocean!

So, what does the future hold for Ron and his Bavaria 36, Nautilus? Well, his plan is to follow the ‘milk run’ across the Pacific - the Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Tonga and finally New Zealand where he intends to arrive around October 2007.

You can follow Ron’s circumnavigation in Nautilus via h