Florida to Bermuda

The major threat for tropical storms will be for the leg from Florida to Bermuda.  Be departing in mid-May I expect we will arrived in Bermuda and departed for the Azores before any storms threaten our track.   Of course there is always the possibility of storms in early May and some storms could threaten our track east of Bermuda.

 

 
Here Click on map to see an enlarged imageis a section of the North Atlantic Pilot Chart for the month of May (our departure month) showing the rhumb line course from Fort Pierce, FL to Bermuda.  Click on the map to view an enlarged image.  For the initial part of this leg there is still a high incidence of easterly winds.  This could put us on a close reach or a beat to stay on the rhumb line.  Close reaching and beating are not Sarah's best points of sail.  To provide a little better VMG (Velocity Made Good) toward Bermuda it may be necessary to sail 10-15 degrees above or below the rhumb line until we get into the SW wind pattern.
We Jenifer Clark's Gulstream Analysiswill also have to navigate the Gulf Stream, in particular the eddies all the way to Bermuda. The plan will be to stay as close to the rhumb line as possible, deviating from that course to pick up a boost or avoid a set from the eddies that will lie on that track.  Hear is a previous Gulf Stream analysis from Jenifer Clark.  If we were departing during the period of this chart the rhumb line would be a could choice as most of the Cold Eddies (CE) lie north of our track.  If they have any influence at all it would be to provide a boost toward Bermuda.

I will receive an updated analysis from Jenifer before we depart and adjust our course planning accordingly.
 
 
Bermuda to Azores

 
I expect the route from Bermuda to the Azores to pretty much follow the rhumb line.   Click on map to view an enlarged imageAt this time of the year (mid-May to mid-June) there should be a regular progression of low pressure systems and the associated fronts moving off the east coast of the U.S.  Hopefully there will be little formation of tropical storms during this period and those that do form will remain south of our track.  The map on the left is a section of the June Pilot Chart with the rhumb line course from Bermuda to Flores in the Azores drawn in.

The low pressure systems should be north of our track from Bermuda to the Azores and provide an additional boost of wind toward the east.  Conventional routing from Bermuda to the Azores has been to sail above the rhumb line until about 40N latitude, then head due East until in the vicinity of the Azores.  The basis of this routing was to avoid getting trapped in the Azores-Bermuda high pressure ridge and to pick up some easterly push from the winds and current.  Recently, many cruisers are choosing to sail the rhumb line to shorten the route and stay south of the low pressure systems that regularly track across the Atlantic at this time of year.  See Jack Tyler's article on Trans-Atlantic Routing for a discussion on the merits of the rhumb line approach. My plan is to sail close to the rhumb line - going North of the line to find wind, and dipping South to avoid the worst of the storms.  This route does depend on having current and accurate weather information to know when to go North and when to stay South.

 
The initial destination in the Azores is the island of Flores.  This is the western and northern most of the island group.  Reportedly it is the most beautiful and friendly of the islands.  Of course all of the islands have a reputation for beauty and friendliness.  The difference for Flores is that once bypassed, almost no one is willing to work back to the west for a visit.  So I've targeted Flores as our first stop in the Azores.  After a few days I expect we will move Sarah to the port of Horta on the island of Faial.  Horta is the center for yachting facilities in the Azores.  Should we have some damage or equipment failures enroute, it may be prudent to head directly to Horta and bypass Flores.  In which case it is unlikely we will have the opportunity to visit this small island.
Click to view enlarged imageOn the left is a chart of the Azorean Island group..  I hope to spend up to a month cruising through the islands before resuming the voyage to the UK.

 

Azores to UK

The drawback to using the Azores Click on map to view an enlarged imageas a destination on this trip is that it means sailing into the middle of the Azores high, and it associated light winds and calms.  Most likely we will have little or no wind on departure and will have to motor for the first 24 hours.  For that reason we will head almost due north until we reach the westerlies and can head direct for the UK.

On this leg there are few options for the course.  We will be sailing into the most volatile weather patterns of the crossing.   Whatever the conditions and forecast on our departure we can count the conditions enroute to be significantly different.  Even in mid-summer we should expect at least one, probably more, gale force storms.

However as long we depart before the middle of July the storm systems should remain well north of our track as shown on the section of the July Pilot Chart on the left.  Our intended course is the heavy, solid black line.  The normal storm tracks are shown by the solid and dashed red lines on the chart.  Click on the chart to view an enlarged image.
 

 

UK to France

There Click on map to view an enlarged imageare two commonly used routes to France and points of entry.  The shortest route is from the vicinity of Dover to Calais/Dunkirk area.  The other route is from the region of the Solent and Isle of Wight to Le Havre.  Which course Sarah pursues will be largely be determined by the calendar.  After having arrived at Falmouth I start to cruise eastward along the southern coast of the UK.  If time permits I would like to make it all the way to Dover, which will permit the shortest possible crossing of the English Channel (22 nm).

However, the combination of wanting to have completed the transition of the channel to France before the end of September and my not wanting to make this impose a stringent schedule to this part of the cruise may dictate that I terminate the UK cruise at the Isle of Wight and prepare for the channel crossing at that point.  This means a five-fold increase in the crossing distance and the omission of the northern rivers and canals of France from my itinerary.  The section of the September Pilot Chart shows the tracks of the extratropical storm systems are getting closer to the English channel.  Even in September I expect we will have to wait for a weather window for the crossing.  One more reason to want to cross from Dover, a much shorter window is needed.

My other option is to spend the winter in London and cross over into France the following spring or summer.  That will almost certainly make Calais my port of entry into France.

 
Azores to the Mediterranean Sea
An alternative to cruising to Northern Europe to to head directly from the Azores to Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean.  This route avoids much of the threat of gales and gets me to the Mediterranean much more quickly.  The draw back is I will miss the U.K., probably any touring of the French Canals, and possibly a chance to cruise into the Baltic the next year.  Although my plans are to head for the U.K. from the Azores, I haven't set that course in stone as yet.
 

The www.svsarah website has been republished in a new format.  All of the old pages have been copied to the new format.  I've started to provide re-direct links from the old pages to the new ones.