If you can read (or at least willing to translate) French, here's a blog from a woman who sailed from Le Havre to the Antipodes and back.
http://voyages-madeleine-guillou.ove...109535510.html
Advice on packing list (geared for a woman but probably as applicable to a man).
http://www.mer-et-voyages.info/voyag...t=0024#comment