Canada to the Azores

[Zardoz]

Greetings folks. I apologize if I'm in the wrong section or if this has been covered (likely has been but I can't find it ?).. when is the best time to sail from Nova Scotia Canada to the Azores? Opportunity arises for a sail across later this year (Sept/Oct) in your considered opinion is this a viable time for the voyage?

Fair winds to all.

 

[Zardoz]

Addendum.. is an141 the advisable route (or at least a portion thereof)?

 

[sarabande]

I think you are referring to the excellent volume by Jimmy Cornell, World Cruising Routes ?

 

[Zardoz]

I think you are referring to the excellent volume by Jimmy Cornell, World Cruising Routes ?

Indeed I am ?

 

[Bajansailor]

I think that September / October is rather late really for sailing to the Azores from Nova Scotia.
With a good chance of encountering a hurricane coming up from the Caribbean.
Most yachts heading to the Azores from the west side of the Atlantic usually do so in May and June, and early July.
Would you be going rhumb line, or would you be heading south to Bermuda first?

 

[Zardoz]

I think that September / October is rather late really for sailing to the Azores from Nova Scotia.
With a good chance of encountering a hurricane coming up from the Caribbean.
Most yachts heading to the Azores from the west side of the Atlantic usually do so in May and June, and early July.
Would you be going rhumb line, or would you be heading south to Bermuda first?

The long range goal is the Caribbean.

I think that September / October is rather late really for sailing to the Azores from Nova Scotia.
With a good chance of encountering a hurricane coming up from the Caribbean.
Most yachts heading to the Azores from the west side of the Atlantic usually do so in May and June, and early July.
Would you be going rhumb line, or would you be heading south to Bermuda first?

The long range goal is the Caribbean. No timeline just destination

 

[Sandy]

You might find membership of the Ocean Cruising Club useful for that sort of detailed information. Somebody will have done that passage at sometime.

 

[wully1]

If you want to go to the Caribbean why on earth would you want to go via the Azores?

 

[capnsensible]

If you want to go to the Caribbean why on earth would you want to go via the Azores?

Canada, Azores, Canaries, Cape Verdes, Windies. What's wrong with that? Use the prevailing currents and Atlantic winds, what a great cruise.

Perhaps leave July or not later then August. In my opinion.

 

[Stingo]

If you want to go to the Caribbean why on earth would you want to go via the Azores?

Because heading south along the east coast of the USA then east towards the windwards is going against the wind and currents. Her in the galley, won't enjoy that.

 

[westhinder]

We did the reverse, Azores - Halifax in late June, early July. We first had to motor for three days to get out of the Azores High, and then we had ten solid days hard on the wind, mainly 4-6, a couple of hours 7 Bft. An empty ocean, we did not encounter more than a dozen ships, most of which we only saw on AIS, their presence being revealed by an alarm on the Echomax radar transponder. For your planned trip that would have been near perfect conditions. Flores, from where we departed, is a gem of an island.

 

[wully1]

Because heading south along the east coast of the USA then east towards the windwards is going against the wind and currents. Her in the galley, won't enjoy that.

Decent forecast then ICW?

It’s your cruise, have fun.

 

[Wansworth]

Slocum left cape Sable and made the Azores en route for Gibralter…..in theummer

 

[Zardoz]

Canada, Azores, Canaries, Cape Verdes, Windies. What's wrong with that? Use the prevailing currents and Atlantic winds, what a great cruise.

Perhaps leave July or not later then August. In my opinion.

That's exactly the run we are interested in ?

 

[Zardoz]

Because heading south along the east coast of the USA then east towards the windwards is going against the wind and currents. Her in the galley, won't enjoy that.

.

Yeah we aren't the best beating into the wind.. steel schooner ?

 

[lonederanger]

We sailed from Quebec to The Caribbean
We left Quebec in October to the Richeleau River _lac Champlain , Hudson river and then left New York 1st November to the Caribbean Via Bermuda
But you do not want to be heading off for an ocean passage earlier than November in that neck of the woods. But the reason i left Quebec via the canals as neither did I fancy heading out of the golf of St Lawrence past Nova scotia In November as good weather windows are limited

 

[Uricanejack]

Not September and for the For the love of god NO not October.

Just watch the Perfect Storm . If you don’t believe me.

Earlier much earlier. I ha ma doubts about August.

I‘ve only ever been truly concerned about the sea state and weather and felt the need to call the Master(Not just as a Courtesy)twice in over 40 years.
The first of those was in Late September, I think possibly the worst conditions I ever saw.
Admittedly going the other way. From Gibraltar to Hamiltot.
We stayed well south of the Rumb Line, Due west Almost to the Azores before we tuned to head for Cape Race.

The first and probably worst shit kicking was just north of the Azores. Old Salt lore, to hell with what the met office say.
Late Season TRS tend to be worse,
Late Season TRS tend to recurve offshore.
They loss their tropical cater cater by the time they have recurved. They speed up and spread out.
They turn into severe deep N Atlantic depressions. They are no longer truly Hurricane’s, they still pack Hurricane force winds and seas.
They have a tendency to be some of the most severe storms of the year.
They go from a few hundred miles in diameter to 1000 or more to miles in diameter covering almost the whole central part of the
N Atlantic.
To dam big to go round, you just got batten down and ride it out.

The worst of it will pass you by overnight,
it will dye down to just a gale for a day or two.
then you wil, get hit by the next one.
It might not be a worn out TRS, it might be a Arctic Blast of the Canadian Shield which come out of shor Well north of Cape Cod and into the mix South of Halifax and West of New York where it will get warmed up by the Gulfstream and Start to Howl

If you get really lucky the first might getstalled by a high and the second might catch up.

More old Salt’s Tails.
A low won’t push a high,
A high will push a Low
The Low will get pushed around the high and the high will move at its on dam pace and direction,
Only a high can push a High.

They tell it’s getting worse these days. Now I given it up. the extremes getting greater better even better and the worse even worse.

I did these trips back and forth regularly for almost a decade, I don’t miss it. Least not in Late September or October.
I sure as heck wouldn’t consider it in a sailboat.

Late spring early summer probably a pleasant trip.

I could be wrong, you might get lucky, theres times I’ve seen it flat calm like glass out there for days. not many times but there have been times.

That morning was bad but when I came on watch at 2000 it was awful the Mage was getting concerned. We had a chat at handover and called the Capt, He was a tough miserable old Geordie git. Known as Black Bob. More Sea-time than Davy Jones, Most of it bashing ore accros the N Atlantic to the Old British Steel Works which no longer exist.
Himself and The Chief came up to review the situation. The Chief made Black Bob seam like a gentleman. Neither of who made a much of habit of listening to the likes of me. I sometimes wondered who was in charge,
The Chief was addamant about his fuel figure and the charters requirements to burn 30 T per day. And make our 15 knots or pay the penaltie.
I tried pointing out 15 knots was not just unlikely but highly improbable. And would require a hell of a lot more than 30t of fuel.
The consensus of more experienced opinion was it it was nothing special and to carry on maintain course and speed.

The pair of then headed of to continue there argument and the Mate bid me goodnight and left me to it.

At first I was ok with it. The Mate had called, the men with the experience had spoken. Even so by halfway through my watch I was beginning to actually get concerned.
She was a “Salty“ an Ocean Going Laker, Shorter and stronger than a regular “Laker“ built tough enough for the ocean. Only a year old. A small handy sized Geared Bulker Typical of many which plow the worlds oceans, except built for the Locks on the Seaway a bit longer and and a bit narrower. And higher grade steel than the usual.
As a nice new ship we usually carried US or Canadian grain to far flung parts of the world and out dated ports. Where they relied on our 5 15T Cranes to discharge. Under 24 hours to load 30000t of grain and up to 6 weeks to discharge.
580ft Long 76 wide and while we could load to over 30 ft we were restricted to 26’6” for arrival Montreal and the Seaway.

Most of our return trips would be in ballast a cargo of river water full of zebra mussels. The Ship flying light.
Dammed if I know why this would make sense.
Instead of retuning light Accros the Atlantic for anther load of grain before the season ended.
Somebody thought it was a good idea to stop in the Med and pick up a load of Bauxite Ore for Hamilton.
Why the hell anyone would want to ship ore to Canada is beyond me, Still I used to take coal from Australian to Newcastle. Clearly modern economics is beyond me.
It was a Strange load the ports gear couldn’t reach our No 1 hatch so we could only load the after 5 Alternate holds so as not to be to stiff but it was still low in the holds with a steep angle of repose. Our bending and sheering stress was near the limits.

I decided to hell with it I was calling the old buggers again. By this time I was no longer sure how big the seas were. I had guesstimated well over 10m when I cane on watch but it was pitch dark now. And the Bridge windows repeatedly dowsed by heavy Spray. Spray higher than the mast or cranes wasn’t bothering me.
It was the green stuff over the bow onto the hatch covers and sweeping down the deck.
But the really big concern was how far apart they were.
Ive seen bigger, but these ones were the same length as the ship. 580 ft give or take a little.
The Bow would crash into each sea with a tremendous bang the whole ship would shudder and shake and I had to brace myself to not get knocked of my feet. We would almost stop. The one good thing about the power of the sea we couldn’t hit them at anything much more than a few knots despite our ME trying to burn 30T and push us at full ahea.d.
Mext the wave swept down the deck and reached mid ships creating well above the hatch covers.
The Bow would be completely clear of the water and as the screw came out the sea the ME would overspend as load came of meanwhile the 3rd would be calling and asking WTF I was doing. He was having to sit on the throttle all night to stop her tripping.
I tried suggesting instead of yelling at me he yell at his boss.

Its called a trochoidal wave.

It what a ship is theoretically designed to be able to withstand. A wave the same length aAs the ship and the same hight as the ships depth.
The greatest stress you can put on it.

And we were hitting them every few minutes, I was a long night and I was not happy, I called again. I can be pretty clear about my opinion and I was but to no avail. The pair of them hung around about an hour or so. They watch the seas and admitted it was bad but she was riding ok.
I just wanted to alter a few points so we wouldn’t be timing it so bad. We argued about increased rolling and shifting but my worry was stil, the stress we weren’t rolling so bad and I’d seen her roll when loaded down with ore before.

They turned in not long after 2300 and I called my relief as the hour neared. Mike was a smarter seaman than me. He was none to happy when he arrived and I told him of my concern. He agreed with me wholeheartedly. He pointed out I was an idiot arguing all night with Black Bob and the chief. They are never going to listen to you or me.
His doors closed and he will not be up again unless we call them.
Tell the 3rd to pull her back a bit the Chief will be in his pit by now.

“We haven’t gotten a position since yesterday and you and I are the guys who take them, If we don’t know where the hell we are dammed sure they will be none the wiser”
Then he turned the course recorder off.
“You shoogle the paper while I set it ahead until just before breakfast“
“Aye and make sure you get some nice big zorales like the ones before”

The we altered course.
“I will tell the Mate to return to our course in the morning and to tun it back on Before they get,Don’t worry he is way to scared Bob to try and explain this”

I asked what about you,

Im more scared we will go down tonight than I am of Bob.

What about you.

To hell with Black Bob. And the Chief at least for tonight.

The next day they were none the wiser, Both I’m sure long gone from this world.

So ended my longest night at sea, I didn’t sleep so well but as well as you can when you are on a Handy sided Bulker in the middle of a North Atlantic storm.
Im dames glad Mike was smarter lad than me.

We hit three more big storm s before we made caper race, None we’re as bad as the first. The last one we were crossing the Labrador current and I spent two days breaking ice of the Forward end of the ship since we were several inches over draft forward when we reached Montreal Now into October.

Black Bob would strike again after Hamilton. This was the only time I doubted him enough to actively take part in mutinying.

 

[michael_w]

If aiming for the West Indies from the eastern seaboard of North America. Leave from Beaufort North Carolina and ride the I-65 to St Maarten. A few days at sea with a soldier's wind much easier than the 'Thorny Path' via Florida and the Bahamas.

 

[pyrojames]

We left Halifax for the UK direct in early June. Grey, damp and windy, but all downwind. Why not go to NW Spain and down the coast to the Canaries and then across to the Caribbean?

 

[MADRIGAL]

Not September and for the For the love of god NO not October.

Just watch the Perfect Storm . If you don’t believe me.

Earlier much earlier. I ha ma doubts about August.

I‘ve only ever been truly concerned about the sea state and weather and felt the need to call the Master(Not just as a Courtesy)twice in over 40 years.
The first of those was in Late September, I think possibly the worst conditions I ever saw.]

What a tale. You wouldn't want to go through that more than once!