Having spent the early spring sailing the Atlantic, I didn’t do much “big boat” sailing this summer (I did spend some time learning 1000 ways to capsize a Laser!). So I decided I’d like to do more sailing over the winter months—in the Caribbean.
The first step is getting Resolute from Blue Hill, Maine down to Caribbean waters. I couldn’t leave earlier this month (the “hurricane season” ended for insurance purposes at the end of October) due to conflicting obligations. But I’m good to go now, at least as soon as I can get Resolute fully provisioned with food, safety gear and personal stuff. And when there’s a good weather window. This coming week looks reasonably benign, so I might leave as early as tomorrow if I can complete my on-boat and onshore preparations.
I plan to sail basically straight for Antigua, where I expect to use as a long term berth and base for the winter. That course (the “rhumb line”) would take me within 20nm of Bermuda—roughly halfway—but I only plan to stop there if I 1) need fuel, 2) see some nasty weather in the forecast, or 3) feel tired and need a personal “recharge.”
Here’s a screenshot of the optimal route for my trip (assuming the winds are exactly as predicted, that I sail at 90% of Resolute’s theoretical performance under the conditions and that nothing else goes wrong:
The rhumb line is the black line, the red line is my optimal course (and the little red “barbs” show the wind conditions at each location as of the time I’m expected to be there). You’ll note that Bermuda (the little blue dot to the right of the course) is almost exactly halfway to Antigua. And, as noted above, both the rhumb line and my optimal course take me quite close to the island. My guess is that the trip will take 10-11 days (my routing software says 9 to 9-1/2 days). We’ll see.
The http://resolute.ustiger.net/ web site is a bit of a mess, but the blog posts and tracker map page (http://resolute.ustiger.net/resolute-tracker/) should both be working. Maybe I’ll fix up the other stuff after I’ve delivered Resolute to Antigua.
Stay tuned…if my satellite phone is working (I won’t know for certain until Monday), I’ll try to make a new post every day or two on my way south.
Scott
Fair winds, Scott
Sail safe, stay warm!
Probably 3-4 days to warm weather
I’m hoping for more like two days…until the temperatures are in the 60’s at least. Mostly because my direct route will get me to the warm Gulf Stream waters pretty quickly. Expedition says I’ll hit 60F air temperatures by Tuesday 1pm (a bit more than two days), 70F by Wednesday 1pm. Hope springs eternal!
Have fun and good luck!
Smooth sailing my friend. Winter in the Carribean. Sounds very nice!
Mid 50’s drove us back from Sugarloaf today.. so you might not be to far from even warmer.. it will be great to see pics of you and the boat in English Harbour? And unless the weather/wind areperfect, I might not be able to pass up a stop in St. George’s for dark and stormies at the White Elephant.. kripes! you will be able to smell Burmuda if your course brings you that close.. 🙂 Sail safe Scott
Meant to write “White Horse”.. sorry.. and yes Bermuda has an ‘e’
Kripes indeed!
I’d keep the pedal down all the way to Antigua. They need the bar $ there more than Bermuda does…
Enjoy the adventure Scott!
Hi Scott! We just returned from Cuba to find out you were on this trip. It is again quite an undertaking and sounds great. Love to accompany you by proxy and wish you the best!