Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 16 [Day 64]

We are now in the home stretch! The winds are still light and out of the South but we are getting close to land!

As we get closer to land, you can see that the trade winds are present where they should be and in the right direction. The thing is, I do not have access to this information while actually underway. Out in the ocean, i receive my weather information by looking at the sky and reading the clouds. Different weather systems present their own unique cloud formations which tell me what to expect for wind directions and strengths, but I do not get this colorful picture presented to me when I am in most need of the information.

We don’t have all the fancy gizmos that many people will tell you are mandatory to carry on a boat because I feel that knowledge is the most important tool to have and use. I studied weather quite extensively with an intense focus on reading the clouds. Now, I can simply stare at the sky for hours and tell what is coming, when, and how hard. With a GPS readout (for ease), a Sextant and clock (for reliability) and a weather eye, I can safely navigate to our next port.

Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 15 [Day 63]

The winds continue to blow out of the South and we are facing the dilemma that we might need to beat into the weather if the winds don’t reverse.

I must admit, it was a bit frustrating to be in the trade winds and have them blowing the opposite direction! We simply make our miles towards our destination. Our goal at this point is to sail further East before we sail South towards Portugal, so the South wind merely means that we are on the opposite tack from what is expected.

The passage in a straight line is only 800 nautical miles from the Azores to Portugal, and most people motor across the windless high pressure area with ease. This means that most people complete this passage in under a week since their diesels can push their boat along at hull speed with out any resistance from waves, allowing them to regularly complete 100+ mile days everyday on their way East.

By normal standards, we are now on Day 16 and nowhere near being finished with our 7 day passage!

Course While Crossing an Ocean

Everyone tells me that I need a proper diesel engine to cross an ocean safely. Somehow having a motor makes it “safe” and not having a motor (or having an electric motor) makes it “un-safe”. Perplexed, I asked what is unsafe about sailing across an ocean and how would a motor fix these safety concerns.

According to this person (who I wonder if they have ever done any plotting work at all), the safety concern comes from “getting lost".

Apparently, when you are sailing across an ocean, you have to sail in a straight line. If the winds are not permitting this direction, you need to lower your sails and motor into the wind, always maintaining this very exact course. If you falter from the course, you will get lost at sea and DIE!

All I can imagine is that this person has no charts and is merely following a specific compass heading. If he gets off course, he is lost and would then die alone at sea! The truth is, charts are a mandatory item to carry on the boat, along with all the necessary equipment needed to plot your position at sea.

While electronic charts are convenient, you still need to carry paper charts with you so that you can navigate even if all Hell breaks loose! Imagine getting struck by lightening, frying all your electronics, then a wave splashes into the boat and all your remaining electronic gizmos get soaking wet with saltwater and perish. If this is all you have for navigation, then you will soon fall into the guys narrative about why you need a diesel. If you have paper charts, then you will be able to navigate mostly accurately after you dry out the papers that got wet with that same wave. The ink might run and smudge, but you can still generally see where you are and where you are going!

Now, why is it Not un-safe to sail across an ocean without a proper diesel motor? Because course is kind of a joke on long passages. Imagine that you are sailing from the United States to Europe. What heading would you need to sail? 64*, 77*, 90*?

The correct answer is: “No one cares!”

Europe is East from the United States, so when you leave port, you will sail as far from land as you can, then head East. If the winds take you a bit North, then you will sail North East for a while. If the winds blow you a bit South, then you will sail South East for a while. Eventually, you will cross the Atlantic Ocean by sailing East with the winds you have as they are presented to you.

Let me explain with some actual numbers. Lets say you are leaving from either Charleston, SC or Southern Florida. These two points are 350 nautical miles apart, yet if you leave from either of them heading for Lisbon (and assuming there is no land in the way) your course will not be very different.

Leaving from Southern Florida, the direct line course is 79* and 3644 nautical miles long.

Leaving from Charleston, SC, the direct line course is 84* and 3474 nautical miles long.

What does this mean? This means that if you start sailing from either point, you will sail really far for a really long time with a variation in heading of only 5*.

Five degrees of heading variation from a two starting points that are 350 miles apart. That is quite the difference in starting places and yet the heading is almost the same. Now, in the world of the guy who is frightened to not have a motor where you only have access to charts when on shore, you know where you are when you are on land because you can just ask someone where you are. Imagine if you are out at sea and don’t have anyone to ask? Well, you can vary your position by 350 nautical miles and still generally sail in the same direction without any ill effects on your heading.

This became very apparent to me when we were sailing out in the ocean and spent a full day heading North to avoid a storm at sea. After we sailed past the storm, a full 100 nautical miles off course, our new heading was identical to our old heading. Nothing had changed because we are so far away from our end destination.

Imagine the course as a triangle instead of a single line. The base of the triangle is the line between where you start and where you want to reach. The height of the triangle is how much you venture off course. The hypotenuse is simply connecting where you are to where you want to go. If you have a long enough triangle, the height of the triangle becomes inconsequential as the triangle will merely look like a straight line and not a triangle. If you get significantly off course and the height gets significantly higher, then the triangle will still have a very acute angle which would be the variance you now need to correct for.

In our earlier example, when you are about 3000 nautical miles away, a 350 nautical mile height makes a small acute angle of only 5 degrees at the end destination.

The moral of the story is, sail around weather and don’t worry too hard about your course. Once you get closer to your destination, then you can start plotting your position more closely and actually caring about your heading. As long as you are far away from your destination, all you need to do is sail in a general cardinal direction towards your destination.

Having a sextant and a clock will grant you the ability to plot your position on the high seas and from that you can plot your position and calculate your desired heading as you approach your destination. Every day at noon, I would simply plot our position on the chart and if an adjustment to our course was needed, it could be carried out. The distances were great and stress was low on this passage. We simply sailed to the winds we had as each day came upon us. If you see our course, it varied quite greatly from the straight line course as we made our way across the ocean. At no point did we feel “lost” or “un-safe” while sailing across the ocean.

Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 14 [Day 62]

June 26, 2019, and we are coming closer to land!

As we approach the North West point of the Iberian Peninsula, we face a Southerly wind which could blow us into the Bay of Biscay. Thankfully we are far enough out that we don’t have to worry much about course and still generally be sailing in the right direction towards our destination. We simply sailed on a beam reach on port tack as we made our way through the calmer seas.

The smoother ride was a huge relief for us being how we had had many days of heavy winds leading up to this point. The calm weather meant that we could relax, cook, and rest up as we prepared to soon be making landfall.

Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 13 [Day 61]

June 25, 2019, and we are still out in the middle of the Ocean!

Winds blowing off the Biscay Bay are giving us beautiful sailing conditions on our approach to the tip of the Iberian Peninsula. If you notice, we made a concerted effort to avoid entering the Biscay Bay thanks to its notoriety. Stories of square waves and punishing winds gave us good reason to steer clear of the Bay and stay safely away out in the North Atlantic Ocean. Our plan was simple, approach from the North but well clear of any land.

The first land we would encounter would be distant shores of the West Coast of Spain on our way down to Portugal. At this point, we would be broad reaching down current towards our destination in Portugal, arriving with the wind and current for record speed days!