La Rochelle -Azores.......

[Ebbtide33]

I am planning a passage from La Rochelle to the Azores and onward to the Eastern seaboard of the USA.
Anybody done similar trip.
Any usefull input on planning, best timing, ect. <font color="blue"> </font>

Thanks in advance.
Dave.
S/V Lady G of London

 

[Rowana]

Dave,

Welcome to the Fourm

I think you're going the wrong way down a one way street.

Others will know much more than myself, but I think that if you study the Atlantic routing chart, you'll find that the return route is from the eastern US to the Azores then Europe.

The outward journey is down to the Canaries, then pick up the trades and on to the Carribean (a la ARC). Timing is also important to miss the hurricane season.

Try reading a book called something like "Sailing an Atlantic circuit". If this is not the correct title, others may know.

Good luck /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[cnh]

Done Coruna-Azores [http://www.channelpilot.info/azores/azores.htm]

Perhaps Azores to US may be a more difficult journey than the trade winds route, but it is possible. I'm considering trying the same myself. It's not exactly a one way street.

If anyone else has experience of such a trip, I'd be pleased to hear from them too.

Nicholas Hill

 

[RupertW]

I'm with jmirvine on this one - why put up with a (likely) lot of beating and extra time when you can go with the flow and head to the northern Caribbean then up from there, perhaps via Madiera? I did that a year or two ago from with just one night stop in Madiera and one in St Maarten before Florida and the intracoastal waterway. We left at the end of April, which isn't ideal but got us over before the main part of the hurricane season.


Better weather and much faster sailing. I'd agree that the Azores is possible but harder and likely to take longer unless you're really driving the boat.

 

[MASH]

Not exactly recent info, but pretty much the route you want...

Oct - Nov 1985. SY Canisvliet, a 42' fin & skeg cutter designed, to their eternal shame, by S & S and built to the most extraordinary standards in aluminium by Royal Huisman.

Commercial delivery trip, self as mate.

Route, Puerto Banus (ug!) Gib, San Miguel, Bermuda and on to Saybrook, Connecticutt.

Gib to Azores, 9d, 7h av 4.52 Kt. Boat was a crank, tender and justabout everything else you don't want in a seaboat - flabottomed beamy skimming dish that would probably go like the clappers on the Solent but at sea every wave stopped her dead with wind fwd of the beam, which it was most of the time. She was, however, strong as hell. Conditions fine, warm and sunny, winds predominantly NW, very pleasant. Used Spinaker once for about 2 hrs close to Azores, which incidentally are stunningly beautiful and really should not be missed.

Azores - Bda. 19d 22h, av 4.37Kt. Conditions similar, substantial amounts of calm plus the tail end of a hurricane which was exciting, but safe enough in such a strong boat (had to lie ahull, she would not heave to!)

Azores - Saybrook. Mains'l shattered in a night time crash gybe probably caused by helm falling asleep @ 35.54N, 67.30W Following winds for 3 days from Bda, warm and pleasant, wind a bit more boisterous than before with colder weather and headwinds forecast for the second half of the leg. Assumed unable to beat without main so returned Bda. Effected jury rig with No1 staysl as loosefooted main which performad, we discovered eventually, as well as the original, and in any case the winds over the next 3 dasys remained perfect for a reach/run all the way to New York, but we were going the other way. Too bad! 6 days on that leg. Arr Bda 3 Dec.

Incidentally the delivery agency sacked the skipper which was very unfair and hired a French crew to complete the job. They got about as far as we did and called a merchantman to take them of and abandoned her, condemning her as unseaworthy which was rubbish, she was as seaworthy as any boat I've ever been in, just horribly un seakindly. Some weeks later poor old Canisvleit fetched up on the reef in Bda. I'd love to know what happened to her after that.

Not exactly a scientific analysis I know, but hope it helps!

 

[boatmike]

Yes. Did AZAB race in 1982. VERY fortunate with winds though. NW all the way out an SW all the way back! Setting out for Azores from Falmouth I would be prepared to chance course to Lisbon making use of the Portugese northerlies that often prevail down the coast if you meet SW winds on the direct route. Best time to leave is June July for the direct route.
From Azores the course is usually South until the North Subtropical Current is met and with luck and favourable winds you should make Eastern Seaboard USA directly without the need for further southing. The advantage of going further south is more reliable trade winds of course but if you are not in a hurry a more northerly course is OK. You can always go south if you need to......
If you don't have one I would buy a copy of Jimmy Cornells book World Cruising Routes. Personally I won't go anywhere without it.

 

[Ebbtide33]

Thanks for the input coming in.
Heading south from the Azores, under the Azores high, to pick up some NE trades. Longer routeing but easier than going North over the top of the high.
Another option La Rochelle-Madeira!!!
Nothing is set in stone.

Dave.