Where to go in the winter?

[steveh]

We are going to take a year off, starting in spring 2004, to go sailing. The loose plan is to head for Croatia in the med, picking up friendsand family on the way.
The problem is where to go in the winter months. We don't want to stop sailing and lay up. Is going to the Caribbean late in the year and returning the next spring feasable?. Or maybe spend the winter months in the Canaries and Cape Verdes?.
Any suggestions before everyone heads off for the sun!

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[snowleopard]

nipping across to the caribbean for the winter is feasible. coming back is not quite so straightforward.

accepted wisdom is to be south of gibraltar by the end of august. earliest date to leave the canaries is mid november unless breaking the passage at the cape verdes. late season hurricanes in the caribbean can go on till the end of november so you don't want to arrive before then.

the snag with your plan is that to come back eastbound requires you to go north of the trades. i've done it a couple of times in june and wouldn't want to do it before say may as there's a lot of nasty weather systems coming off the us coast. that's going to put you in the med later than spring.

might be worth thinking about summer in the med, winter in the caribbean and back home the following summer if you've only got a year to play with. if you have more time of course, you can have your summer and autumn in the med or stay the other side and sit out the hurricane season around trinidad.

all those tough choices, isn't life a bitch!

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[Danthegorrila]

We are planning winter 03-04 in the Canaries. We've been there before (not sailing for the whole winter) seems a good place. Only the ARC has left there is more space about. I think it would take more than one winter to see all the Canaries. I fancy Cape Verde too but its getting back that is difficult.

We plan to head back to the Med spring 04 maybe via maderia to try to reduce the beat.



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[tcm]

the big charter boats do exactly this - go over to carib end november and arrive there in time for cristmas - then return via azores may/june ish. Quite a lot of sailing though if then bosh off to croaia. Mind you, It's probably best to get all this selling up and sailing out of your system, do the whole carib and med in a year and get back to work

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[steveh]

Think I would rather do Med then Carib, to get more experience. Quite right about getting the sell up and sail out of the system but might be able to work on the way - year might get longer!!

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[tcm]

snowleopards advice is good to get over to canaries early - lots of boats got a blow around gibraltar last year in early november tho actual atlantic xing was fine.



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[davidbains]

If one year means 12 months, it's not long enough to do the Med and Carib and return.
Most cruisers who go to the Med find one year not enough. I've been there for
14 years now and still thinking about the ARC when I retire.
I suggest you do winter in the eastern Med. The further east you go the shorter the winter.
And the cheaper the winter moorings. I suggest you have your boat lifted
out for maintenance in Greece or Turkey for Nov to March. I can recommend
Preveza Marine just north of Levkas.
You can also fly home for Xmas, maybe even work for three months.
Some folks go to Tunisia where it's even cheaper.
Break it up and your sailing will extend.
I met an OZ yachtie in the Peloponnese who was seven years into a
three year circumnavigation!

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