The Voyage of Spindrift from Croatia to the Caribbean (and back) – 2011 to 2013

Summary

In 2011 we will sail our yacht, Spindrift, from Croatia to Canary Islands then across the Atlantic to the Windward Islands in the Caribbean – about 5,000 miles. Family members will fly out to join in Croatia, the Canaries and the Caribbean while our daughter lives in our house for the next nine months. After four months in the Caribbean we return to the UK in April 2012. We then return to the Caribbean in early 2013 and complete the 9,000 miles Atlantic circuit by returning to Europe by June 2013.

The Yacht

‘Spindrift of Jersey’ is a very solid centre cockpit Moody 44 built in 1992. She is 13 metres (43 feet) long, has up to eight berths and is fully equipped for offshore sailing and long-term living aboard, with items such as desalination unit, diesel and wind electricity generators, automatic helm controls, liferaft, satellite phone and electronic GPS charts. [ http://www.moodyowners.net/Moody_Archives/36_boat.htm ]

We bought her in Wales in 2003 after our previous yacht was destroyed by a hurricane on the Caribbean island of Grenada and we have sailed her from Wales to Croatia with stops of varying length in the Algarve, Majorca and Malta.

Croatia (July & August)

Chris, Lynn and Oliver (now aged 3) have a holiday and leisurely cruise round the islands of the Dalmatian coast around Split in Croatia. Lynn and Oliver will fly home at the end of August.

Croatia to the Canary Islands

This passage is about 2,000 nautical miles and is expected to take four or five weeks.

Chris and a crew of two or three will leave the marina near Split, Croatia at the end of August 2011 and sail south through the Adriatic around Italy and through the Straits of Messina. Then from Sicily to Sardinia and the Balearics and along the Spain’s south coast to Gibraltar. From Gibraltar the passage will be non-stop to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands and we expect to arrive around end of September but have allowed 6 weeks to be certain.  There will probably be short stops in Sicily, Majorca, southern Spain and Gibraltar depending on progress.

The sailing will be a mix of some long day sails, some passages of a couple of days and nights at a time with an occasional longer passage. This will be determined by weather – if the weather is in our favour we will take advantage and make as much distance as possible. If not we may stop for a day or two. There is time allowed for delays due to weather and equipment problems. We will motor or motor sail if we can’t make 5 knots or more under sail – we need to get there in reasonable time. She is a heavy boat so needs decent wind to do this. Gibraltar to Lanzarote will be the longest passage of about 5 days non-stop. 

Canary Islands

After arriving in Lanzarote we will do any repairs and have a few upgrade jobs to complete. The crew will return to the UK and the family will fly out to join the boat in mid October and we will be based in Marina Rubicon on Lanzarote for a couple of weeks, with a few days sailing around Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

We will then move to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria at the end of October.

We will berth in the marina at Las Palmas but also have an apartment booked for four weeks so that we can work on the boat and stock up and accommodate visitors and arriving crew.

The Atlantic crossing will be with a rally of 200 yachts – the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). As a result there will be a lot of social events running in Las Palmas and a number of briefings on safety, weather, routeing, etc.

On 20^th November Chris will set sail for the crossing to St. Lucia in the Caribbean with crew of four.

Lynn and Oliver will fly home for a couple of weeks.

Atlantic Crossing (November & December)

The crossing is about 2,800 nautical miles and is expected to take about three weeks.

Progress of all yachts can be followed on the ARC website [ http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/ and choose the ‘Fleet Viewer’ on the right].  The route goes southwest from the Canaries until the easterly trade winds are sufficiently constant and then turns east to the Windward Islands. The trade winds typically blow at about force 5 to 6, in the right direction, so the sailing should be great. They are pretty reliable at that time of year but occasionally there is a lull and motoring for long periods isn’t much of an option due to limited fuel, so if we are unlucky we might have a few days delay.

Landfall will be at St. Lucia around 9^th December plus or minus a couple of days. Lynn and Oliver fly out to St. Lucia on 9^th December and we have an apartment booked for a week – in case Spindrift hasn’t arrived by then.

Christmas will probably be in St. Lucia, although Martinique is the next island to the north and might be an interesting option around that time.

The Caribbean (Dec to April)

After Christmas we will work our way south through the absolutely wonderful Windward Islands – St Vincent and the Grenadines including Bequia, Mustique, Union Island, Tobago Cays, Carriacou, Grenada and others. We know these islands as our previous yacht was based there a few years.

We will probably spend the last few weeks in Grenada before laying up Spindrift in a boatyard there.

We fly home on 3^rd April from Grenada.

The Return Trip (2013)

We expect to return to Grenada in the winter of 2012 and make our way north through the Windward Islands. Oliver will need to be back by Easter to start school, so Chris will complete the trip through the Leeward Islands to the British Virgin Islands to join the ARC Europe rally that returns to Europe in May.

The route goes to Bermuda and the Azores before arriving in Portugal or veering off to the UK [http://www.worldcruising.com/arceurope/itinerary.aspx ] .

We haven’t decided yet what our eventual destination will be.