Since returning from Alaska at the end of last summer we’ve been thinking about doing some cruising in Europe. But it has just been in past week that we’ve started to focus on schedule and route.

Why Europe, you might ask, when there are so many other wonderful destinations a lot closer? One reason is because it is different. We’ve done the tropics – in particular the South Pacific – many times. Our exposure to Europe has been limited to sea-trials on our designs. The concept of seeing the "Old World" represents something new. We’re not crazy about the crowds, but we’re guessing we can probably find locations off the beaten path in which to sample this new environment. This is also a chance to show off Wind Horse and what she can do to a new market. And if it turns out this territory is not to our liking, it is an easy trip to go somewhere else.

We’ve assumed (plan A) that we’d head to Panama, then the Virgin Islands, across the Atlantic to the Azores, and cruise the British Isles for the summer. This is roughly 8400 miles of cruising in a single season. That’s a lot, but most of the miles are easy ones, and Wind Horse is comfortable enough that except for a change in sleep patterns, for 80% of the trip we won’t feel much different than if we were on land. The following year we’d head for the high latitudes of Norway, Svalbarg, Iceland, and Greenland – the highlight of this part of the world for us (ever since reading Dave and Jaja Martin’s Into the Light we’ve wanted to cruise this part of the world).

Above is a Google Earth outline of the passage using the Azores route.

We’re operating under the assumption that we’ll be late leaving, and so will probably make the trip direct from Ensenada, Mexico, where we’ll stop for fuel, to Panama. That’s roughly 2860 nautical miles.

Assuming we back off to 10.5 knots – there are no weather issues to push us so we might as well max out the efficiency – this is just under 11.5 days. Why not make a few stops along the way to break up the trip? The answer is that it takes us three to four days to get into the sleep routine at sea – and once we’ve adapted, it is easier to keep going.

Heading from the Pacific to Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, will take us three to four days to arrange our measurement, deal with the rest of the paperwork, and make the transit.

Here is potentially the difficult part of the trip, Panama to the Virgin Islands. This is 1100 miles typically uphill against the trades. We’ve done this before and we’d not call it fun. But it is only 1100 miles – that’s a little over four days allowing for some losses due to adverse current The closer to summer you do this, the softer the trades are apt to be. Wind Horse‘sability to make way against the seas is a big factor in choosing this route (as opposed to the much longer, but easier trip around Cuba and up the East Coast).

From the Virgin Islands to the Azores is 2250 miles, or nine days. This would take place in late April to mid-May, which means we could expect to experience one or possibly two gales along the way. But they tend to be short-lived, and the trip is free of navigational dangers, with little traffic to bother us.

The Azores would be the start of new territory for us, so we’d probably spend some weeks exploring.

From the Azores we’d probably head for Ireland, which is another 1100 miles. That’s four to five days depending on weather. One would normally plan on at least one gale this time of year, possibly two. And we might slow down to allow something to pass ahead, or make use of our boat speed to push faster to get out of the way of weather.

And from Southern Ireland we’re day sailing amongst the British Isles for the rest of the summer.

……

Then we called John Harries, a friend who has spent many years cruising Norway, Iceland, Greenland, as well as the British Isles. We wanted to get John’s take on the British Isles with his thoughts on the following summer.

"Why are you headed to the Azores?" was his first question. "If you go via Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland, it is shorter, and the weather works out better."

This got our attention in a hurry. From our perspective, getting to visit Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland on our way to the UK is like eating dessert before the main course.

Our buddy Evans Stargazer, who with partner Beth Leonard has cruised this area, echoed John’s comments.

Total distance from California via the Northern route is 7979 nautical miles, or about 500 less than plan A. In addition, the hops are shorter, and there are a variety of interesting places along the way.

Plan B is now officially in effect!

Consider the first leg from the Virgin Islands. We can stop in Bermuda after about 850 miles if weather warrants, or keep going towards Newfoundland. SetSail correspondent Dave Martin suggests making our landfall on the French port of St. Pierre, a few miles south of Newfoundland (French wine, cheese, and baguettes).

A rough schedule from California to Newfoundland – allowing for stops in Panama, the Virgin Islands, and Bermuda totals 40 days, 25 to 30 of which should be pleasant sailing.

All our cruising friends say Newfoundland is a wonderful spot, uncrowded, interesting people and topography, with very short hops between anchorages.

The leg from Newfoundland to Southern Greenland (above) is just 750 miles, or a little less depending on our departure point.

The rest of the hops, to Iceland (above)…

…the Faeroes, and Scotland are all even shorter.

Our schedule will be based on ice and weather. We are still getting up to speed on this and will need to learn a lot more. Last year, for example, the northern part of Newfoundland had lots of ice until late in the year. With Greenland you have to wait until the channels at the bottom of the island spit out enough of their glacier ice to make them passable. This can be anywhere from early-July to mid-August. We’ll report further as we get more up to speed.

For now, we’re finishing up our design work on the FPB 64 and starting to look at the maintenance list for Wind Horse (short), and ordering lots of books and DVDs to keep us occupied on those pleasant days at sea.