Overall, the trip to Bermuda was rather calm and slow. The whole voyage took 21 days, but it should only have taken 5 to 7 days.
The distance from West Palm Beach to Bermuda is about 876 nautical miles. We sailed a grand total of 1313.49 nautical miles, a full 437 additional miles, and at an average speed of 2.58 knots.
This was slow.
We left at the wrong time and missed the opportunity to use the Gulf Stream to our advantage, we hid far south as we waited for bad weather up north to clear up, then made our way up once everything normalized. We left when we did because we were trying to please our crew member. All this did was agitate him since he imagined us sailing along at a steady 4.5 knots and covering 100 nautical miles per day. Needless to say, leaving at the wrong time and then getting caught with no wind did not help his mood on the voyage.
Looking back, things we would have done differently are as follows
Don’t have crew
If you want to have crew, don’t ever let them call the shots because there is no going back
Leave when the weather is good
Enjoy where you are while you are there
Talking with other boats in Bermuda, it appears that everywhere had these problems. A power boat motored up from the Bahamas and had glass like seas and a wonderful time. A racing sailboat that planned to sail from Norfolk, VA to Bermuda in 2 days (that is correct, 2 days) left after the gales had passed and it took them 10 days of motoring!
If the weather is going to be slow, take your time and enjoy where you are while you are there!
