Your total sailing time will again be between three and four weeks, though this journey will take a bit longer that the westward journey. Timing also plays an important role in the planning of your journey. Your main concern is to avoid the hurricane season, which lasts from June to November. Most boats leave in November, arriving just in time for Christmas. But the trading winds are stronger in January, making for a faster crossing. Want to see a handy map with the best sailing season across the globe?
Check out my article on sailing seasons here opens in new tab. The crossing of the Atlantic is quite a journey. It's the seconds largest ocean in the world, after the Pacific. Conclusion: it's big, and you want to be smart about it. Sailing across an ocean can seem pretty daunting.
I haven't done the crossing myself yet , but from what I understand, it's actually pretty dull. Bluewater sailing is mostly long stretches of blue, in light airs, cruising at 5 knots. So, in general, it's not super hard. However, it can get pretty lonely at times. Most sailors agree that this is the most difficult part of crossing the Atlantic. It does take some nerve to cross an ocean.
Open sea can get quite rough, and when it does, the waves are higher and the winds blow harder than anything you're used to inland. You should be prepared for these kinds of changes. The most important thing is that you're able to quickly take down a reef. So you should have a simple rig, that allows you to adjust to sudden changes in weather.
If you don't have the experience necessary to deal with heavy weather, you could make fatal mistakes. You need to have the confidence that you are in control of your sailboat.
How much fuel should you actually carry? It's easy to calculate. Find out how in my article on fuel usage here opens in new tab.
But what about storms? I think that if you have the knowledge, experience, and proper gear, it's not difficult. However, if you're unprepared, inexperienced, and unsure about your own capabilities, the great blue could get the better of you. Luckily our ancestors from the sixteenth century and up were plenty smart.
They found the Atlantic had very reliable 'wind roads', which they could use to relatively safely sail to the Americas. These are called trade winds , and they're so useful precisely because they're very predictable.
Each new season we can be sure the trade winds bring us to the land of the free. And so they have been used by merchants for many centuries. Because Queen Mary 2 specializes in cruises with consecutive sea days , it features genuinely unique options. On a recent crossing, the list of activities was head-spinning, with options like watercolor painting; flower arranging; fencing; and a series of "Insights Lectures" with topics that included "The History of Coroners and Suspicious Death Investigation" and "The Consequential Presidency of Donald Trump.
On our first Atlantic crossing -- a September transit -- we were thrilled to be upgraded from an outside cabin to a balcony.
Ironically, though, we rarely used it. Occasionally inclement weather, frisky winds and an unchanging view seven straight days of nothing but ocean got a little old limited its appeal. We'll take a balcony if the price is right, but more for the chance to have fresh air in the cabin from time to time.
We wouldn't splurge on it. When crossing the Atlantic, the weather's unpredictable. Plan to layer up in case of cool temperatures, but definitely bring warm-weather necessities like shorts and bathing suits. You can't pop out to a shop in port if you've forgotten to pack an evening gown or tux , though sometimes ship shops will stock formalwear. Seas can be rough; be prepared, just in case. Ships will have Dramamine on offer, as well. We already mentioned this one, but it's worth repeating: If you're shopping for a good deal on a crossing, make sure to consider the costs to get to and from the embarkation and debarkation ports since these aren't round trip sailings.
Which direction is best? If you cruise westward, you'll wind up with a handful of hour days. Going east? You get cheated of an hour, with some hour days. In either case, however, you get to avoid this negative: There's no jet lag on an Atlantic crossing! Find a Cruise. Cruise Tips. You may also like Dismiss. Panama Canal Partial Transit vs. Full Transit. What Is a Transatlantic Cruise? Cheap Antarctic Cruises. A boat that sits too low in the water can more easily be swamped by waves. Make sure that you know how much your boat can hold safely before you load it up and head out on the water.
A 30 or foot boat may seem pretty big until you spent a few weeks out on the open water in it. If you want to enjoy your crossing, you need a boat big enough that everyone on board can establish their own space on the boat and stretch their legs periodically during the voyage. Even for only a crew of one or two, 30 or 40 ft is necessary to accomplish this goal. You may be amazed by just how much fuel it actually takes for you to cross the Atlantic in a powerboat. Simply storing all of that fuel will take up a fair amount of room on your boat.
While this should be long enough for you to cross the Atlantic, it may not be. Using fuel stabilizer or not mixing fuel before use means that you can keep fuel for longer, up to six months or even two years. A significant amount of your overall storage will need to be devoted to fuel storage. That means that you may need a bigger motorboat than sailboat for the same crossing. The advantage to crossing in a motorboat is that while it may require more storage and fuel, using fool for your locomotion instead of using the power of the wind can make your journey a lot more predictable.
Whereas a sailboat will need to wait for the wind to be right to make progress, a motorboat can travel under almost any conditions except for very stormy and inclement weather. However, you will be utterly dependent on your motors to reach your destination safely. You should not attempt an Atlantic crossing with anything less than two motors, and most people feel much safer with at least four.
That way, if a motor does go out, you have back up. The last thing that you want is to be caught in the Atlantic Ocean without a motor. Motors are heavy, so be sure that your boat can handle the weight of motors that you need to carry safely.
Nothing but you, your boat, and the Atlantic winds to ferry you across the ocean. However, sailing across the Atlantic comes with significant risks. Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis, a mathematician from France, learned a lot about the phenomenon before people really understood trade winds. Thus, the Coriolis Effect was named in his honor. The wind near the equator cerates dry, hot air that stops ocean and air currents.
This is a smaller belt that goes by the name the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, aka the doldrums. The doldrums serve an important purpose, providing solar heat that keeps the trade winds nice and warm.
In doing so, atmospheric air goes up, becoming cooler. This higher, cooler air travels to the poles and then descends. When it does, it lands close to the horse latitudes. This affects the trade winds, calming them down without precipitation. Then the cycle can begin again. Back in the old days when ships from around the world would venture to the Americas, these sailors relied heavily on trade winds.
So too is the case for many modern ships and other vessels. You can do the same by following the trade winds and letting them guide you to your destination. Some sailors recommend special accessories for trade wind sailing. You may also consider an electronic steering system or a windvane steering system, as both can help you sail the trade winds more efficiently.
In the next few sections, we want to talk about specifics, such as from sailing from one part of the ocean to another. This would involve you sailing from the United States to the United Kingdom and using a charter boat to do it.
Charter boats are either yachts or sailboats, but they can include other vessels as well. You may opt for skipper or bareboat chartering. With skipper chartering, you sail with several other people, including perhaps a professional sailor. As you recall from this blog, a nautical mile is 2, yards or 1, meters. Converting a nautical mile to standard miles, the equivalent is 3, miles.
How long would the journey take you? It depends on several factors.
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