Sailing across the Atlantic on a sailing boat, under 40ft.

[Babylon]

Good series - the boat was up for sale - not sure if it is sold yet.

To save me having to watch the whole thing, (1) did he sail around the world, and (2) why is he selling?

 

[Babylon]

Kind of like when old people with no clue about technology and who admit to not owning a laptop constantly weigh in on modern navigation threads. Yeah, I know the people you mean!

Hole. Digging. Stop.

 

[Sea Devil]

I thought my Moody 36 was perfect - Angus Primrose knew how to design luxury boats - I lived in her around the world and although I have owned bigger boats I think she was the perfect compromise.. This is the video I made about Atlantic crossing

 

[pyrojames]

Hole. Digging. Stop.

? Are you in distress? I can only find hope.digging.stop in South Australia? ?

 

[Uricanejack]

Ok so I haven't done it yet. I have done one Southern Ocean crossing - the right way, in a really big boat. The time we took has little to do with the time another boat took or might take another time.

Bigger boats don't ALWAYS get the quickest times because (mainly) of weather. You are comparing different trips in, presumably different weather, with crews of different aptitude and ambition. If you lined all those boats up to cross the pond leaving at the same time with similarly competent folks, I bet you a pound to pinch of sh!t that I can choose the finishing order.

The ARC, Fastnet, RORC 600 and Sydney Hobart - just picking events with large fleets - aren't known for line honours going to 30-footers who, whaddya know, trot out the same 5 knot rule as the 80-footers or whatever. Of my six Fastnets, the slowest trip was in the notionally fastest boat...because it was a light-wind affair, and line honours were the slowest for twenty years; and we thrashed (in that year) all the slower boats.

The faster boats are....well, faster.. As theory tells us all, and indeed yacht games on the xBox.

Neither have I. No plan to do so anytime soon.

However if you take a bunch of boats and they go from A to B. Depending upon how far apart A and B are there are a lot of variables when choosing route.
The one who picks the best route may possibly get there sooner than bigger faster vessels who choose a less favourable route.

Which will be the best route, the shortest ? the straightest? the windiest? Depends who’s got the best crystal ball.

A distinct lack of convenient establishments serving draft ale and pies. Puts me off the idea .

 

[Uricanejack]

That’s one point of view. Personally I don’t give a monkeys what the crew do so long as they don’t fall asleep, they keep a good lookout and plot as required and call me if there’s a problem.

I suppose one earpiece in might be a good idea so that they can hear what’s going on with the other ear, but I’ve never had a problem with this in fifty years of sailing. If they read a book/kindle, I insist they use a cooking timer to ping and remind them to look up every few minutes.

You rarely see anything when ocean sailing anyway. See a ship on the horizon and the whole crew come up to watch.

Not much t disagree with,
perhaps the book which I think should be for when you are relaxing off watch, or it may just be my tendency to focus entirely on a good read. Or chuck it away as unreadable.

Funny thing is I found keeping a good lookout, in the middle of nowhere is a lot harder than it is when there is lots to see.

My most embarrassing lapses, were on clear days in the middle of nowhere, fortunately the other chap was doing better than me. Also fortunately was only me what knows it.

 

[lustyd]

.

 

[lustyd]

.

 

[capnsensible]

Kind of like when old people with no clue about technology and who admit to not owning a laptop constantly weigh in on modern navigation threads. Yeah, I know the people you mean!

I teach people how to use modern navigation aids as well as traditional methods. ?

I bet you peek. ?

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I thought my Moody 36 was perfect - Angus Primrose knew how to design luxury boats - I lived in her around the world and although I have owned bigger boats I think she was the perfect compromise.. This is the video I made about Atlantic crossing

Brilliant video and very well presented, thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Babylon]

Brilliant video and very well presented, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Same here! A perfect encapsulation of the whole exercise - very well done Sea Devil.

 

[Sea Devil]

Same here! A perfect encapsulation of the whole exercise - very well done Sea Devil.

Captain Fantastic and Babylon I am so glad you enjoyed it and thought it OK. A lockdown project but fun to make! thank you

 

[Adios]

Captain Fantastic and Babylon I am so glad you enjoyed it and thought it OK. A lockdown project but fun to make! thank you

Me too. And a benchmark for how to be consice. These days there are so many videos about everything on youtube I bet a lot of people spend more time watching them beforehand than the time spent doing the thing. With your video I was thinking you've covered just about everything anyone (who can already sail) needs in just an hour of video

 

[Daydream believer]

It's a shame that you dont seem to know what really happens in the real world....
I'll try again. I've done Cape Verdes to Windies in 16 days on a 33 foot yacht. I've averaged around 24 on various other yachts of 40-48 feet. I've also taken 27 on the same 33 foot yacht.
As has already been pointed out, bigger boats don't always get the best passage speeds. It took me 14 days from Antigua to Azores on a 74 foot cat that I thought would be quicker. Dreaming of potential speeds on paper doesn't cut the mustard out there. Which if perhaps you had done it, you would be agreeing. It's not an Xbox game

Whilst I would hold my hand up to your vastly greater experience to mine, I am also aware of the old adage " A good big one will always beat a good small one". Lightweight racers have distorted that somewhat; but for typical bluewater cruising boats, I believe it is still true.
You quote figures & I do not for one minute doubt them to be untrue. But what you fail to mention is the weather. If your 40 ft boat had been crossing at the same time as your Moody did its 16 day trip I expect a modern 40 ft AWB would have blitzed it. Clearly the weather was eminently suitable for such a crossing. Slower crossing in bigger boats would probably meant agonsingly slow crossings for your Moody 33.
So let's keep the figures based on an equal footing & be a little less biased. One might then be more likely to listen in awe of your achievements.

 

[capnsensible]

Whilst I would hold my hand up to your vastly greater experience to mine, I am also aware of the old adage " A good big one will always beat a good small one". Lightweight racers have distorted that somewhat; but for typical bluewater cruising boats, I believe it is still true.
You quote figures & I do not for one minute doubt them to be untrue. But what you fail to mention is the weather. If your 40 ft boat had been crossing at the same time as your Moody did its 16 day trip I expect a modern 40 ft AWB would have blitzed it. Clearly the weather was eminently suitable for such a crossing. Slower crossing in bigger boats would probably meant agonsingly slow crossings for your Moody 33.
So let's keep the figures based on an equal footing & be a little less biased. One might then be more likely to listen in awe of your achievements.

Of course it's all about weather and your routeing. And some good fortune. But as other posters have confirmed one and a half times the square root of the waterline length doesn't guarantee a faster trip. To simply think that 'my boat is bigger Therefore it will get there faster' is incorrect. in my experience, and that of shed loads of others....

 

[lustyd]

.

 

[lustyd]

.

 

[Daydream believer]

I really want to do a SH trans atlantic crossing. The one thing that worries me is the motion. sailing my 31 ft boat round the UK has shown me that the endles pounding down below can be really tiring. My longest trips have been about 25 hrs SH. 3 years ago I went from Ramsgate to Bradwell & I was called up by Dover CG because of a report of a vessel in possible distress. It turned out to be me. However, when I went below to get some binoculars I was thrown across the cabin with such force that I had serious back injury for 5 months.
Sailing from Ostend to Bradwell in F7 is a real ache as I can hardly move about & quickly become exhausted. In 2019 Cap Griz Nez clled me up prior to my heading N across the channel in heavy weather to ask if I was Ok. I was but the view from the shore was obviously one of a boat in a washing machine.
I am really worried about how I would fare in an Atlantic storm for a couple of days. Come to that F6-7 for days on end. My boat needs tending 24/7.
I have spoken to sailing club member who did 2 SH crossings in a Vancouver. He said that he was young & just accepted it!!!
A friend of mine, who has said that he has had rougher weather off Canvey Island than when he did his round trip across the Atlantic & back to UK in his 33 ft Carter.
I am not worried about the swell, One sails up & down on that. It is the sea on the swell. Having an AWB, motion is important factor.
So how do others really manage at sea with the motion? How do they deal with coping at 30 degrees of heel for days on end, or constant rolling from side to side in a sub 35 ft boat?

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Whilst I would hold my hand up to your vastly greater experience to mine, I am also aware of the old adage " A good big one will always beat a good small one". Lightweight racers have distorted that somewhat; but for typical bluewater cruising boats, I believe it is still true.
You quote figures & I do not for one minute doubt them to be untrue. But what you fail to mention is the weather. If your 40 ft boat had been crossing at the same time as your Moody did its 16 day trip I expect a modern 40 ft AWB would have blitzed it. Clearly the weather was eminently suitable for such a crossing. Slower crossing in bigger boats would probably meant agonsingly slow crossings for your Moody 33.
So let's keep the figures based on an equal footing & be a little less biased. One might then be more likely to listen in awe of your achievements.

You will find that the Moody 33 is surprisingly fast especially downwind, naturally, in paper, the longer the waterline the faster the boat.

 

[Gary Fox]

Of course it's all about weather and your routeing. And some good fortune. But as other posters have confirmed one and a half times the square root of the waterline length doesn't guarantee a faster trip. To simply think that 'my boat is bigger Therefore it will get there faster' is incorrect. in my experience, and that of shed loads of others....

Not arguing just commenting: I thought it was, in knots of hull speed, 1.3 not 1.5 x the square root of the LWL in feet.
Your authoritative formula has given me unexpected bragging rights by pushing my theoretical hull speed over 8 knots, mucho appreciado!
(LWL 30'6")