Bermuda to Azores Crossing

[Tom and Maje]

Hi all,

I'll be taking the boat across with the ARC Rally in May, and want to be able to chat with anyone who has made the crossing on a catamaran.

TIA,

Maje

[yeloya]

It's simple; go north as the wind get lighter and south id it gets too strong


I was lucky and I did in 14 days from BVI to Azores with winds between 20-35 kts, mostly under spi and surfing, surfing and surfing...
Good luck..


Cheers


Yeloya

[Tom and Maje]

Yeloya,

Thanks. What kind of boat do you have? I've flown my spinnaker in 25 knots, but I wouldn't want to go over that.

Maje

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

Yeloya,

Thanks. What kind of boat do you have? I've flown my spinnaker in 25 knots, but I wouldn't want to go over that.

Maje

It wass an Orana 44 from FP, not particularly fast boat. I used 150 sqm runner spinneaker. The cut was special and I could use it DDW from 180 and it wouldn't collapse easily even when occasionaly pass to the wrong tack, very forgiving in trimming. The sailmaker told me that up 25 kts app, it would be safe. That makes roughly 30-35 kts true depending on the wind direction or yr speed.
I was making 9-10 kts and surfing above 20 kts for a shorwhile. The max speed I've seen was 23,6 kts. And under these conditions autopilote held perfectly. It's really fun..

Finally, I never use my spinneaker with the main sail. I know some people find it dangerous but with big roach of catamaran it is very difficult to trim the spi. When the wind was getting too much , I was unfurling my genoa first to kill tehy spi and then pull it down behind the genoa. Never had any problem..

Cheers

Yeloya

[Tom and Maje]

Thanks. We have a Leopard 40. Our spinnaker goes well from about 140 to 180. When we came down from Pt. Judith, RI to Cape May, NJ last year the winds were gusting 25 and our best speed was 16.

What do you mean my specially made?

Maje

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

What do you mean my specially made?

Maje

The tack side was not straight but had a curve towards other side which probably was keeping the spi alive even when the wind was moving to the wrong tack..

Cheers

Yeloya

[Tom and Maje]

That's interesting. I'll have to look into it.

Maje