Trapper 500 UK to Tenerife

[noswellplease]

Met a chap who had sailed his Trapper 500 from uk to Tenerife. When not anchored off Los Criostianos beach (free) or other locations he overnights in local marina 6 euro. He next plans on sailing to Cape Verd thence Carribbean. So if anyone was wondering can a small boat do the business then the answer is yes. I guess some forumites can beat this, would be interested to hear their details. I may even join the club some day.

 

[Dyflin]

There's a leisure 23 doing a circumnavigation, the original owner made it from Norway to New Zealand (or further?) before he sold it on to a Bulgarian.

Suddenly Tenerife doesn't seem too far /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Bajansailor]

Even in the 70's a 27' yacht was considered to be about average sized, even 'big' amongst the sailors crossing the Atlantic then - I remember seeing little Hurleys, Albins, Corribees, Contessas and many others all pottering across the Atlantic and turning up here without fuss or fanfare, long before the days of satnavs or Blogs.
I am sure that we will see your friend turn up in Barbados in due course - at least I hope that he will choose Barbados as his first port of call in the New World if he crosses to the Carib from the Cabo Verdes.

I met an amazing couple here in the late 80's on a Cal 25 - they had just crossed the Atlantic, and I was thinking she seemed a bit small for the two of them - met them again 6 years later in Antigua on the same boat. They had been around the world on Direction, produced 2 children on the way, with No. 3 in the offing imminently, and were thinking that maybe they needed a bigger boat.... more about them at http://www.setsail.com/s_logs/martin/martin.html

And a mate of mine turned up here a few years ago in a little S & S 24 that he had bought / re-fitted in New Zealand. Matthieu then sailed Natine singlehanded to the Caribbean via South Africa - 47 days non stop from Cape Town to Barbados - before taking her home to Brittany from Martinique with a crew.

 

[castaway]

Not quite as 'grand' but in 1975 I sailed my 18ft er from Weymouth to the Balieric Islands.

What I remember most was the difficulty of navigating in a small boat. Most of the time I had only a pretty rough idea of where I was. Bit different now.

Nick

 

[matelot]

A fair number of my pals have gone transatlantic or further and they all say the same thing. The dodgy waters are round the UK an north of here. By comparison, the atlantic crossing routes are not difficult once clear of Biscay.

If you look at world weather patterns this all makes sense - we really do get the shi**y end of the stick here in the UK.

The other comment that all but one make is how boring the long passages are. Personally, I'm not sure I could hack the atlantic crossing with no one to talk to but myself - there would be too many arguments and falling out. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif