Sailing from the US to Europe right now. What do you think about the timing?

[CarinaPDX]

Having known a sailor who lost his boat, and very nearly his life, by the sixth gale he encountered while crossing the North Atlantic in April I am not so sanguine about the prospects. Like it or not, it is riskier crossing in the winter than a passage in the late spring season. Whether one accepts that risk is a personal issue but one ignores it at their peril.

Greg

[category4jay]

FWIW. Forgive me if this is a thread drift. La Vagabond is currently running 5.9 kts several hundred miles off the coast of N. Carolina heading either into the wind or heading SE to Bermuda. So it looks like they’re attempting a crossing. Riley you got this mate!

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by category4jay

FWIW. Forgive me if this is a thread drift. La Vagabond is currently running 5.9 kts several hundred miles off the coast of N. Carolina heading either into the wind or heading SE to Bermuda. So it looks like they’re attempting a crossing. Riley you got this mate!

He may have this, and they'll probably be fine and I truly hope this is so BUT it still doesn't make it a wise decision. His partner doesn't handle sailing stress particularly well by her own admission, Greta has very little sailing experience and is 16, is the child onboard? .......when I did my RYA yacht master the instructor said I'll do fine sailing around the world "God looks after fools", I hope hes right.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by category4jay

FWIW. Forgive me if this is a thread drift. La Vagabond is currently running 5.9 kts several hundred miles off the coast of N. Carolina heading either into the wind or heading SE to Bermuda. So it looks like they’re attempting a crossing. Riley you got this mate!

Just hope he heeds the advice of Nikki Henderson

[Exile]

I read that Greta's father is also onboard and that he had a lot of experience. I wonder if their strategy is to ride the northern tier of the mid-Atlantic high, or possibly head for lower, (potentially) safer latitudes?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Exile

I read that Greta's father is also onboard and that he had a lot of experience. I wonder if their strategy is to ride the northern tier of the mid-Atlantic high, or possibly head for lower, (potentially) safer latitudes?

heading south fast now ,and will be for at least the next 48hrs,cant see them getting across by the 2nd of dec for the start of the conference,

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tra...ingLaVagabonde

[ahun]

Where can I bet they are going to turn around within two weeks?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by ahun

Where can I bet they are going to turn around within two weeks?

as long as they don't break any thing in the next 48 hours they should be well positioned to head west on monday,might be a bit bumpy till then

[Tillsbury]

Certainly doesn’t look too pleasant out there over the weekend. Hope they get far enough south in time...

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by atoll

heading south fast now ,and will be for at least the next 48hrs,cant see them getting across by the 2nd of dec for the start of the conference,

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tra...ingLaVagabonde

Hows it go? "You can pick the destination or the time but not both".

[atoll]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Hows it go? "You can pick the destination or the time but not both".

that is why sail was phased out, and steam then the internal combustion engine became the norm.
although by the same token clearance certificates never changed and still say a vessel is "bound for" rather than "going to" their next destination.

i wonder how long when they hit the dead zone before la vagers start the engine

[StuM]

Originally Posted by atoll

as long as they don't break any thing in the next 48 hours they should be well positioned to head west on monday,might be a bit bumpy till then

They can head west just about any time

[Breaking Waves]

I tried to get the actual G titled thread to talk about her trip, but it has been hijacked by the climate debate . . . so . . . .

hmmmm . . . . to perhaps actually talk about sailing, since G is actually out sailing

They have gotten caught in an 'upwind' wind field, probably for today and tomorrow. The boat seems to sail pretty well, and they are (correctly) taking the southern tack. Sometime after around mid-day Saturday (depends on exactly where they get to) they will get a shift and should have a nice southerly wind, they want to be down around 33N, and then they should be able to rocket east for a while. Longer range (and thus ofc not at all certain), the highs do seem to be forecast to setup decently south, giving them a favorable route in the mid to high 30's (latitudes) usually with a bailout into lighter winds by dipping south into the highs.

I actually find this passage more interesting to follow that the typical. There are some interesting routing challenges, and I am curious about how the boat actually performs.

Anyone have a set of 'cruising' polars for this boat? I would be interested to do an actual weather routing.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by StuM

They can head west just about any time

my bad meant east.
though heading east currently would have them sailing into a hole,sailing west does not look good either with a bit of a tropical low moving up the us coast

[Breaking Waves]

Out of interest

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I don't have a specific polar for this boat - used an Open40 polar I was recently finetuning - certainly not optimal but may not be too far off.

It has wind shift, to southerly winds, and able to head east in about 12 hrs.