CROSSING THE ATLANTIC, WEST TO EAST

May and June are generally considered the best times to cross from west to east. We left St Maarten at the end of May and we averaged 6.5kts, arriving in the Azores 17 days later. We ran our engine for a total of 30 hours.

We spoke to other sailors on our arrival in Horta who took the traditional route heading north-east from Bermuda to 40° north and endured 50 knot winds, compared to the 35 knots winds we experienced. We had no downwind sailing.

I am confident that leaving later in May attributed to our relatively calm conditions. However, we did speak to other skippers who arrived after us, who experienced 50 knot winds. We were also happy with our decision to approach from the southwest, never going above 38° north. Having three adult crew was ideal for our watch schedule of 3-2-3 hours, which worked well.

There are several items I wouldn’t do an ocean crossing without, including our dual below-deck autopilots. We used one system for the first half of the crossing, then changed to the second to try and avoid too much wear on the electric actuators. The radar was particularly handy on night watches when a squall could be easily identified. Often, we could adjust our course slightly to avoid them. Our fuel supply was 500 litres giving us an 800 mile range from our 55hp Yanmar 4JH4E. We used roughly half of this amount. After the experience with our batteries, we plan to install a battery temperature sensor.

Useful information can be found in World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell, 8th edition (Adlard Coles,

£60), and Imray Chart 100.