Azores to Ireland July/August - a good idea or not?

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Was thinking about this last night as we hope to leave the Azores mid-July for Ireland, so had a quick Google in the hope of finding lots of positive articles saying what a nice sail it was, no Fastnet horrors or anything like that . . .

Instead I accidentally turned up Jester's Ultimate Storm , Mike Richey's account of a terrifying storm he experienced in Jester on 1st August 1986.

Bearing in mind that the Fastnet disaster was also in August, is offshore SW Ireland a particularly dangerous place to be at that time of year? How many of you have made the journey home from the Azores in comfort and how many have had to don the brown trousers? Should we be thinking of heading for Spain instead?

- Nick
 
My returns from the Azores have always been a bit earlier - mid-late June or early July. However I can't think of any particular reason why you shouldn't leave later. Jimmy Cornell, in his World Cruising Routes suggests May to August with June and July the best times.

You will often encouter light winds north of the islands filling in from the north or north-east. The best advice is to head north or north-west as much as possible until you pick up the westerlies for the run in to the Western Approaches. Avoid getting drawn in towards the north west coast of Spain where you will face the Portuguese Trades (a northeaster) and very strong winds round Finnisterre.
 
FWIW, I had a quick look at Visual Passage Planner for the trip, assuming a Horta to Valencia routing. VPP uses the Atlantic Pilot info calculating and displaying wind and wave info. The average wind direction was about the same for each month at somewhere between 285 and 305.

Month_____%gales____Avg wind speed____Wave Height

June_______1.2_________13.7______________1,5
July________0.7_________12.3______________1.3
August_____2.0_________13.5______________1.5


So, it lools like your chances of gale, whilst low, are three time more likely in August than July and roughly twice as likely as in June.
 
I don't think you could ever guarantee a fine weather window to Ireland from the Azores at any time of year! But if you're a robust vessel and crew, at that time of year you'd normally only meet a mild challenge en route. It's those re-cycled hurricanes which provide the worst shocks about every third year or so.

Having said that, there are plenty of safe havens which can be entered in any conditions in SW Ireland.

N Spain is at it's friendliest at that time of year, and again, there are plenty of safe havens easily entered in any conditions.

For more detail on both places, go to my web site:

JimB, Google 'jimb europe' or go
www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/
Comparing the cruise areas of Europe
 
Thanks Jim,

I am familiar with the general picture - and a random gale for a day is not the real worry. It is the fact that there have been at least two survival storms of F10+ that I know of in the last 20 years in August in these waters . . .

I was hoping to get some personal experiences /accounts from people who have made the trip. I am wondering if planning to arrive in Ireland before the end of July would be a good idea. The Fastnet storm was well into August, on the 11th, but Jester's F10 storm as on the 1st - the earliest I have come across an account of such bad weather in this area.

I am sure there are a few forumites who have made the trip and have information.

- Nick
 
I've noted that the long-range weather forecasters are predicting - for the North Atlantic - an unusually active season for TRSs and such, with 17 or more 'named' events, compared with last year's 11.

The problem would be, of course, the system that recurves early and heads towards the Azores - as one did last year.....

You might care to acquaint yourself with < http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml > and < http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb_latest/danger_atl_latestBW.gif >, if you're not already well versed in this stuff.

Enjoi.
 
I've done the trip twice in the last 3 years - once in June and once in July, although I was going to Falmouth rather than Ireland. The biggest problem I have found is lack of wind caused by the Azores high pressure system that centers over the Islands in Summer.
Someone else suggested going north as far as possible to get out of it and making an easterly approach and this would suit you very much going to Ireland. However having done the go north thing twice I can tell you, there is still a lot of slopping around going nowhere. Most people take lots of fuel but I don't mind the slopping around as it is a good time to contemplate the vastness of the oceans.
To summarise in my two trips I have never had a wind over F6 in June/July between the Azores and the Western Approaches.
 
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