But where do sailors go around the world? Jimmy Cornell tells you.

Do you want to know what are the favorite places where those (lucky!) people who have decided to drop everything and sail around the world are heading? There you have it, so you too can dream of one day going to the most beautiful places in the world with your own boat or a chartered one. We present the exclusive ranking that identifies where the world’s great sailing travelers go. Roamers of the seas and oceans guru Jimmy Cornell has compiled it. The great sailor, like a chartreuse, surveyed the stops in 2015 in the ports of key locations of boaters making long sailings around the world. Cornell estimates that there were, in 2015, about 8,000 globetrotting boats, what he calls “ocean cruising yachts” or boats that cruise around the world, exploring the most beautiful but also remote places on the planet. (In the opening photo: Gibraltar in an illustration by Luca Tagliafico)

THE RANKINGS
Here is a ranking of the number of passages in the ports touched by these major travelers, useful for identifying flows and also their preferences:

1. Gibraltar, 2472 boats

2. Horta (Azores), 1232 boats

3. Panama Canal, 1079 boats

4. Trinidad, 1015 boats

5. Las Palmas (Canary Islands), 903 boats

6. Mindelo (Cape Verde), 750 boats

7. Bermuda, 732 boats

8. New Zealand, 669 boats

   

9. Tahiti, 556 boats

10. Madeira, 518 boats

11. Cuba, 500 boats

12. Vava’u (island of Tonga), 424 boats

13. Australia, 361 boats

14. Cape Town, 358 boats

15. Pukhet (Thailand), 340 boats

16. Noumea (New Caledonia), 328 boats

17. Suva (Fiji Islands), 300 boats

18. 

    Puerto Williams (southern Chile), 283 boats

19. Galapagos, 280 boats

20. Indonesia, 236 boats

21. Cook Islands, 209 boats

22. Singapore, 201 boats

    

23. Philippines, 200 boats

24. St. Helena, 196 boats

25. Durban, 108 boats

26. Cocos Keeling (Cocos Islands), 99 boats

27. Galle (Sri Lanka), 98 boats

28. Cabedelo (Brazil), 81 boats

29. Darwin (Australia), 72 boats

30. 

    Spitsbergen (Svalbard Islands), 65 boats

31. Ushuaia (southern Chile), 64 boats

32. St. Petersburg (Baltic Sea), 60 boats

33. B.I.O.T. (British Indian Ocean Territory), 48 boats

34. Nuuk (capital of Greenland), 32 boats

35. Hawaii, 30 boats

36. Nosy Be (Madagascar), 30 boats

37. Falklands (South Pacific islands), 29 boats

38. Dutch Harbour (Unalaska Island off Alaska), 23 boats

39. Eastern Island (Easter Island/Rapa Nui), 79 boats

40. Marshall Islands, 37 boats

41. Hong Kong, 30 boats

42. Osaka (Japan), 20 boats

43. Suez Canal, 19 boats

44. Antarctic, 18 boats

45. Cochin (India), 16 boats

46. Pitcairn (Pacific island, that of the Bounty mutineers), 14 boats

47. 

    Arctic Northwest Passage, 11 boats

48. Tuvalu (Ellice Islands), 6 boats

49. Tokelau (three tropical coral atolls), 3 boats

Obviously leading the way are the passages to Gibraltar, an almost obligatory point of passage for those leaving or entering the Mediterranean. Identical situation for the second and third in the ranking, both the Azores and the Panama Canal Are compulsory steps. Second on the list, Horta, is the launching point for crossing or returning from Atlantic navigation.

The Panama Canal, in third place, is mandatory navigation for anyone changing oceans from Atlantic to Pacific or vice versa, without having to circumnavigate South America. Speaking of forced passages, the only 19 passages through the Suez Canal in 2015, caused by the pirate alert situation assaulting boats, including pleasure boats, is astonishing. Otherwise, pause to scroll through the mythical names that appear in the rankings, look at a world map and start dreaming. It costs nothing to dream of one day boating to the most beautiful places in the world.

THREE SAILORS PER BOAT
Cornell’s survey also provides other useful insights. Of the 8,000 boats surveyed that are making long sailings around the world, 46% are sailing around the Pacific, 11% are sailing aimlessly, and 43% are taking the classic Around the World Sailing Tour. The average length is around 45 to 50 feet, and the average crew is around three sailors per boat.