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The timing
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Crossing the Atlantic Ocean has its schedule. From Europe, the crossing
usually takes place in late autumn-winter. The trade winds and currents
are the factors that settle the best time for going. There are actually
other times of departure too, you just need to stay away from the
hurricane season, June through October. Leaving the US, youŽll probably
go in the summer.
The spring or atumn will then be spent in the balmy waters of the
Caribbean or Mediterrian respectively.
The voyage down to the point of crossing - Canary Islands or Bermuda
most often, is an excellent training in itself for the oceans. You will
get months of training and get to know your boat in all kinds of
situations and will also have the chance to service or add parts in
harbors along the way.
Planning the route
 YouŽll
find information on when to find favorable weather in the Atlantic Pilot
Atlas. The main wind force and direction are carefully marked for
different places on the ocean. There will also be a note for the chance
of gale. The Atlantic Pilot Atlas have this information for every month
of the year and is a must for a safe passage.
Best time for a westward-passage via the Canaries is
between November and December. Leave too early and there is a risk of
hurricanes. Leave too late, and the winds might be too weak.
Crossing eastwards you will be better of leaving mid-May
to mid-August, when the chances of gale are lower.
You'll need charts but not for the Atlantic ocean
crossing obviously (itŽs pretty much straight forward). Get the charts
before you set out, depending on the harbours and waters youŽll cruise
before and after the Atlantic. Charts are usually easily obtained in
harbours and Marinas, but the most popular can be out of stock. The
Atlantic Crossing Guide provides information on harbours, crossing
deadlines, distances and a whole lot more for the typical Atlantic
crossing.
The Europe-Carbbean route
This route differs depending on from where you are going. Going from
northern Europe the route usually goes over Bay of Biscay to Gibraltar
and finally the Canary Islands before the crossing. The route down to
the Canaries takes around 3 months. From there the crossing goes past
the Kap Verde Islands just west of Africa. The landfalls are usually
Barbados or St Lucia in the West Indies.
This route usually starts in late July, because the Bay
of Biscay and Gibraltar are difficult to cross past September and
October respectively. We started out late, so we shipped the boat to the
Canaries from Amsterdam, and took her by truck over parts of Europe to
avoid the Bay of Biscay in November.
There is not much in the Cap Verdes and the islands are
not very popular among sailors, so the islands are usually just bypassed
on the crossing.
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