# sailing across the atlantic



## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I'm starting to plan my dream come true voyage across the atlantic, although it is still aways off and have read a number of books that give helpful hints. Here are a few still unanswered questions however:

1) Is it best to sail from the us to uk or the other way around

2) If you sail from the US, logisically I guess you need to then sell your boat if you don't have the time to sail it back- or if you sail from east to west how hard would it be to fly over and buy a boat and be ready to voyage across the ocean?

Any helpful hints would be great-

Happy sailing-
Bob


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Getting a boat ready for a trans Atlantic passage takes a long time. I think the idea of buying a boat and spending a few weeks and setting off is shear madness.

There is enormous amount of preparation, from meals, to spares, to sail handling, emergency repairs at sea, navigation, weather routing an communications and so forth. And assuming you are up to it as a sailor you should really know your boat and how to fix it... because you won't be getting help or spares out there. And when you loose one system... how does that impact on the passage. How about losing the self steering or auto pilot? Steering for thousands of miles?? How would rig the boat to steer in lieu of self steering? What do you do when you charging system dies and all your electrics are at risk of becoming useless?

I would work on the boat from where you live... sail it with the right crew (a whole other nightmare) and then have a delivery crew return it or have it shipped back... or sell it.

jef
sv shiva


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## JohnRPollard (Mar 26, 2007)

I have never made that trip, but in contemplating a round-trip my impression is that the west-east leg is the more challenging. You essentially have two options: The great circle route (through the more storm-prone north atlantic); or the longer Bermuda-Azores route. On the return, the favored route is to head almost due south from the UK to the Canaries in search of trade winds that give you a down hill run to the Carribean. That trip is considered to be the milk run, provided you go at the right season.

If you would like to sail in company of other boats, you might consider joining up with the ARC: http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/

Also, if you can only go one way, one option is to ship your boat for whichever leg you cannot do. There are a few shipping companies that specialize in moving cruising boats around.


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## JomsViking (Apr 28, 2007)

Read Ocean Passages for the World, it's a British Admirality Publication. The Atlantic Crossing Guide is also worth a read, as it describes the different routes in an easily understandable way.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Cornell's World Cruising Routes is another good resource, as is his website, Noonsite.com.


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## ccam (Dec 17, 2006)

Kestrel-
I'll second Dogs' nomination of Cornells Cruising Routes. It gives you specific cords of departure and waypoints for courses both to and from the UK. And also explains currents and weather to be expected in route.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

If you ever cross come visit me in Portugal...by the way, most people crossing east to west use the "Portuguese trade winds" and sail via Azores..

Good luck


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Without discouraging you from your ultimate plan...I respectfully suggest that if you don't know which way to go and you think you can hop aboard and go in a couple of weeks...you have no business making the attempt just yet.

EDIT...ooops...just re-read and saw that the plan is a "ways off". Your posts from 10 months ago indicate you don't have a boat. Suggest you get some experience on some more confined water and then you'll know a lot better what you need and what you need to buy.


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## Rockter (Sep 11, 2006)

If you want to make more than a little money selling it, then buy in the west and sail east. The UK cannot compete with US value for sailboats... never could. 

Don't go the other way (east to west)... it takes much longer, and you will lose money hand over fist when you sell it.

Take time to prepare, in the west.


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## seabreeze_97 (Apr 30, 2006)

Read the prep from a fellow who just did it.....
http://www.kestrelboat.com/


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Thanks for all your advice. Sorry if I didn't make it clear but I'm looking ahead about 10 to 15 years for this dream. I just wanted to gain a little understanding about the logisics so I can keep the dream alive until I retire in a few more years and can start a slow process of making it more a reality. Would love to hear stories from those who have done it. Many thanks-


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

wow that was a little eerie- you answed my question seconds before I even asked it and the name of the boat was kestrel. Many thanks- looks like a great read.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

One thing you might think about when you get a bit more experience is crewing on either the ARC or the return ARC Europe which runs every yearand many couple boats need crew. 
http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

kestrelsail said:


> wow that was a little eerie- you answed my question seconds before I even asked it and the name of the boat was kestrel. Many thanks- looks like a great read.


10 years??? 15 years???? Geee by then we won't need sailboats any more....

Haven't you heard global warming??? we're all on sailboats then...

Please call back sailnet in say.....9 years from now...


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## sailhog (Dec 11, 2006)

otaga05 said:


> Sadly my father died of pneumonia just before we made landfall on a trip to Bermuda in 1991.


Otaga,
That must have been terrible...


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## Slooptattoo (Aug 4, 2007)

In reading your post, buying a boat, outfitting, prep, planning etc.,etc.,etc., doing the crossing and then having to sell the boat? Why not take a month off, fly to Antigua for race week, (1st of May) and find a berth on a boat looking for help doing the crossing. Then you don't have to buy a boat, do all the planning and still get to "cross". I would venture to say there will be at least 30 boats looking for crew to help with their crossing for the season. No investment, no hassle. If you end up liking it, buy a boat for the next run. Crossing the Atlantic, Antigua, Bermuda, Azores, Spain, etc. is no cakewalk in the best of weather. Finding an insurance carrier in todays market to cover the crossing gets interesting by itself just in crew qualifications. Good luck, whichever way you go.


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## Slooptattoo (Aug 4, 2007)

I'm going to have to get used to reading these posts and not pipe in without finishing all the pages. Oh well......"senior moment".......


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## dpST (Sep 20, 2007)

Me and my friends (four of as, maybe more) also want to sail across atlantic so I have few questions about it.. I didnt use search option jet, sorry if someone answered before.

Friend have sail boat, 2006 Beneteau Oceanis 393 clipper, its small for ocean cruising, but people cross atlantic with smaller boats (ww.meder.hu) so I think that wouldnt be problem.  We already have navigation equipment and other electronics; e120 display, st60 (depth, wind, speed, tridata), 4kw radar, dsc vhf, epirb, navtex,..etc, but we dont have all maps (only map of Mediterranean). We also have notebook with gps modul, any recommendations for maps (where to buy it/download)? Is it necessary to have paper maps of all path? 

How to ensure sufficient el./battery power for el. devices for such long distance? Oceanis have 150l tank (diesel) with 5-6l/h cons., if we use engine as generator that wouldnt be sufficient for trip over atlantic.  Any suggestions? 

Budget is around 10k $, would that be enough for all expenses?

We plan to go in this time next year (we be millioners ), after hurricane season. Departure will be from Split (Croatia/Europe) to Barbados and return to Split. Is there any tips'n'trick about return (winds, currents, best path,..)? 

Thnx!


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Dpst....welcome! You might heck out the ARC site as lots of boats either join the ARC or go with them without registering since this is the best ime to cross the Atlantic and the ArcEurope is the best way and time to return home. 
Your boat is not well suited for blue water cruising but worse boats have made it. It is more difficult to get back to Europe than to get to the Caribe from Europe. 
You MUST have paper charts and a regular GPS in addition to the PC/GPS.
You MUST also have a life raft and be sure your EPIRB battery is not old. 
You will need to carry extra diesel in plasitc jugs strapped to your stanchions. You should also have a large manual bilge pump on board for emergencies and an SSB radio to get weather reports and for emergencies. 
$10000 would be quite enough for cruising on a budget but will not cover any major repairs to engine/hull/rig so you will need to take that into consideration. Insurance will run $3-4K per year or you can take your chances if you can afford to lose the boat. 
Hope this is helpful to you. Here's the ARC link:
http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/

and on p.14-16 is a listing of their required safety standards for the voyage...whether you join them or not, this is a good list for your own boat preparation:
http://www.worldcruising.com/docs/WCC_regs07ENG.pdf


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## dpST (Sep 20, 2007)

camaraderie said:


> Dpst....welcome! You might heck out the ARC site as lots of boats either join the ARC or go with them without registering since this is the best ime to cross the Atlantic and the ArcEurope is the best way and time to return home.
> Your boat is not well suited for blue water cruising but worse boats have made it. It is more difficult to get back to Europe than to get to the Caribe from Europe.
> You MUST have paper charts and a regular GPS in addition to the PC/GPS.
> You MUST also have a life raft and be sure your EPIRB battery is not old.
> You will need to carry extra diesel in plasitc jugs strapped to your stanchions.


Thnx for answer! I didnt find "new member" thread so I didnt introduce myself, I live in Split (vvv.split.info/eng/)*, Croatia, city on adriatic coast. I'm 28y old, and work as director in my own company, wholesale of office paper and business gifts. My friend have sail boat, Beneteau Oceanis 393, I also plan to buy boat but "financial construction" isnt over yet. 

I have few more questions (about food on long trip etc..) but now I dont have time to write it because I have to be on boat in 30min, we go sail around island on adriatic for practice. 

*I cant post url (dont have 10+ posts), so change "vvv" to "www".

Sorry for possible gramatics errors, I hope you understand my posts.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

dpST...your English is fine! For food info do a search on "provisioning" here and you will find lots of information. You will also need to carry extra water in jugs on that boat or add a watermaker.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

On long passages, I invite a lot of people as passengers, and we eat them as we go along...

I find North American and Canadians to be more tender, but alse have more grease.....

stay away form African meat...too lean and a lot of muscle....


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

If you want to do it, and do it on your boat, then you should. I did East-to-West last year and am very glad of the experience.

As far as routes go, read the pilot charts and don't pay attention to any advice that starts with "everyone does ..." For example, on the East-to-West routes most people go South to the trades. If you read the sailing instructions carefully you will find the reason for doing so is to be warm, not fast. If you want to be warm, go South. If you want to get across go straight across.

Although I just referred you to the literature (BA Sailing Instructions, Cornell's World Cruising Routes, etc.), take it with a grain of salt. Herb Hilgenberg told me something to the effect that the weather patterns have changed and planning on the basis of historical statistics isn't a good idea.

Good luck, and follow your dream. Remember that most of us giving you advice are sitting in armchairs and aren't out there.


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