Atlantic crossing

[Petertheking1982]

It's an interesting question. For me when (if) I do it I would like to be skipper of my own boat and not part of a rallie.

I've tried quite a few outdoor activities, some as part of organised groups and some just getting the equipment and trying it out. The most enjoyable have been the self supported, doing my own research and planning. If I am in an organised group I don't feel there is as much risk (there is, it's just managed more formally to negate it). When I'm in charge of managing risk I can adjust it to my abilities and risk levels, and get satisfaction of working through any problems myself. One aspect of sailing I enjoy is the self reliance, but having more support and reliability generally have opened up sailing to more people due to a perceived increase in safety.

 

[Daydream believer]

It's an interesting question. For me when (if) I do it I would like to be skipper of my own boat and not part of a rallie.

I've tried quite a few outdoor activities, some as part of organised groups and some just getting the equipment and trying it out. The most enjoyable have been the self supported, doing my own research and planning. If I am in an organised group I don't feel there is as much risk (there is, it's just managed more formally to negate it). When I'm in charge of managing risk I can adjust it to my abilities and risk levels, and get satisfaction of working through any problems myself. One aspect of sailing I enjoy is the self reliance, but having more support and reliability generally have opened up sailing to more people due to a perceived increase in safety.

This is a bit of a thread drift but It depends how one defines rallies
There are the top ones like the ARC which is what the thread is really about. Then there are the ones lower down the scale that clubs organise.
When we resurected our club cruising again 10 years ago we started with Boulogne. Some were a bit apprehensive. So I gave a talk about the stages -the passage to Dover, Crossing the Channel, to Boulogne. The passage back to Ramsgate & then the passage home. I went into details of how to enter/depart each port & the passage plan & why.
When we arrived at each place, the more experienced got there first showed the others where to go & how to tie up.
Generally this was a success. Even those that did not go, attended the talk because they later went to Ramsgate & back on their own & found the info useful.
True that on the actual trip we split up. Everyone has to be on their own. Crossing the channel we kept close to make it easier for shipping. However, there is still the element of having to achieve the cruise on their own.
So rallies do have their place. It just depends on who you are with & what you want from them.

I finished the talk by saying- "Now remember- This is a cruise. It is NOT a race------But I am going to get there first."
To this day "it is not a race" still gets quoted with some leaving a couple of hours earlier than planned if they can. But that is all part of the fun. Especially as I do seem to be first in, most times.

 

[ean_p]

We've all been there......

More birds, then increasing numbers of insects with increased north south shipping lights at night, then the whiff of vegetation and finally a rising low land on an overcast horizon.....then thank god for the pen and ink 19th century sketches of the Islands of Salvation in the South America edition of the Admiralty Pilot ......... landfall in French Guiana 1981 style 27 days out

 

[FWB]

I’ve flown myself across the Atlantic many times. Always glad that I was up here and not down there. My kind of sailing is pottering around the coast but hats off to those who cross Oceans.

 

[srm]

To answer the OP, own boat, own planning, own decisions and own responsibility. But then, that is the way I have always sailed.

Having looked at the ARC web site a few years ago I came to the conclusion that while much of the "safety equipment" was eminently sensible there was also a massive element of over doing it to protect the organisers from criticism/legal action should something go badly wrong. All added expense that I would rather spend on the boat and cruise.

We also forget the nagging uncertainty (but I’ll maintain until I die that the uncertainty made us better navigators.)

I remember reading an article (probably in the RIN Journal) about navigating submarines by keeping an ever increasing "sphere of uncertainty" safe from danger. Fortunately, on the surface we only had a circle of uncertainty to guard and could reduce it by observation from time to time. Nowadays GPS keeps most of the circle inside the boat, but I still look for transits, depths, etc. to confirm I am more or less where the flickering numbers think I am.

 

[capnsensible]

I’ve flown myself across the Atlantic many times. Always glad that I was up here and not down there. My kind of sailing is pottering around the coast but hats off to those who cross Oceans.

Over it. On it. Under it. Full House!

 

[srm]

That's kinda round the hurricane season. Boats leaving to sail west generally do so around the end of November as its due to finish.

2016 Jan 12-15 Hurricane Alex obviously missed the closing of the season.

 

[capnsensible]

As currently defined, the Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30, the period in which tropical cyclones are most likely to develop across the basin. Occasionally, systems develop outside these seasons,[1] most frequently in May or December.[2] Activity in January is extremely rare; only five systems other than Alex have been recorded since 1851: an unnamed hurricane in 1938, an unnamed tropical storm in 1951, Hurricane Alice in 1954–55, an unnamed subtropical storm in 1978, and Tropical Storm Zeta in 2005–06.[3] Because Alice formed in December 1954 and persisted into January 1955, Alex is only the second hurricane after the unnamed storm of 1938 to originate within January.[3][4]

 

[zoidberg]

Over it. On it. Under it. Full House!

In it...?

 

[capnsensible]

In it...?

Long swim.

You first.

 

[franksingleton]

As currently defined, the Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30, the period in which tropical cyclones are most likely to develop across the basin. Occasionally, systems develop outside these seasons,[1] most frequently in May or December.[2] Activity in January is extremely rare; only five systems other than Alex have been recorded since 1851: an unnamed hurricane in 1938, an unnamed tropical storm in 1951, Hurricane Alice in 1954–55, an unnamed subtropical storm in 1978, and Tropical Storm Zeta in 2005–06.[3] Because Alice formed in December 1954 and persisted into January 1955, Alex is only the second hurricane after the unnamed storm of 1938 to originate within January.[3][4]

BUT, we are seeing effects of climate change. Warmer seas lead to the potential for storms to be more severe but not, necessarily, for more hurricanes. I have looked at numbers of “off season” tropical storms, F9-11 and hurricanes for the first 20 years of the 20th and 21sr centuries.

1900-1920
Apr/May
Severe storms, F9-11 …… 0
Hurricanes F12+ …………. 2

Dec/Jam
Severe storms….………..……0
Hurricanes.…………. ………..0

2000-2020
Apr/May
Severe storms……………..…12
Hurricanes……………………….0

Dec/Jan
Severe storms…………………6
Hurricanes……………………... 3

The data show an over all increase of off peak storms from 2 to 21 although hurricanes only show an increase of one. Yearly total numbers of hurricanes have increased over the past 100 years. The number of major hurricanes, Cat 3 + has more than doubled.

 

[lustyd]

Is the data complete for 1900-1920 though? I'd be surprised if coverage was sufficient to spot and report every storm over the atlantic. Hurricanes probably fine, of course.

 

[geem]

Rallies are not for me. I want to leave when the weather is right not because a rally says we leave on this date regardless of the weather. On an Atlantic crossing, the only weather you can choose is the weather you leave in. Far nicer to have perfect weather for the first few days to bed into the way of life before anything nasty pops up.
There are so many people crossing that are NARC (none ARC) that effectively you can have your own rally. In 2004 we left Mindelo and agreed we would all meet in Barbados and have a BBQ when the last boat came in. 10 boat NARC rally. Great BBQ.
Since then we have done the crossing NARC and would never consider doing the ARC.

 

[lustyd]

If you have your own rally it's still a group decision when to leave, it's just that you're then also responsible for meeting and getting to know people to form a rally with. I can't imagine the ARC will leave on a given date if there's a huge storm either so I feel like you're being a bit unfair on them there.
While I definitely prefer sailing alone, I do see the appeal of someone else researching and documenting where and how to check in/out, local restaurants, and organising socials.

 

[john_morris_uk]

ARC or NARC I’m amazed (bemused?) by how ill prepared some boats are that sail across oceans. From the trivial incidents of boats arriving in Gran Canaria and discovering they should have thought to have onboard a plank or something to use as a passerelle to the boat we saw arrive in Barbados without a Q flag or any pilot book and didn’t know whether they were in a Port of Entry or not.

 

[geem]

If you have your own rally it's still a group decision when to leave, it's just that you're then also responsible for meeting and getting to know people to form a rally with. I can't imagine the ARC will leave on a given date if there's a huge storm either so I feel like you're being a bit unfair on them there.
While I definitely prefer sailing alone, I do see the appeal of someone else researching and documenting where and how to check in/out, local restaurants, and organising socials.

Our NARC rally didn't have a leaving date. We all left within a few days of each other since there was a good weather window.
The ARC do leave even if the weather is crap. We have friends who decided not to leave on the due date. There were others. It's a stupid system that sends nervous first time ocean sailors out on mass in to poor weather. I was told they do it to keep everything on schedule. Organisers have flights booked for the arrival destinations.
Information about where to check in/out is widely available and a very minor issue. You pay lots of money for somebody to organise parties and seminars. I am sure it suits the many hundreds of people that do them but there are more sailors crossing each year who are not part of a rally. We have made several lifelong friendships by not being part of the ARC. I am sure just as many get made on the ARC.

 

[lustyd]

Oh that's disappointing, I had assumed they would be better. As you say it's more pleasant to leave in nice weather, and regardless I'd rather choose to do the bit near the rocks in better conditions and take the rough bits where there's nothing around to hit!

 

[Kelpie]

I wonder if part of the attraction of the ARC is that it's in some ways a race, which might appeal to some people.
I've never really managed to get in to racing- I'm not really the competitive type- so that aspect is lost on me.

 

[geem]

...---...

 

[srm]

BUT, we are seeing effects of climate change.

I have kept my boat in the Azores since summer 2014 and have seen two hurricanes in the area. One out of season, Jan 2016 Alex, downgraded to tropical storm about 100 miles south of Terceira. Oct 2019 Lorenzo passed near to the western islands inflicting considerable damage to Ilha Corvo and its port.
Despite an active interest in met (a subject I taught to MN officer candidates) I had never picked up on the Azores being threatened by Hurricanes.
This page lists Tropical Storms and Hurricanes near the Azores by decade from the 1990's:
List of Azores hurricanes - Wikipedia
1990's = 6
2000's = 4
2010's = 11
It seems that potential storm tracks may be extending over a wider area than older records would suggest.