We’ve been talking to various cruising friends and routers about our North Atlantic plans. The northern route via Iceland and Greenland is easy weather wise. Short hops and our boat speed means patience should be rewarded with smooth seas. Likewise the traditional tradewind route via the Canary Islands and West Indies is easy, albeit long.<\/p>\n
It is the middle, more direct route about which we want expert opinions. While we always make up our own minds, and the final decision will rest on the weather patterns we see when ready to depart the UK, we like to get an early jump thinking about various scenarios. For part one of this discussion click here<\/a> .<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This allows us to put what we see weather wise into context. By early April we will start to watch the 500mb and surface analysis data along with forecasts, in order to get a feel for the pattern this. We’ll judge what we see in the context of our own analysis, keeping in mind the expert conceptual advice noted below.<\/p>\n The east to west scenarios we are considering are not for the faint of heart, or for an ordinary cruising yacht. But Wind Horse<\/em> , with her ability to maintain high average speeds, and enormous range under power, makes it feasible to discuss a non tradewind east to west passage.<\/p>\n We’ll start with John Harries, the most experienced Arctic cruiser we know. John, and his wife Phyllis, has made the North Atlantic passage many times. He is also extremely conservative. John made the following points in our discussion regarding routing which gets us back to the States early:<\/p>\n John has a fascinating website devoted to high latitude cruising which you can get to here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ralph Naranjo has been studying weather since the days we circumnavigated together (many decades ago!). He has made the North Atlantic passage many times, and as head of offshore sailing at the US Naval Academy done his share of routing and interfacing with meteorologists (Ralph’s day job is as Technical Editor of Practical Sailor)<\/em> . We asked Ralph his opinion of the direct route from Ireland and what he thought of the new University of Colorado report on hurricane activity. Ralph’s comments follow:<\/p>\n Ralph is also a voyaging consultant and can be reached at rjnaranjo@cs.com<\/a><\/p>\n We also chatted with John Neal (http:\/\/www.mahina.com\/)<\/a> who has done the Bermuda Azores run many times during his sail training cruises with students. Aside from extolling the virtues of the Azores, John felt the Azores Bermuda passage with Wind Horse<\/em> would typically not be difficult given her range and ability to maintain efficient momentum when headed upwind.<\/p>\n\n
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