A fair question given the onset of winter back home and where November would be a very poor time to set off.

The prevailing winds on a passage from the Canaries to the Caribbean are the north-east trades. These winds were first recognised by Spanish and Portuguese navigators way back in the late 15th century. They were used to great effect to discover the New World and to establish a significant presence in India and the Far East by sea - by heading out into the mid Atlantic on the north-east trade winds before doubling back to the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean on the south-west trade winds of the Southern Atlantic.

The north-east trade winds blow all year round so we can expect to be sailing before the wind (ie with the wind blowing us along) all of the way. This is much easier and more comfortable than sailing into the wind which would be the case if we started in the UK where the prevailing winds are westerlies. As to the actual weather, one of our passage planning books notes that “trade winds rarely reach gale force … and the weather associated with them is usually pleasant with blue skies and fluffy cumulus clouds”. We’ll see.

The main timing consideration is in fact the hurricane season in the Caribbean and US east coast. The official dates for this are 1st June to 30th November and arrival in the Caribbean before the end of November is considered unwise.

So by setting off in mid November, we will arrive in the Caribbean at the earliest possible, safe opportunity and also in time for Christmas.

The hurricane season is also going to dictate how long we stay in the Caribbean. It is a condition of our insurance that the boat is north of New York before the start of the 2017 season. Our plan therefore is to stay in the Caribbean until late March, then head north along the US east coast (Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey) during April and May before spending the summer months exploring the coastline of New England and then laying up the boat for the winter.

After that we have no firm plans but at some point I expect we’ll be harnessing those westerlies on a more northerly route to get us back to Europe.