I can’t find a link to the story on their web site, or I would have sent that instead of the whole article, but our very own John Stevenson was highlighted in the Ocean Navigator Newsletter (http://www.oceannavigator.com) about his Atlantic crossing route.
Great article John!

Here’s the article as it arrived in my inbox:

Voyaging

Another Route Home:
Transatlantic from Lagos, Portugal to the Chesapeake Bay
by John Stevenson

During the summer of 2006 I sailed my Pearson 424 ketch, Sarah, in the Western Mediterranean. Toward the end of that summer I decided to cut short my cruise of the Mediterranean Sea and return Sarah to the Chesapeake Bay.

By early September Sarah was berthed in Lagos, Portugal, and I began planning my re-crossing of the Atlantic. Initially, I consulted various cruising guides for appropriate routes and times for crossing. I discovered the guides offered only two routes: 1. The traditional trade wind route via the Canaries to the Windward Islands during the winter months and then island hopping north to the U.S. 2. An early summer crossing to the Chesapeake via the Azores and Bermuda.

Neither of these routes were very appealing to me. I had no interest in sailing to the Caribbean and spending additional months working my way up the island chains to Florida and eventually the Chesapeake.

In late spring and early summer there are still many storm systems moving across the Atlantic near 40° North Latitude, bringing westerly winds, sometimes gale force to the rhumb line course from the Azores to Bermuda. The best way to avoid these conditions is to dive south into the Bermuda-Azores high pressure ridge and risk being caught in extensive calms. After reading Nigel Calder’s article in the November, 2006 Ocean Navigator on his Atlantic crossing where they motored most of the way, I started looking for a route that would not put too many additional hours on my 30-year-old engine.

I spent a very pleasant winter in Lagos in company with many other cruisers, while developing another route back to the U.S. the following summer.

Once the high pressure ridge has established itself west of the Iberian Peninsula the prevailing wind off the Atlantic Coast of Portugal is from the north. The circulation around the high pressure could provide favorable winds to sail down the eastern end of the ridge to just below 30° North Latitude, then turn west for the crossing until heading north toward Bermuda (see route on pilot chart above).

This route had a lot of appeal in that it promised fresh, favorable winds for a westward passage and the high pressure ridge would provide a buffer from any late spring storm systems in the North Atlantic. There is some risk of encountering the effects of an easterly wave moving from Africa toward the Caribbean, but if I left in early May and stayed north of 25° North Latitude that risk should be minimal.

This route looked promising, but if it was so obvious why is there no mention of the route in any of the crossing guides and voyaging publications? I solicited input from others who may have done a similar crossing through e-mail and postings on several Internet sailing and cruising forums — with a resounding silence in response. The only positive response was from Herb Hilgenberg. He thought the route was very viable and wondered himself why so many cruisers try to make the passage from the north.

So with encouragement from Hilgenberg and a few others, I locked into this route and began preparations for a May departure from Lagos. In late April, Bob Calt, my crewmember for the passage, arrived in Lagos and we completed the final preparations for departure.

By the first of May the ridge was nearly in place, but still not quite far enough north. We had northerly winds off the Portuguese Coast, but they were more north westerly. We waited a few more days until the winds veered to almost due north. By May 6 the conditions were right and we departed Lagos in the mid-afternoon.

Initially we were in the lee of Cabo de Sao Vicente, the southwest corner of Portugal, and we slowly motor-sailed in the light winds. As we moved out of the lee, the winds backed to north and increased in force. By the time we started to cross the shipping lanes off Sao Vicente the winds had increased to about 25 knots.

We continued on a west-southwesterly course for the first 24 hours as the winds veered through the north to northeast. Then we tacked to the south and headed almost directly toward the island of Madeira. For the first two days the wind was consistently between 20 and 25 knots and the seas around 6 feet. As long as we kept the wind and seas on the quarter rather than dead astern, we had a fast and reasonably comfortable sail.

Toward the end of the second day, I discovered that one of the control lines on my Monitor Windvane Steerer had nearly chafed through. One of the self-aligning fairlead blocks on the windvane was stuck in a poor position. I decided not to hang over the transom in 6-foot seas to replace the control line and lubricate the stuck block. So we switched to the autopilot for the rest of the way to Madeira. Now at least our stop in Madeira had a passage-related purpose and would not just be a tourist stop.

On the third day, the winds began to die and we motored the final 100 nm to Madeira.

Calt and I thoroughly enjoyed our brief stay on Madeira at Calheta. Although the marina is remote from Funchal, there is a large Pingo Doce Supermercado right next to the marina.

After six days of touring and fixing the windvane we were ready to depart Mardeira for the longest leg of the voyage. We arrived on Madeira in calm winds and fog. Those conditions prevailed for most of our stay, but finally the high pressure ridge was re-positioned to provide the strong north easterly winds we needed for a fast passage and we departed Madeira on May 15.

Upon departure from the marina we were in the lee of the island and started sailing in very light winds. Within a few hours we moved out of the lee of the island and the winds filled in from the northeast at 25 to 30 knots, with a few gusts over 35 knots.

With northeast winds we were able to head almost due west for the first six days. During the first four days the winds stayed at 30 knots or more, and we made great time logging 24 hour runs of 162, 140, 154, and 161 nm. Gradually the winds diminished to around 20 knots or less, but we continued to log more than 140 nm each day.

Finally, on May 20, we altered course to head south of 30° North Latitude. We did this to stay in the fresh easterly winds and also to avoid the potential of headwinds forming above that latitude.

When we departed Madeira there was a deep low pressure trough lying off the U.S. Coast in the vicinity of Bermuda. Now nearly a week later, as we passed 30° West Longitude, that trough was still in place and it continued to spawn a series of small storm systems in the vicinity of the Bahamas that then raced off to the northeast. By this time we were in daily contact with Hilgenberg on the South Bound II net and were able to use his input in maneuvering toward Bermuda without sailing directly into one of these storms.

On Hilenberg’s advice, we sailed down to nearly 26° North Latitude to stay out of the effects of these storms, one of which was the short-lived Tropical Storm Barry.

Finally, on May 31, as we reached 55° West Longitude and TS Barry was moving up the southeast coast, we turned north directly for Bermuda. We arrived in St. George’s Harbour on June 3. The total distance sailed by log from Madeira to Bermuda was 2,771 nm in just under 20 days during which time we averaged 138 nm/day. We also accomplished one of my major goals — to minimize engine hours. We used the main engine for only 40 hours on the passage. Most of those hours were on the final run to Bermuda when we used the engine to keep our speed up so we could beat a frontal passage into Bermuda. We did not use the engine at all for the first two weeks of the passage.

We spent a pleasant week in Bermuda where we were joined by Calt’s wife Christie McGue for the final leg to the Chesapeake Bay. We had to delay our departure for several days while a semi-stationary low north of Bermuda continuously fed strong northwesterly winds into the area. At last, on June 11, the low moved far enough to the northeast to allow us to depart.

Unfortunately, when that low pressure system moved off so did all of the wind, and we had calm to light air conditions for the entire trip to the Chesapeake. At this point, I was less concerned about engine hours than when we departed Lagos, and we motored all but 26 hours of the 6-day trip to the Chesapeake. After stopping in Little Creek, Va., to check in with Homeland Security and to take on fuel, we continued to motor up the Chesapeake to Sarah’s old berth in Town Creek off the Patuxent River, near the yachting center of Solomons, Md.

For me, this was a very successful route. It accomplished all of my goals for the trip and (except for the leg from Bermuda to the Chesapeake) provided days of really great sailing in excellent weather. Although I wasn’t monitoring the weather on the Azores route, I expect conditions there were not nearly as pleasant with a continuous stream of low pressure systems moving just north of the rhumb line between Bermuda and the Azores.

This certainly would not be the preferred route for all crossings from Europe to the U.S. East Coast. Those departing from north of the Iberian Peninsula or those destined for the Northeast U.S. would probably opt for the much shorter route from the Azores. However, I do recommend that anyone departing from Spain, Portugal or the Mediterranean for the U.S. Coast south of Cape May, N.J., consider this route in your planning.

About the Author

John Stevenson is the owner of Sarah, a Pearson 424 ketch, which he keeps at Town Creek Landing Marina in California, Maryland.

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