Day 5 Antigua to Portsmouth .....what type of ocean crosser are you?
Telefonica Black
Lance Shepherd
Thu 16 Apr 2020 22:13
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29:28.87N
058:17.61W
Hello all
Its been a lovely afternoon on board, 8 to 10 knots of
breeze, we are tootling along, everyone is on deck in the sunshine all sharing
sailing stories.
The subject of ocean crossing came up and the
question.....what type of ocean crosser are you?
Next season we will be crossing 4 times, which one would
you do?
1. The ARC-The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (Las Palmas
to St Lucia)
2. Navigation, routing and ocean weather masterclass (St
Lucia to Lanzarote)
3. RORC Transatlantic (Lanzarote to
Grenada)
4. Homewardbound via Bermuda and the Azores
(Antigua to Portsmouth)
1. The ARC-The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (Las Palmas
to St Lucia) November 2020
Prior to the start there is a festival atmosphere in Las
Palmas. 100s of boats all in the same marina prepping for the crossing.
All the big brands are there giving demos, there are
parties every night and the atmosphere is one of fun.
Then you get to cross the Atlantic in the company
of 100s of boats, the organizers send you weather updates every day and
there is a tracking app that you can follow all the boats.
Stunning trade wind sailing.
On your arrival into St Lucia, there is a steel band and
a rum punch to welcome you, so you can sit back and enjoy watching all the boats
come in behind you! We know its a rally for cruisers, but put more than 2 boats
together and its a race!!
2. Navigation, routing and ocean weather masterclass (St
Lucia to Lanzarote) December 2020
One of the things we get asked the most is how to read
the weather/gribs and how we do the routing, well this trip is geared up for you
to do it all.
We feel the best way to learn is to do and for this trip
we are handing over the navigation to you.
Prior to leaving St Lucia you will have a weather and
routing masterclass with Simon Rowell and also an introduction into using
timezero (navigational software on board)
Every day you will send your weather observations to
Simon and he will help with the narrative of how to read the gribs. He will also
do a QnA session every day if you require further information.
Once you have downloaded the weather, discussed
with the skipper and together plan the next step, you then sail and put your
plan into practice.
3. RORC Transatlantic (Lanzarote to Grenada) January
2021
Full on racing
Line up against similar boats with fully professional
crews
High side sleeping, racing watches, freeze dried food
and constantly asking how do we make this boat go faster.
To take part you need high motivation to keep going,
keep up the momentum as you are not a passenger on this race, you will be fully
involved in all aspects of racing the boat.
Race, East, Sleep, Repeat
Cross the finish line, berth in Caribbean paradise and
nothing will ever taste as good as that first cold beer the race committee
welcome you in with.....
4. Homewardbound via Bermuda and the Azores
(Antigua to Portsmouth) April 2021
We have given ourselves a good month to bring the boat
back to the UK. We will wait for the good weather windows, stop in Bermuda after
about 5 days of sailing. We will have a nice explore (a good shower!) re stock
with fresh food and then head to the Azores.
After a couple of days in the Azores we will then head
on the final leg to Portsmouth and time/weather depending maybe a stop in
Falmouth or the French Coast.
Nice relaxed crossing, showers enroute, fresh food and
good times!
As much as I should probably say I would be a 3, I am
defo more of a 4! I like to stop and explore and i have never been to Bermuda or
the Azores before.
Ohhh or maybe the ARC, with the parties and downwind
sailing.......Or a Simon Rowell Masterclass, he explains everything so well and
i always learn loads....too hard to decide!!
Claire
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