How long for Atlantic crossing. west to East?

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europe172

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Is there anyone on this great Forum who has crossed the Atlantic West to East, How many days?
My Brother left Guadelupe on 16th May, (38ft Ketch), when should I start to get concerned?

Thanks
 
Where was he headed for? if Canaries or Azores it might be worth asking if they've seen him. So much depends on the weather conditions & I don't know what they have been like. It could virtually be headwinds all the way. Most people go North with the wind & the Gulf Stream to assist & aim for Ireland or Cornwall. It's further but often faster.

East to west can be anything from 20-100 days, but 30 days would be fairly typical, but that is with the wind rather than against it. Did he not leave you with a passage plan? 100 miles a day would be reasonable progress E-W, or on the Northern route, but if heading into the wind it could easily be a lot less.

Did he carry any safety equipment (like an emergency beacon?) If so, no news should be good news!
 
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took me 32 days antigua - Azores last year, then another 2 weeks Azores UK. Would have been longer if i hadn't motored for hundreds of miles north after leaving the Carib. Hardly any wind til near Bermuda. If he's trying to sail it all the way and not stopping in Azores then could take a while.
 
equipment

Thanks Searush
He is heading north of the Azours and straight to Cornwall, on 100 miles per day he should be here by now,
He has beacon and liferaft, so no news is good news, but it has been 42 days now, just hoping that someone would reasure me
 
Thanks Conachair

Yes he is sailing all the way (he has no choice in that department), so 32 plus 14 days seems OK, hopfuly I will hear this week
 
That route is famous for lengthy calms. If you look at the current Atlantic charts, there's a fat, windless high sitting in the middle. If they'e in that, and running low on diesel, they won't be getting far.
I wouldn't worry yet.
 
It's horrid waiting I know, but it's about all you can do. If he is stuck in a slow moving High, he will have a good tan, but will be bored out of his skull!

Good luck, ask him to post his story with a few pics when he arrives please.
 
Just checked the log, 32 days to Azores then 15 to UK. That first bit up to high 30's latitude could take ages if just sailing, i've met a boat who were becalmed for 10 days straight there. Hopefully no news is good news. Let us know when he shows up.
 
Thanks for all the replys, I will no doubt get the full story when we gets within mobile phone range of the UK, he is singlehanded with no engine so I hope he has had a quite crossing
 
If your brother has an SSB radio on board (tx & rx), you could contact Herb Hilenberg to see if he is willing relay a message. It's likely your brother will be listening to Herb @ 2000 UTC each evening for the latest weather info.

Details here:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/hehilgen/vax498.htm

If he's not got SSB on board, Herb could request other vessels keep a look out and try 'locally' on their VHF sets.

BTW - on a bigger boat than your brother's, it took us 27 days from Bermuda and that was with about 10+ days of motoring. If we'd not had masses of fuel on board, our trip could easily have been around 40 days. And that's without the leg from Guadeloupe. Also, during the same trip, Herb was putting out requests for sightings of a vessel that was overdue from Bermuda to UK - that vessel eventually arrived in Falmouth after 63 days and the shouts had bene broadcast for about the previous 10-15 days.
 
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From Herb's website:

Prevents between 100 to 150 incidences per year where vessels would otherwise
have been in distress with potential loss of life due to severe weather
conditions and/or would have requested assistance from or rescue by U.S., CDN
and UK Rescue Co-ordination Centers (RCC).

On request of U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard responds to up to 25 cases per
year to determine status of a vessel and crew upon activation of an EPIRP
(Emergency position indicator radio beacon) and to provide feed back or
communication support to RCC bringing such cases to a satisfactory
resolution.

Responds to 60 to 100 requests per year from Coast Guard centers, local authorities,
concerned families members and from Canada Foreign Affairs to locate overdue or
unreported vessels/crew, prior to commencing Search and Rescue operations.
 
Thanks npf1
He has no SSB, I have checked out Herb's website, (thanks for the link) if I hear nothing by next week I will ask for boats to try and get a VHF check from him
 
europe172,
it took us 21 days from Bermuda to Azores and then 14 days Azores to Falmouth, that's 35 days not including stopping in Azores. This was on a 38ft yacht so 40+ days on something smaller from further south does not seem unreasonable.

I'm sure he'll turn up and have a good tale to tell.
 
I just got back on Friday from Florida, my numbers are meaningless as we set out North intending to head for Azores but then lost our forestay so had to put in to Bermuda. However I can tell you that winds right up as far as 40N are light this year, we averaged about 100 miles a day and that was using fuel to maintain 4 knots for 50% of the passage. If your brother was sailing engineless direct to UK, I wouldn't expect him in yet, some of our sailing was at less than 3 knots so only 70 miles a day not even the modest and atypical 100 miles we normally achieve.

Could be another 2 weeks or even longer! Hope you hear soon but I wouldn't get anxious just yet.

Cheers, Brian.
 
Thanks for that Flobbergob, I will rework his estimated position based on 75 miles per day and see where that puts him

edit, that puts him 700miles from the Lizard, so another week
 
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