There is also a free daily shuttle to the customs office downtown. super convenient map that gives a complete overview of the cyclone seasons across the world, extensive checklist of 41 Cruising Essentials, step-by-step guide on how to plot a course on a nautical chart. This means sailing due north for the first week or so out of Hawaii. Make sure you complete any jobs or essential maintenance you have been putting off. Others may choose to put their boat up in a marina and enjoy an overland tour of the continent. This voyage is definitely only recommended for highly experienced sailors on seaworthy and proven vessels. The options for offshore sailing routes are as wide ranging as your own ambition and capabilities allow. This is actually a good thing, because you will really want to make sure everything onboard is shipshape before reaching South Africa. Brochure cruising in the turquoise, sheltered water of a typical French Polynesia atoll. Squalls (a kind of localized storm with strong wind and rain) can strike with little notice. The worlds largest ocean contains endless amounts of natural beauty, unique wildlife and sites of cultural interest. You may want to wait until November to make the final sail up the Caribbean Islands back to Florida in order to time your arrival with the end of the Atlantic hurricane season. All first-time circumnavigators share certain challenges in the first few months of their voyage like anxiety, depression, seasickness, and problems at sea. Make sure to take a look, it will help you to get a good overview easily. Later that day, I had already begun to draw a design for a boat of my own and I had traced my future sailing route around the world with a green crayon in my fathers atlas. Once in the NE trade winds north of the Equator, you will want to sail an arc to the west from the NE tip of Brazil to the Azores. Regardless of how you choose to spend your summer in the Med, you will definitely want to make sure to be back at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar by September or October.
Cape Horn itself is only a few hundred miles from Antarctica. There has been less swell, more regular winds and no squalls, and after you arrive in the Marquesas youre rarely more than four days from your next destination. Organize the insurance for your boat. Once you get to the Marquesas Islands, you are in the heart of one of the most loved cruising grounds anywhere in the world. South of 40 degrees, the prevailing winds are behind you again, but you will likely encounter a gale every 3 to 5 days. This route offers sailors the unique opportunity to visit more than two dozen countries on their own boat without making a single long distance ocean crossing. It is estimated that 10,000 sailors died trying to round the Horn in the age of sail. Alternatively, you could sail down to Mexico and Cabo San Lucas if youd prefer to start further south. If you get to the coast of Portugal unscathed, you could make it all the way to the South Atlantic before you get to your first serious storm of the voyage.
If you continue west-southwest toward 6 degrees south latitude and 100 degrees west latitude, you should find that the trade winds become stronger and more stable. This is a great option for sailors who want to take a year off to sail offshore and see much of the world, but dont quite want to commit to a round the world sail. This allows you to cross the Indian Ocean and get into the safety of South African waters before the cyclone season starts in late November. maersk transpacific
They were so named because in the days of commercial sail, becalmed ships would throw horses over the side to lighten the load). Once you have made your way through the NW Passage, winter will already be well on its way. With a little luck, and the help of an iron genny, (sailor-speak for engine) you will be back in the trades in 3 to 5 days. For instance, when youre sailing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas Islands, the fastest route involves setting a course south-southwest down to 3 to 4 degrees south latitude.
With an eye on the weather there are plenty of protected anchorages throughout the Pacific, and there are all-weather ports in most island groups. The advantage to this option is the ability to circumnavigate the world even if you only have one year available, and to get to sample a wide variety of countries around the world in a short period of time. We discussed the crossing from Mexico to French Polynesia in the Trans-Pacific Sailing Routes section above.
I'm a freelance writer from the UK. The good news is the further south you sail, the more favorable the sailing conditions will get. I don't like spam - I will only send helpful content. Once the trade winds set in and the crew have adjusted to life at sea, its time to enjoy one of the most beautiful places in the world the open ocean. For this reason, I like to make a stop at Christmas Island, Kiribati on the voyage between Tahiti and Hawaii. albatross If you are planning to sail to French Polynesia, you can choose one of three options: 1. Its worth taking the time to explore the region and youll find you can spend months, even years, cruising there. In order to take advantage of this brief window, you will need to be positioned at the entrance to the NW Passage by late July. Here you can rest, reprovision and make your final preparations for the crossing to the Caribbean. Most of the time, this is an easy downwind sail which will provide you an opportunity to see how your vessel and crew handle offshore sailing before the much longer passage ahead. The adventurous can drift snorkel through the passes on an incoming tide, and you can effortlessly glide amongst sharks and large fish feeding. It depends on how lucky youre feeling! 
If your boats draft is 6 feet or less, you wont want to miss Lago Isabela in Guatemala a freshwater lake surrounded by jungle that is accessible via the navigable Rio Dulce. If you are departing from the Pacific Northwest, you will want to sail down the Pacific Coast to California before the end of September for the most favorable weather. For the purpose of this article, we will presume you are departing from the Caribbean, but the same routing could easily be adapted to apply to sailors who sail from Europe or either coast of North America. You will likely sail short passages from port to port along the South African coast until you get to Cape Town. In 1969, the first nonstop sailing circumnavigation was completed in Falmouth by Sir Robin Knox Johnston, and to this day most round the world sailing races depart from either Britain or France. Fortunately for the cruising sailor, the worst of the weather can be avoided by careful weather routing. This is often the longest nonstop passage that sailors will make in the Pacific. cruising radiance seas In an ideal world, youd wait until the currents are on your side as otherwise, it can be slow going. Even Christopher Columbus spent several weeks here topping up his water and supplies before sailing into the unknown on his first voyage to the Americas in 1492. Enough people have made the journey so you can find a lot of information written on the subject. After the first couple of photos you post posing next to giant tortoises, swimming with hammerhead sharks your popularity will wane. The position of the high will determine how far north you need to sail before turning east. The passage to the Galapagos should pose no major problems but you will probably have to sail through The Doldrums and you will cross the equator. Then you are in the perfect position to safely complete your transatlantic sail to the Caribbean (described in the previous section, Trans-Atlantic Sailing Routes). But fear not the passage from the Canaries to the Caribbean is downhill all the way! Regardless of your destination on the West Coast, when you cross from Hawaii to the mainland you will need to sail around the Pacific High. South Africa is famous for challenging sailing conditions. For many of the sailors departing Europe for the Caribbean, the passage from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean is their first long-distance offshore passage. The first is the North Pacific Hurricane Season, which lasts from June until November, and the other is the South Pacific Cyclone Season, which is between November and May. On this itinerary, you would leave Florida in November and transit the Panama Canal in January. The route you take is yours to decide. When you enter the Pacific from the Panama Canal you can feel this is a different ocean. You may want to be prepared to keep your boat in Alaska for the winter in order to avoid crossing the North Pacific Ocean in the stormy winter season. Did you find the answer to your specific question? The key is to overcome them and enjoy Find everything you need for the ultimate sailing lifestyle. The Society Islands have an interior like the Marquesas and lagoons like the Tuamotus, but neither are quite as good. The shortest route between the capes passes far to the south, but its a good idea to stay north of 45 degrees to avoid the worst of the weather and ice. The distance from Panama to Australia is 8000 nautical miles but the time it takes to sail this distance depends on the winds, the size of the vessel and stopping times. The distance from the Galapagos to the Marquesas is about 3,400 NM. Here we will discuss the sailing route for a cruising sailboat which aims to circumnavigate the world by way of the Five Great Capes in one season. picksea transoceanic pacific jump puddle trans sailing larger But its no easy task to sail eastbound across the Pacific. Personally, I am extremely tempted to cruise the Greek Islands and the coast of Turkey before wrapping up my Meditteranean sail with some off-the-beaten-track side trips to Northern Africa or the Middle East. You can lose a lot of friends when youre sailing across the Pacific. You might choose to go on the northern route, crossing through the Torres Strait, or the southern route. link to Overcome the Challenges of Setting Sail. This part of the world has a well earned reputation for putting sailors heavy-weather sailing skills to the test. Seas are gentle with long, lazy swells and, apart from the very rare trough reaching up from lows in the south, it is settled tradewind sailing. There are tricky coral passes to negotiate, and it helps to speak French, but time spent preparing and planning can help make it plain sailing and, in my experience, the cruise of a lifetime. ImproveSailing is compensated for referring traffic and business to this companies. My profession has allowed me to sail all over the world from Greenland to the Southern Ocean and many places in between. Check and then check again. Its also a beautiful cruising ground of its own well worth the extra miles for the adventurous sailor. Another interesting challenge for boating adventurers that is becoming more free of ice every year is the Northern Sea Route, or the NE Passage, over the top of Russia. Once youve had your fill of green and lush beauty (yes, it rains) and have filled the boat with Pomello grapefruit, mangoes, coconuts and pineapples, its time to push off to the Tuamotus. The ideal time to cross the North Atlantic is between March and May, depending upon your port of departure (Unless you are crossing the far north via Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland, which is better done between June through August.). . On arrival you need to get the tide times right to navigate a narrow pass, but the reward is a calm, clean and incredibly blue lagoon. Now you are in the beautiful southernmost city in Africa, which is an excellent jumping off place for the final leg of your circumnavigation crossing the South Atlantic Ocean back to the Caribbean. For US-based West Coast sailors, the Strait of Juan de Fuca is a common choice for starting the journey across the Pacific. Fortunately, this sailing route is near the end of their trajectory, which means by the time most tropical depressions get this far they have been on the radar long enough to get out of the way. This step means youll be more familiar with the challenges youre likely to face once youre out in the open ocean. Hi, I'm Shawn, and when I was 2 years old, I was sailing (with my parents) on the English Channel during a proper storm (and by proper I mean something along the lines of force 10). Planning for a return passage to Europe from the Caribbean is a little more complex. Dont expect to find supermarkets at your stopping points! Find a secure marina (there are lots of excellent options) and trade your boat for a camper van or RV for an antipodal road trip through NZ and Oz. A cruising sailors blog, newsfeed or Instagram account from the Pacific is an onslaught of images and videos of every flavour of paradise from the green, dramatic and rugged landscape of the Marquesas with its huge waterfalls, the coral atolls and blue lagoons of the Tuamotus, to Tahiti and Bora Bora, the volcanic eruptions and cauldrons of lava in Vanuatu, the breaching whales of the Coral Sea Enough already, as they say! Keep in mind that all of the ports of the Pacific coast of Washington and Oregon are river bar crossings, and thus can only be safely entered when conditions are calm. From here onward the passages are much shorter and you shouldnt have to sail more than a week in between landfalls until its time to leave the South Pacific. The route through the canal is complex and you run the risk of being delayed during peak periods. Onwards from here you are never far from the next anchorage. With proper planning and a solid understanding of offshore sailing routes I know that I can sail anywhere in the world. The chances of a big storm at that time of the year is much lower than the middle of the season. This time of year, its only north of the Equator where there is risk of encountering a hurricane. Early in your passage, you will have to traverse the Gulf Stream current. Plan on leaving for Hawaii by early July.
It requires hard work, perseverance, the ability to adapt, and the willingness to take on a certain amount of (calculated) risk to run a remote business at sea.
To round Cape Horn, you will have to pass 56 degrees south.
Early winter is best as it gives you the most time to find a safe place to keep your vessel before hurricane season begins in June. This is the end of the safe sailing season in the Indian Ocean, but the start of the austral summer at the Cape of Good Hope. If youre planning to hire a car at any stage of your journey, make sure you have an international driving license too. I was five years old, and my parents had taken me to visit the boat show in the Tacoma Dome for the first time. transpacific trade interoceanic Here you can wait for the ideal weather window to sail the 700 NM to the Canary Islands. ImproveSailing is compensated for referring traffic and business to this companies. This passage is famous for consistent trade winds, and the prevailing weather will push you all the way to the Caribbean. When sailing across the Pacific, the two main points of departure are: Below we'll go over both these journeys in more detail, and what to expect for both. The quickest route across the Pacific is the one that makes the most of the favorable winds throughout the journey. The ice limit in the Pacific is a little further south than the Indian or Atlantic Oceans, so once you pass New Zealand its usually safe to sail a little farther south. For the Pacific ocean, the cyclone season will dictate when you can attempt your crossing. We will discuss this route in further detail in the next section. Your options are to cruise Southern California, put up your boat in a marina and explore inland for a few months, or cross the border and wait in Ensenada, Mexico. I dont know the height of the waves, but needless to say, I wont try that again any time soon! vabre casiraghi transat If youre planning to sail through the Torres Strait and into the Indian Ocean, you should aim to be through the Torres by late August to early September at the latest. Sailors in a well found and properly prepared seagoing yacht should have no problem. Leave your boat here and fly home until April. Twenty three years later, I am writing these words as a licensed yacht delivery captain with 65,000 nautical miles (NM) of offshore sailing routes under my keel. By the time you arrive in Antigua, the wind should be on the beam and its just a one day beam reach between islands all the way down to Trinidad. This passage is a little more complicated than the Atlantic crossing in the previous section because you will be transiting the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (known among sailors as the ITCZ or the doldrums). I climbed into the cabin with my little brother and decided that a boat wasnt a bad place to call home. Leaving Florida in January, you would transit the Panama Canal in February and cross to the South Pacific in March, arriving in Tahiti by April. What Do I Need to Prepare Before I Leave? alaska caribbean royal route seas cruise map ovation tour rccl bigger adventures including everything cruisetours Those departing from the Pacific Northwest will want to sail down the coast of Washington, Oregon and Northern California between May and October. This is one of the best ways you can stay ahead of the wave when it comes to planning your next boating adventure wherever the winds may take you! Bear in mind, however, that any fresh food you have with you when you reach the Galapagos Islands will be removed to protect the delicate ecosystem. Photos: Tor Johnson / Dan Bower / Olivier Parent / Alamy.
If that is you, then its worth slowing down and enjoying more of what Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu have to offer. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 1: introducing our 12-part series with a cruise in the Pacific, Through the Panama Canal in your yacht: everything you need to know, Behind the scenes film goes inside British Olympic sailing squad, WATCH: Loic Escoffier rescued after capsizing 70 miles south of Fastnet Rock, Amazon Prime Day boating deals: How to save big on sailing kit this summer, Crew rescued from upturned hull of new Farr X2 after keel loss, J-Class yachts kick off Superyacht Cup Palma in style, 2020 Vende Globe preview: Pip Hare and Paul Larsens guide to the fleet, Spirit 111: This sailing art gallery is one of the most sensational yachts ever built, Video: See inside 9 of the most amazing modern sailing superyachts, Lagoon 46 first look: Updating this catamaran is a significant step for the yard, Excess 15 first look: This vibrant catamaran can sail in the lightest of winds, Dragonfly 40 yacht tour: This cruising trimaran can do 24 knots.
In the same period of time, 286 such storms were recorded in the North Atlantic region. The hardest part about this leg is deciding where to go there are 80 atolls to choose from. The hurricanes that pose a risk on this passage usually develop in the Gulf of Mexico with many days warning before making it this far west. The Azores are 2,000 NM to the east, and it should take most boats two to three weeks to get there. The time it takes to sail across the Pacific does not cover the full extent of the experience. Then turn west, and you will be sailing across the prevailing winds and currents the rest of the way to the Galapagos Islands. If you make it to Southern California by the end of September, you have two months to relax before the season begins to sail down the coast of Baja California. Since then I've enjoyed sailing very much - and I've never been afraid of the water again. routing ocean In the next three sections, we will explore sailing circuits of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. This circuit is very doable in 6 or 7 months, but if you find yourself wanting to slow down there are many options available to wait out the hurricane season. This will give you a better sailing angle later on in the passage. Always keep an eye on the horizon and be ready to reef the sails quickly if necessary. transoceanic silversea
