Transatlantic West -> East part 3/3

October 03, 2023

We left Povocao on the southeast tip of Sao Miguel on September 3, 2023 at 11 in the morning. We didn't know exactly where we were going, we just knew we were sailing east and were aiming for mainland Europe, anywhere from Porto, Portugal to Brest, France. We had a pretty wide target to hit! We would make our decision during the passage, based on weather and crew mood. We were hoping for Brest because we all wanted to spend more time exploring the south coast of Brittany, but we also didn't want to beat ourselves up to get there. A good, comfortable passage was trumping the destination.

It had been hard to find a good window to make the final leg of the Transatlantic. Big low pressure systems kept coming off Canada generating a sizeable northerly swell. There were also days of strong northerlies funneling down the coast of Spain and Portugal to keep an eye on. Eventually we decided we just needed to go for it. If we pointed more southerly, toward Porto, Lisbon, or even Lagos, we'd have a nice, downwind passage. If the winds cooperated a little with our plans, we could point further north, possibly even making France. So while the forecast wasn't ideal to head to France, we knew that we had plenty of options so we felt good about our departure.

following seas

We left ahead of a big low pressure system with the plan to catch as much of its westerly winds as possible. The first day was easy and calm--a perfect start to the passage after spending a couple months in marinas. We kept a due easterly course even though we really wanted to head northeast because we wanted to be certain that the low passed to the north of us and we stayed away from the 40-50 knot winds.

Freja's throne for the passage

Freja's perspective

A quick video of how our gimbaled stove which makes it possible to cook hot meals at sea.

This was a good experience for us to make our own decisions as opposed to blindly following the computer-generated weather routing tracks from Predict Wind. Predict Wind has amazing software where you can input your current location and your destination and, based on a variety of forecast models, it will spit out the "best" course to sail. In this case, it kept routing us directly through the center of the low. No thank you! We added our own point located due east of our location and south of the low. After the low passed we put in a point for Brest and made a course change to the northeast. It was a fun mental exercise to really analyze the weather models (again and again and again) and make good decisions about our path across the Atlantic. Of course we always make informed decisions about our course, but Predict Wind usually gets the routing pretty spot on and so we invariably follow their suggested course closely. On this passage, by heading due east and then northeast, we certainly weren't following the rhumb line so we ended up tacking on more miles, but they were comfortable miles which was our top priority. (Well, safety is always top, but comfort and safety generally go hand in hand.)

Squalls! And a fishing boat just going directly into them!

As the low passed us, it was squally and the winds and seas increased as expected. Nothing crazy but we were seeing consistent wind speeds of 25 knots and big seas, 3-4 meters. The seas were far apart, at least 10 seconds so it was comfortable and fast. And of course once the low passed, the wind died down and the sea state got all confused. Big lumpy seas but coming from all different directions. We ended up motoring for I think 24 hours but I don't remember precisely.

The series entitled: When the seas block out the horizon.

Momentarily clear of squalls and cruising along at 6+ knots with wind speeds around 25.

Another look at the weather showed that it was possible to continue on to Brest but the last 3-4 days would be a straight motor. Alternatively, we could sail to Baiona, Spain, a town we loved on our trip south in 2021 but only had 24 hours to visit, and arrive on Saturday morning. Pressing on to Brest would mean a a motor from Saturday morning to our arrival on Monday afternoon. We decided to stop in Baiona. Three days of motoring is no fun, especially when you could be eating tapas in Spain!

This made me laugh. It's very easy to get sedentary on the boat. If I don't get off the boat on any given day, then I end up walking maybe 50 steps. My cardio health definitely took a hit while we were in the Bahamas. So I've set-up the Fitness app on my phone to help me be accountable and more active. It got pretty mad at me for not moving for a week.

Well this will be fun. Crossing the shipping lanes about 50 miles offshore from Spain.

Flat seas and sunshine! We finally got to eat dinner outside. (Hans was sleeping.)

Overall we had a great passage. The kids were rather fed up the whole time, but Hans and I felt good about our course decisions, the boat, and the overall sailing. Hans did more reefing and un-reefing in six days than he's done in a year, so he certainly earned his arrival beverage! No part of the passage was scary or unduly comfortable and it was great to close our Atlantic circuit on a good note.

Sunrise.

Following seas

And here we are, back in Spain! 850 nautical miles from Sao Miguel, passage time just shy of 6 days, average speed 6.1 knots, approx 144 hours total, of which 44 were spent motoring. When we left France in 2020 we didn't leave with a specific plan, just to travel, explore, and learn via our own boat. Now we've ended up completing an Atlantic circuit! What's next? Nothing specific, but we're all happy to not have finished some big passages and are excited to explore Europe.