Best route and time to sail from canaries to UK

[davethedog]

Hello all,

When is the perceived best time to take a sailboat from the Canary Islands to the UK?
Also, what is the "normal" route people do for this trip?

A friend is looking to take his boat back that way and just gathering as much information as possible to come up with a plan as current thinking is start of April to head either via Madeira or straight to Cascais (Portugal) and then head up the coast to A Coruna before crossing Biscay.

Any opinions welcomed!

DTD

[Oceansailor]

Originally Posted by davethedog

Hello all,



When is the perceived best time to take a sailboat from the Canary Islands to the UK?

Also, what is the "normal" route people do for this trip?



A friend is looking to take his boat back that way and just gathering as much information as possible to come up with a plan as current thinking is start of April to head either via Madeira or straight to Cascais (Portugal) and then head up the coast to A Coruna before crossing Biscay.



Any opinions welcomed!



DTD

You have to sit in the Canaries and wait for the weather window to sail north. Normally the right time is in April-May. Have patience. There will always come a weather window. Make sure you have time to wait. Fighting the prevailing southerlies is not fun.

Canaries - Madeira-Azores-U.K.

See Madeira as a possible stop only if weather is not cooperating. If the winds are right you want to continue at least to Azores or Galicia.

The tough part is to get to the Azores or Galicia in northern Spain. After that it is only to cross Bay of Biscay and you are home.

[slug]

Originally Posted by davethedog

Hello all,

When is the perceived best time to take a sailboat from the Canary Islands to the UK?
Also, what is the "normal" route people do for this trip?

A friend is looking to take his boat back that way and just gathering as much information as possible to come up with a plan as current thinking is start of April to head either via Madeira or straight to Cascais (Portugal) and then head up the coast to A Coruna before crossing Biscay.

Any opinions welcomed!

DTD

That is never a nice trip...northerly winds are common .

Best to pick you weather , keep the legs short and enjoy life

[Oceansailor]

The weather window is much more likely in April-May. It is a 36 hours sail up to Madeira from La Palma. Madeira to Azores is 450 Nm. But normally easier as the course is more to the NW. There is quite a lot of cruisers in the Canaries that spend the summer in the Azores and the winters in the Canaries. From Azores you normally have SW or W winds to the U.K.

[Izon]

@davethedog: Did your friend make the trip in the end and if it is the case how was his final route? Maybe in the future I will make a similar route, i dont know...but some personal information about how the experience was is always good. But yeah...this year with covid is something special and maybe he changed his plans?

[davethedog]

An update, we set off a month ago from Gran Canaria as the winds were looking favourable in all the forecasts, but they were wrong! We ended up in a F8 (that was totally unpredicted by ALL the forecast models) and to top it off the engine failed so we had to turn back and managed to limp back to a port under sail.

Time ran out so we are looking to do the trip Feb or Mar 2021, when hopefully COVID will not impact everyone as much.

DTD

[Breeze Dreamer]

Originally Posted by davethedog

An update, we set off a month ago from Gran Canaria as the winds were looking favourable in all the forecasts, but they were wrong! We ended up in a F8 (that was totally unpredicted by ALL the forecast models) and to top it off the engine failed so we had to turn back and managed to limp back to a port under sail.

Time ran out so we are looking to do the trip Feb or Mar 2021, when hopefully COVID will not impact everyone as much.

DTD

Hi Dave, I was wondering how you got on with your trip and if you could share any tips?


Best regards

B