passage making sailboats

The Figure 8 Voyage

Passage making faqs.

Below are some common questions about solo passage making.

Why do you sail alone?

Heading out to Sea.

For me these adventures are less about being away from people and more about being close to the elements and enjoying the practice of self-reliance. When sailing with another aboard, much of the passage ends up being about your relationship with that person—it just can’t be helped on something so small as a sailboat. That’s not the experience I’m after. You could say I solo because I’m selfish. I want to do all the sailing, make all the decisions, do all the work, and see the entire ocean myself. That’s where the fun is. Read more on being alone…

What do you find most challenging about long distance sailing?

Getting up the courage to go. After the years of dreaming and months of preparation, all the expectation set with oneself and others tend to come crashing in just as I am ready to raise anchor. That’s when I experience the most self-doubt, knowing of the challenges ahead. Did I plan well enough? Am I smart enough and strong enough to survive? Will I meet some big, unavoidable event that simply wipes me out?

But once out there, each day unfolds in its own way. It’s just you and the boat and the ocean. The problems that arise must be solved with your own ingenuity and the tools you have and nothing else … because there is nothing else. Operating in a world of such simplicity is deeply satisfying. Sure, there is plenty of fear and hardship, but for me at least, those experiences are balanced by an immense sense of beauty and wonder, and an understanding that this, this moment, is exactly what I was made for.

What’s been your scariest moment at sea?

Collecting Tsunami Debris in the North Pacific

In my view, there are just two rules to successful passage making: one, keep the boat going in the right direction; two, stay on board. On my way to Alaska in 2012, I broke the second rule when I fell off the boat reaching for an object in the water. I was collecting debris from the middle of the Pacific for scientists at the University of Hawaii, who were modeling debris distribution resulting from the Japanese Tsunami in 2011. On this morning I had encountered a bag with Japanese script on it floating at water top, my first provable tsunami artifact. I had to untether from the boat to reach it, but I lost my grip when the boat lurched. Instant panic as I fell in. The nearest land was over 1000 miles away at that point. Get separated from the boat and you drowned: end of story. As it turned out the boat was moving very slowly, and I was able to scramble back aboard pretty easily, but it was a sobering moment. Read more about the day I fell overboard…

Can you catch enough fish to live on while making a passage?

I can’t. I drag a hook and lure constantly but only catch a few fish a month. I’m probably a poor fisherman, but also there are vast areas in the middle of the ocean that are like an aquatic desert where fish are rare.

See a video on how to handle a very large fish…

Where do you pull into port for provisions?

You don’t. There’s no stopping, so you pack all the food you’ll need along with you. Because boats have lots of storage space, you can take quite a variety, but I end up eating much the same as I do on land. Cereal (with water, not milk—I don’t have refrigeration) in the morning; nuts, cheese and crackers for lunch or a can of soup or stew, and for dinner a meal made of dried goods, like rice and lentils. The big drawback, of course, is that after a couple of weeks I run out of fresh vegetables and fruits, so the bulk of my diet is canned and dried, and I have to take vitamin C tablets to keep from getting scurvy. This is what makes catching a fish so nice: fresh, tasty, vitamin-rich meat.

How do you communicate with those at home?

Cell phones don’t work more than a few miles off shore and I don’t have a satellite phone. Instead I use old but clever technology that connects my laptop with land-based servers via high frequency AM (HAM) radio signals. The connection is very slow; sending a simple text message, all I can do, can often take a minute or more and there’s no surfing the internet. But the technology is pretty reliable and inexpensive to operate.

Do you sleep normally while at sea?

Propped into my bunk in rough weather

When I’m in known shipping lanes or other areas that I consider risky, I sleep in intervals of 30 minutes or less. Otherwise I sleep in one hour intervals. An hour at a time is not much sleep, so I’ve made a deal with myself that I can sleep for one hour as many times in a day as I like. Oddly, on average I tend to sleep the same number of hours per day at sea as I do on land, and I do most of my sleeping at night.

Because the boat is underway 24 hours a day, how long to sleep and when is a hotly contested question among solo sailors. The main concern is collision with objects in the water, collision with debris like lost shipping containers, large logs or icebergs in the extreme north and southern oceans, or worst of all, other ships. From the deck of my small boat, the furthest I can see to the horizon is about 4 miles. The bridge on a large container ship may be seen from, at most, about 10 miles away. Ships travel quickly compared to small boats, often as much as 25 miles an hour to my average of 5 miles per hour, and can go from below the horizon to on top of you in less, sometimes much less, than half an hour. A solo sailor is his only watch-keeper, so how long to sleep and when is a decision with important consequences. Read more about one night’s fitful sleep…

Where do you get your drinking water?

Because it’s so salty, sea water is potable only in tiny quantities and only in survival situations. And because marine desalination devices tend to use a lot of electricity, a thing I don’t have in surplus, I usually carry all my water and replenish my supplies with rain water when I can. If I use fresh water only for drinking and use salt water for washing and even for cooking, I know from practice that I can survive handily on much less than a gallon a day. On my Pacific passages I carried 70 gallons of water but never used more that about 30 gallons.

How do you know where you are?

Working up my position after shooting the sun

GPS navigation is as common at sea as it is on land, and for safety purposes I have several units on board. But for me it has been important to learn the old methods, like using a sextant, the sun and stars to find my position. Electronic devices are delicate and can fail, so these methods are essential from the perspective of survival, and learning them is deeply satisfying.

See a short video on shooting the sun…

Sailboat Life

Sailboat Cruising and Lifestyle Magazine.

World Cruising Routes and Voyage Planner

Planning an ocean voyage on a sailboat requires careful preparation and research. You need to consider factors such as the route, the weather, the equipment, the crew, the budget, and the safety measures. Here are two resources you can’t go without.

World Cruising Routes

World Cruising Routes is the go-to guidebook for long-distance navigators, cruisers, and sailors. It contains over 1,000 routes to destinations all over the globe rich with essential weather information, waypoints, and advice for safe passage making.

“Some routes start as a dream and end as a nightmare.” The first sentence in World Cruising Routes sets the stage for the rest of the book – how to plan your routes for successful passages. The contents include:

Winds and currents of each major ocean and sea.
Routes in the Atlantic Ocean are divided into North Atlantic, transequatorial routes, and South Atlantic.
Routes in the Pacific Ocean are divided into North Pacific, far east, transequatorial, and South Pacific.
Routes of the Indian Ocean are divided into North Atlantic, transequatorial, and South Indian Ocean.
Routes in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

World Voyage Planner

This book is a comprehensive strategy and informational guide for planning a voyage. It takes the sailor from any port to wherever they’d like to go.

The contents of World Voyage Planner includes:

World Weather Patterns Month by Month, Ocean by Ocean
Planning an Ocean Voyage to the Caribbean from different continents
Routes to the Mediterranean Sea from All Major Ports in the World
Planning Voyages to North America and Northern Europe
How to Sail to South America and Antarctica
Voyage planning to South Africa
Circumnavigations of various Oceans and Sea
Pacific Routes to Fiji, Mexico, Asia, Australia, and Other Destinations
Route planning in the Indian Ocean
And an Entire Section on Global Circumnavigation

The book is designed to guide the sailor in planning large voyages. It’s meant to be a companion to the World Cruising Routes .

Preview the contents of Word Voyage Planner and purchasing options on Amazon.

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Passage Planning

Planning an ocean passage starts with knowing when to go and which way will get you there fastest.

Sailors have been following the prevailing winds for millennia and for now, at least, global wind patterns are still quite predictable. We will examine some of the classic routes from the U.S. coasts in this article, however there are two indispensable references that budding world cruisers need to have aboard. The first is passage planning guru Jimmy Cornell’s book World Cruising Routes. This is the bible of passage planning and contains detailed data on every conceivable route you might be considering. The 7th edition was published in 2014.

To fully understand World Cruising Routes, you will need to make a thorough study of pilot charts, the other vital reference source. Published by month, and compiled in atlas form for every ocean, pilot charts are climate prediction charts. First produced by American Naval Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury, they provide specific, location-based data on wind direction, wind speed, wave height, air and water temperature, chances of gales and calms, and much more. It is important to realize that the data is averaged, based on more than 150 years of ship reports. Pilot charts are not weather charts, they’re historical indicators, not forecasts and they can be inaccurate in the short term. There’s a picture in my book Flirting With Mermaids in which I am burning a pilot chart and sending it to a fiery death overboard after a week of contrary winds in the Atlantic.

Wind is the metric that drives not only route planning but weather as well. Wind is caused by temperature differences that create pressure differences as warm air rises and cold air takes its place. Air flows from high pressure to low pressure. Areas of high pressure dominate between latitudes 20° and 40° on both sides of the equator, with low pressure areas above and below. Winds would be either north or south, flowing from high pressure toward low except that the Earth rotates on its axis in an eastward direction deflecting the winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the southern. This is why winds rotate clockwise around a high-pressure system and counter clockwise around a low in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite way south of the equator.

All of this rising and spinning conspires to create prevailing winds based on latitude. The region around the equator, the doldrums, is officially called the intertropical convergence zone and is defined by generally calms winds, gloomy skies and occasional violent squalls. Just north and south of the equator are the wondrous trade winds. These consistent winds are northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on the season they blow from 10 to 25 knots. A tradewind circumnavigation lays predominately in the realm of these friendly, tropical winds.

North and south of the trade winds, the mid-latitudes are better known as the horse latitudes, so named because the early voyagers were reduced to slaughtering their horses for food as they drifted in variable winds. Unlike the doldrums, conditions are often fair in high pressure, especially in the summer, but there are few pressure gradients to create breeze. Above the 40th parallel the winds are the westerlies. In the northern hemisphere, between latitude 40° and 50°, the winds blow from the southwest through northwest approximately 75% of the time. In the Southern Hemisphere, winds south of 40 ° , the aptly named, roaring 40s and furious 50s, blow from the west with the consistency of the trade winds but with a lot more oomph.

Currents are another factor that ocean voyagers must consider. For the most part, currents align with prevailing winds. There are however, certain currents that must be considering separately when planning voyages. They include the Gulf Stream off the U.S. East Coast, the Humboldt or Peru Current off the northwest coast of South America, the Japan Current in the Pacific and the powerful Agulhas Current of the southern capes of Africa. Currents are also noted on pilot charts, however strong currents wander across the seas and throw off meanders that can flow in the opposite direction of the main current. One of the best aspects of real-time satellite data is the ability to pinpoint the set and drift of major ocean currents allowing for logical crossing points and avoiding contrary meanders.

Voyagers are always concerned with tropical revolving storms and plan passages accordingly. These hurricanes are a risk from June through November, with the peak activity occurring in August and September. In the eastern north Pacific they have the same seasonal characteristics as hurricanes in the Atlantic. These storms typically form near the Mexican coast and head toward Hawaii and few make landfall. In the south Pacific, along the tradewind route, tropical storms are called cyclones and the season is November to April, with peak activity January and February. The Indian Ocean is dominated by monsoons, and the summer is the storm season. Fortunately the seasonal nature of these storms allows them to be avoided for the most part.

Routes in the Atlantic

East Coast to the Caribbean: Northeast to the Virgin Islands

This is a time-honored passage for sailors as many of us dream of escaping the northern winter by tarrying in the trade wind-washed Caribbean Islands. The direct passage from Newport, Rhode Island, to Tortola,

British Virgin Islands, is 1,430 miles, which on my boat Quetzal is an eight- to 12-day passage. The best time to depart is from late October through mid-

November after the bulk of hurricane season but before the onset of winter storms. The strategy is to wait for the west winds accompanying a cold front moving off the U.S. coast and ride the clocking winds on a course that is to the east of the southeast rhumbline. The Gulf Stream is encountered 200 to 300 miles south of Newport and is best crossed before there’s any hint of a northeast wind that can really rile up the seas. It is important to log as much easting as you can as the geography of North America can be deceiving, the Caribbean islands are well to the east of every bit of the U.S. coastline. This passage is often broken with a stop in Bermuda.

Norfolk to the Virgin Islands

The same timing as the route above applies, although a later departure is possible because you are already well south of Newport. The Gulf Stream crossing is a big part of the strategy, and because it’s encountered just a day out, it is usually easy to time to avoid a contrary wind. Bermuda is not a logical option on this route unless a tropical storm dictates an abrupt change in course. I made this passage last year, sailing 1,300 miles in just over eight days. We had a textbook passage, leaving on October 22 with a cool, rainy southwest wind. We flew east-southeast and stayed just north and east of the rhumbline on a lively port tack in clocking winds. We reached the 65th meridian easily, dubbed I-65 by voyagers, and picked up the northeast trades and reached down to St. Thomas dodging frequent lightning in a couple of vicious squalls near the islands.

Florida to the Caribbean via the Bahamas

This is probably the most popular route because it’s primarily daysailing. However it’s surprisingly challenging, especially in the winter months when the trades are in full glory, blowing from the east at 20 to 25 knots. You have to pound out 50 miles a day and then scramble to find an anchorage before the fast closing early darkness. Consider the longitude: Ft. Lauderdale is at 80°W and St. Thomas is just east of 65°. Now consider the latitude: Fort Lauderdale is at 26°N and St. Thomas is at 18°30’. The difference of longitude is more than 15° while the difference of latitude is 7°30’. This is not, “sailing south to the island,” it’s bucking east- southeast toward the islands, for every degree south you need to knock off two degrees east.

Crossing the Atlantic

US East Coast to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean

In many respects, the Atlantic Ocean is designed for small boat sailors. The route from the U.S. East Coast uses the prevailing westerly winds. There are two main routes. One might be called the Azores route and the other, the northern route.

The Azores route follows the prevailing southwesterly or westerly winds along or just north of the 40th parallel. The Azores lie at 38°N but by bending north you not only have the likelihood of prevailing winds but are also sailing a great circle route, the shortest route. The best time to depart is late May through early June. The weather is generally settled and it’s mostly pre-tropical storm season. From Newport to the Horta, on the Azorean island of Faial and a wonderful Atlantic waypoint, it’s just 2,000 miles, from Norfolk, 2,200 miles. It’s tempting to call at Bermuda but this is almost always a mistake as it’s well south of the rhumbline and leaves you stranded in the horse latitudes. From the Azores to the Med, it’s usually a nice reach on port tack as the westerlies give way to prevailing northerlies as you near the continent off Portugal. If you are carrying on to Northern Europe it’s best to sail north until you are above the dominant Azores High Pressure system and pick up southwest winds for the passage to Ireland or the English Channel.

The northern route usually includes a couple of waypoint in Canada. From the northeast, it’s a downwind ride to Nova Scotia. In fact, the prevailing southwest wind is why Maine is called “Down East” because it was downwind sailing to Maine. My favorite port in Nova Scotia is Lunenburg. The next stop is St. John’s, Newfoundland, 400 miles east-northeast from Lunenburg. From here, at latitude 47° you are in the heart of the westerlies. The best time to leave the U.S. is early June, when it’s a bit warmer but knowing that you will encounter fog. The best time to make the crossing from St. John’s to Ireland or Scotland, a mere 1,600 miles or so, is early July. The percentage of gales is relatively low, the winds are steady, the iceberg threat is reduced and you arrive in time to enjoy the bulk of the summer season.

From Europe to the U.S. East Coast

While some boats make the northern crossing, including those participating in the long-running OSTAR singlehanded race, the vast majority of sailors choose to follow the trade winds across to the Caribbean. Dubbed the “Lady’s Trades,” the passage from the Canary Islands to the Antilles is usually delightful. First you have to arrive in the

Canary Islands. Most boats leave Gibraltar or Lagos in the Algarve or other ports in Spain and Portugal in late to mid October through early November. The passage to the Canary Islands is 600 to 700 miles downwind. Last time I made the passage I detoured west to Madeira, a lovely archipelago between the Azores and Canary Islands.

Most boats leave from the Canary Islands, either Las Palmas on Gran Canaria or Santa Cruz on Tenerife in late November or early December. It is 3,000 miles, more or less to any Caribbean Island, and usually a 17- to 22-day passage reaching in tradewind conditions. The goal is Christmas in the Caribbean. It’s important not to turn west too early, and continue on a southwest heading south of latitude 20°. The old saw was, “sail south until the butter melts, then turn right.” Some choose to shorten the passage by sailing first to Cape Verde, an island chain off Africa, 800 to 900 miles south of the Canary Islands. From Mindelo, Cape Verde to Bridgetown, Barbados, is just 2,000 miles. I completed this passage many years ago on a Beneteau First 38 in just 12 days.

From the Caribbean most boats head for home on the U.S. East Coast in late spring or early summer. Routes north in May are good, with a stop in Bermuda. If you are heading to Florida or the Chesapeake you can call at the Turks and Caicos and the out islands of the Bahamas, sailing on a relaxing reach. Your timing should ensure that you’re in a safe hurricane harbor by mid to late June.

Routes in Pacific from the U.S. West Coast

U.S. West Coast to Hawaii

From the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Hilo, Hawaii, is 2,300 miles. From San Francisco it’s 2,050, and from Los Angeles and San Diego it’s approximately 2,200 miles, a nice quirk of geography. April and May are an ideal time to depart from California. From Seattle and points north, June is the right time. California passages typically ride the prevailing northerlies south and pick up the northeast trades earlier than passages from the northwest. For this reason many northwest sailors head to San Francisco, a 700-mile passage, first and commence the crossing to Hawaii from there.

The route back to the mainland is not quite as nice, something I will experience in late June this year when we sail from Honolulu to Seattle. Although some suggest making this passage in the winter, when there’s a good chance of southerlies, most make it in the summer because it’s warmer. The classic route is to sail due north from Hawaii until westerlies are reached, then turn right and head east toward the coast. I am planning on a 15- to 17-day passage. An alternative, especially for getting to the Californian ports, is to carry enough fuel to motor through the Pacific High until you reach the prevailing northerlies off the coast.

Although some West Coast sailors use Hawaii as a stepping-stone to the South Pacific, many others sail farther south along the Mexican coast before stepping off for paradise. More still are happy exploring Mexico and Central America and make their way south to Panama before transiting the canal and sailing north in the Caribbean.

The best time to leave any port in California is early November. The prevailing northerlies will escort you south and hurricane season is over or at least on the wane. The weather will be warm and the winds will be favorable all winter and spring as you make your way south. From Puerto Vallarta or Acapulco, the distance to the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific is about 2,500 miles, and 500 more miles than from the Galapagos farther south. If you are heading for the South Pacific from Mexico, March is the ideal time to shove off.

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Planning your first overnight passage? Wondering what it'll really be like . . . and how you'll sleep? Sleeping well begins long before laying your head down 😴

Passagemaking and Sleep

Published on August 7, 2017 ; last updated on June 12, 2020 by Carolyn Shearlock

Planning your first overnight passage? Wondering what it’ll really be like . . . and how you’ll sleep?

There are no universal answers, but I can pass on some tips from ours. And interestingly, we find that the keys to sleep don’t begin when we lay our head on the pillow, but well before.

Know that the Boat is Ready. Don’t just assume that the boat is ready, but check all the major systems. Every boat will have its own list, but common items include the following.

Make sure bilge pumps work and the strainers are free of debris (and hair — the big culprit on boats).
Test the EPIRB.
Check the contents of the ditch bag. Make sure the life raft and ditch bag are accessible.
Check the oil in the engine and the transmission fluid.
Start the motor up and make sure that cooling water is circulating and the engine not overheating (the raw water intake can get blocked by bottom growth or debris sucked in).
Clean the bottom of the boat.
Have the jacklines in place.
Create routes for the chartplotter and backup systems. Create alternate routes for bailout places. Research emergency stops.
Water the batteries if using lead acid batteries.
Turn on the radar and make sure it’s working — you don’t want to discover there’s a problem just as you need it.

Having confidence in the boat relieves a lot of stress — often stress that you don’t even realize is there. And stress takes away from the enjoyment of the passage as well as interferes with sleep.

Confidence in Other Watch Standers. Not everyone will be equally skilled or knowledgeable and that’s okay — we all had to start somewhere. But everyone has to have basic skills and the ability to do basic boat operations, as well as know when to call the others on board for assistance.

The basic skills can’t just be learned in an hour the day before a trip. And they can’t be learned just by reading. Day trips leading up to the overnight passage have to be used as training and practice sessions until everyone who will be taking a watch is comfortable with basic boat operations and also knowing when to ask for help.

We also have a set of “standard operating procedures” that we both agree to: we put in an extra reef before dark, we always wear our tethers, we never go on deck without the other person in the cockpit, and we never hesitate to wake the other one if there is the slightest question about anything. One other rule that Dave abides by (at the risk of too much information): no peeing overboard while alone on deck (seriously, this is one of the biggest causes of men going overboard when the boat hits a wave wrong).

Assuming that there is more than one of you, being comfortable with what the other person is doing is huge for being able to sleep. It’s funny, but knowing that Dave won’t hesitate to wake me (and vice versa) lets me sleep much better as I don’t feel like I have to keep “one ear open” for signs of a problem.

Start Well-Rested. It’s easy to get caught up in last-minute preparations or worry about whether you’re really ready and not sleep well the night before a passage. But starting out sleep deprived puts you in the hole to start with.

We learned to try to have all the big jobs done before the last day so that it’s just things like taking trash ashore, stowing the dinghy for passage and topping up water on the last day. I’ll also usually do some food prep, but we try to have everything done by late afternoon, then a nice dinner and just relaxing in the evening.

Keep Food Simple. My first couple of overnight passages, I seriously over-complicated our meals. I planned three large meals, including a “special dinner” to commemorate our first night out. With no real idea of what even “benign” offshore conditions would be like, I had no idea what would be appropriate. Planning to spend three hours cooking a single meal was just plain stupid. And exhausting.

Now, we’ve discovered that we eat more snacks — healthy snacks, not junk food — than real meals. Trail mix, single servings of fruit, yogurt, that kind of stuff. Once a day, if conditions aren’t bad, we have a meal together but keep it simple: if it’s hot out, a cold salad; if it’s cool, a pre-cooked dish that I warm up.

As you get more experience with passages, you may decide to carry ingredients for more elaborate meals and use them if conditions allow. But for the first few trips, while you’re figuring things out, keep it simple so that meal prep does not interfere with sleep time.

Quiet the Boat. As you are on watch, be aware of any “little noises” such as clanking glasses or rattling pans that could bother the person sleeping and — quietly — do what you can to stop them. Generally, stuffing rags into lockers is a quick fix. Change the settings (if necessary) on electronics so they don’t beep when buttons are pressed.

Sometimes, too, just a 5° course change can have a profound effect on the motion of the boat so that it’s easier for the off watch to sleep.

The Watch Schedule. You know your own body, how much sleep you need and how long you can be alert on watch. Many couples opt for either 3 or 4 hour watches in typical conditions.

Dave and I have discovered that we do far better with roughly 6-hour watches as we prefer more sleep in one stretch. That said, we are somewhat flexible in the watches — if the off watch is sleeping soundly and the person on watch is still feeling good, we may go a little long. If the off watch wakes early and there aren’t any jobs that have to be done, we’ll swap early. And if conditions are challenging — not just weather, but the amount of traffic or anything else — we may shorten the watches.

If we have an “all hands on deck” situation (generally a squall), we’ll rearrange the watch schedule when it’s over. We find that with just two of us, flexibility is key. Our time on watch equals out but generally doesn’t go exactly by the clock.

While we think of the person on watch as the one with responsibilities, the off watch has one important duty : to get sufficient rest that they are alert and ready to go when it is time for their watch. Even if you don’t think you can fall asleep, lie down and rest.

Plan for Drowsiness. Rather than assuming that the person on watch won’t get drowsy at 3 AM, plan for it. We each have a timer on our watch (but you can use any timer, although it’s best if it automatically repeats) and set it to 10 minutes. That way, if we do doze off, the alarm will wake us and prompt us to look around. Every time it goes off — day or night — it’s the signal to stand up and do a full 360° scan of the horizon. You don’t want to set it for much longer than 10 minutes, due to the speed with which cargo ships move! It’s also a good idea to use radar and AIS alarms if so equipped, but neither one is a substitute for slowly scanning the horizon every 10 minutes.

Sleep Deprivation is a Serious Problem. Exhaustion leads to bad decisions and bad decisions lead to injuries and boat damage. What should be minor problems become cascading disasters. Charts are impossible to decipher. After a few days, hallucinations can start (read about the space chimp that visited my friend and fellow Boat Radio podcaster John Herlig). Others have written about hearing voices or seeing people.

One of our hard and fast rules is that we don’t enter unfamiliar harbors after dark, no matter how tired we are. We know that at the end of a trip, we’re tired and probably not thinking and reacting as well as we should. It’s easy to run aground, get confused as to where we need to go, or just “not see” traffic in a busy harbor.

So we slow down to arrive after sunrise, heave-to, or just circle outside a channel. Not fun and it adds more hours to the trip. But we think it’s safer to approach during daylight when we’re tired.

I certainly don’t have all the answers and while I’ve done numerous two- to four-day passages, I haven’t done any longer than that. And only two of mine have included sustained winds over 30 knots. We’ve been tired when we hit land, but never totally exhausted. Please add your own tips for getting sufficient sleep on overnight passages.

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Reader Interactions

Roger Johnson says

August 7, 2017 at 2:24 pm

I always appreciate your tips? Thank you!

Deb Jansma says

August 7, 2017 at 11:47 pm

It’s great to hear someone else who does more than 2 or 3 hrs watches. We tried that one time, and then went to 5 hr watches.

Jan Drury says

August 8, 2017 at 1:11 am

We do 6 and 6 – always works for us

Steve Olson says

August 8, 2017 at 1:25 am

I will soon be installing this: http://www.sailsafely.com/

Melvin Bellwood says

August 8, 2017 at 6:51 am

We first tried 2 hour shifts with 20 minute alarm to survey the surroundings.

Was not enough time to rest. 4 to 6 depending on total length of trio planned.

10 minutes for the alarm would be good.

Patricia A. McLeod says

August 8, 2017 at 11:48 am

This is our next goal! Can’t wait

Dave Skolnick (S/V Auspicious) says

August 8, 2017 at 9:01 am

It is good to see your emphasis on rest and not watch duration. That is truly critical. Longer watches are key. I run 4-on/8-off on delivery. For couples cruising 6-hour watches are very reasonable.

One thing Carolyn did not address is putting things away. “Stuff” that stays put on day hops and at anchor may launch themselves across the boat on a longer trip. Put things away. All of them.

If you’re off on a passage or even just a hop time of day doesn’t count. As carolyn points out don’t leave when you are tired. When you are ready to go put everyone (*grin*) for a nap. So what if you leave at 10p or 3a?

For rattles, there is little that works better than toilet paper.

If you’re really heading off on a passage as opposed to an offshore hop consider taking on crew.

Mark Krajcar says

August 8, 2017 at 11:41 am

Watch schedules are a personal thing and it depends on how many are on board.. I delivered boats for 15 years and found what works best for me and my crews was 2 hours on, 6 off. Pretty much no matter how exhausted you are, you can stay up for 2 hours where sometimes 3 or 4 hours just isn’t possible. With just 2 of us we start the watch at 4 hours each then move to 2 hours. Watches start just before dusk and land last until just after sunrise/breakfast. During the rest of the day there is no formal watch schedule. Whoever wants to take a watch can and rarely does anyone have to ask to be relieved. This allows people the flexibility to grab a nap, shower, food, downtime as they need it and made for happier trips. Some of us know that we get our “best” sleep between certain hours and every effort should be made to schedule watches to include that timing.

August 8, 2017 at 1:37 pm

I did a 24 day passage with only 2 people. We started at 3 & 3. By day 5 I said “I have got to go down for a solid 6. Can you handle that in the middle of the day because I am going to take an antihistamine and sleep? We discussed it and decided that we would go to 3&3 except I would take a 4-5 hour in the middle of the night, rest for 2 hours and then do 2 while the weather report came in (shameless plug for Chris Parker). If I was alert, I would take the entire 8 and then I would go down for as long as I could sleep, usually 6 hours. Very fluid but it worked for us. You have to do what works for the crew. I did hear voices. There were little girls giggling – but when I asked about it I found out that the original owners of the boat had 3 little girls! I never heard them on watch, only in what I found out was actually the berth they slept in. I once got called to the deck mid off watch. I arrived wearing nothing but my PFD but things got sorted and I went back to my berth and rested for the rest of my off watch. Keeping to one scheduled meal per day also worked well for us. It gave us a chance to discuss what was and was not working (the head was different from mine and I wasn’t operating it properly until day 7) One cooked the other took galley clean up. The owner of the boat made a 4 course meal for Thanksgiving Day and we had wonderful leftovers for a couple of days. I have to say that only after the 4th or 5th day did a rhythm set in and then it became very easy. Now I really don’t like 2 or 3 day passages because there is no rhythm and it makes me more tired than longer passages. As Mark says keeping things cleaned up makes a huge difference!

Kim Hall says

August 8, 2017 at 5:38 pm

Returning to the sea life after 28 years on land I have been enjoying your tips and information to remind my husband and I of all the ins and outs we may have forgotten and things we may not have had or known about years ago.

Thank you for the tips and informative blog!

August 8, 2017 at 9:21 pm

I spent 20 plus years re-building and sailing a 50 ft ketch with two transatlantics amd throughout the Caribbean. While sometimes with a crew or friends, much of it solo. Sailing through the Gulfstream was always a challenge trying to keep out of the way of Tankers and long line fishermen. Add to it, I generally. Made the crossing at night. Try.as Imay, getting sleep before the start was nearly impossible and the first stretch was almost 18 hours till anchoring at Great SaleKey for some sleep. Sleeping became a serious problem. From sighting to impact a freighter at night is about 12 minutes away. So, I. Would set the Radar for alarms at 7 and 4 miles to ring. I then would of course set My night running lights and an alarm cloct for ten minutes and lay on the center cockpit and sleep with My safety line attached. I remember when I was awakened by the radar on more than one occasion. Since most of the freighters are running at 14 to 18 knots and the watch on them are generally asleep, being 7 miles away is very close. Even if the were to hit me, the man on watch would never know it at night. So, sleep yes, but rest with safety alarms. Of course many are not solo sailing but when the occasion arises, it’s awonderful experience. Sail safe and forever. Seo

David NORMAN says

March 6, 2018 at 5:07 pm

In designing a “watch system” there are a number of issues that need addressing. Firstly, no one wants to be saddled with the same boring and sometimes cold early morning watch day after day. Secondly, the body needs sufficient time to recharge its self. Watch systems also need to take account of how many crew are on board and their relative experience. With two(2) crew i have found that 3hrs on and off during the night and 6hrs on and off during the day allows the crew to rotate through each day. This watch system allows enough time to get a decent rest/sleep during the 6hrs off. With three(3) crew each person has 3hrs on, 3 hrs on standby (resting/ sleeping below and 3hrs hrs off, noting that when you are off you are off watch. This watch system will at most times provide a decent period in most days to sleep and recover as well as providing a watch rotation throughout the day. Ocean Going Cat from “down under”

Molly on S/V Sabai says

March 8, 2018 at 2:46 pm

Carolyn’s advice for 2 sailors is good: flexibility is key. We find that 3 on/3 off works well for us during the night and we can change that during the day if it helps. We used to do the “I’ll tough it out as long as I can method” which was a really bad idea. It led to much more fatigued and grumpy sailors. I’ve been doing the timer watch set at 10 minute intervals for over 20 years and it is really helpful.

September 4, 2019 at 8:35 pm

Thank you for your great article! My first real sailing experience was two weeks in the Pacific Ocean and I sure wish I’d found this article back then. A friend was looking for crew and suggested I take sailing lessons – so I did. Then just 2 months later I’m sailing from Cabo San Lucas to Socorro Island and then on the La Cruz Mexico. I found out real quick that sailing lessons did not prepare me for life on a boat! But I did it! I must have done okay because this last spring he asked me to crew for him again on a 2 week cruise from Acapulco to Puerto Chiapas – I was his only crew. I’m 72 years old and have only sailed twice but they were both blue water sailing for a total of 4 weeks! Can’t wait to do it again!

April 4, 2020 at 12:14 pm

Carolyn, you sailed around the world but your longest passage was four days? How’s that possible?

Carolyn Shearlock says

April 4, 2020 at 1:29 pm

No, I have not circumnavigated. Cruised the Pacific coast of Mexico, Sea of Cortez down to El Salvador. Then Florida and the Bahamas, with charters in Alaska, Turkey, USVI, BVI and Spanish VI.

Carol Freeland says

July 2, 2020 at 8:17 pm

I had to re-read this today as my husband and I are doing a circumnavigation of Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands at night to gain skills for a longer passage! Thanks for all the tips

August 26, 2020 at 1:33 pm

Try 5/7 and 7/5. This way you get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep and minimize fatigue. 6 and 6 always looks good but you will never get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep

Leonie Deramus says

February 18, 2021 at 1:49 pm

5 years ago we bought a 45ft Jeanneau in Lisbon,Portugal and sailed her all the way to New Zealand. Mostly just the two of us but crew of 5 for the 20 + days across Atlantic and Pacific. My husband is the experienced longtime sailor. I am a good first mate but no captain and sleep is vital for me. This is how we manage : Definitely take on experienced crew for any passage longer than a week. If it’s just the two of us and weather permits we both sleep ( tethered of course) on the benches in the cockpit and do roughly 3 hr watches during the night while staying flexible. I listen to podcasts while on watch and scan horizon and chart plotter every 10-15 minutes. Having my skipper sleep next to me gives me peace of mind though I very rarely haven to wake him. Carolyn‘s advice is spot on . Always reef before nightfall and never , ever be on deck without PFD and tether when passage making.

Top Ten Tips for Ocean Passage Making

It took an enormous planning effort. Not only did we have to plan the usual things like navigation, provisions, fuel, etc., but also, we were actively working while crossing, so we needed to have good communication. We used a software called OCENS with our Iridium Satellite phone to send and receive email and for making calls, as well as getting the weather forecast. That was back in 2005. Today it is much easier and cheaper to do. As we all know, good seamanship requires numerous preparations especially for successful ocean passage making. Stephen and I each have our own dedicated areas of responsibility to prepare the boat and the crew. That way we know what is expected of each crew member and there is no confusion about who did what. We then double check to make sure all items have been taken care of before we cast off. Our key planning activities are outlined below.

1. Plan Your Passage

2. Wait For A Weather Window

The basic rule we use to avoid trouble is to wait for a weather window for the upcoming passage. Usually we wait for light conditions to ease into a trip (Estelle usually feels a little queasy the first day out), other times we leave on the tail of a weather system that will help us along for a day or so. The general rule is that most forecasts today are fairly accurate for 3-5 days. Beyond that it is unpredictable and one should plan for unexpected conditions. We have learned over the years that setting a specific date for departure or having a schedule getting to places is complete folly. Leaving in adverse conditions to meet a deadline is asking for trouble.

3. Offshore Sailing Preparation Checklist

4. Check And Test Emergency Gear

Renew EPIRB with updated information with NOAA. Check that MOB strobe light batteries are good and flares are in date. Make sure that the MOB horseshoe ring and lifesling is attached properly, life jackets and harnesses are easily accessible and that all crewmembers know where they are stowed. Make sure that your life raft is in date and easily accessible and that every crewmember knows how to operate it. Check your ditchbag and medical kit and replenish or replace supplies. Again, make sure it is easily accessible and that the crew knows where it is stowed. Make sure that your crew knows how to do a crash stop and what to do to retrieve a man over board.

5. Navigation Gear

Test the VHF and have at least one hand held VHF for emergencies. Check that the autopilot functions well and if possible, carry a spare. Radar is good to have, specially if you plan to sail in areas with heavy fog or busy shipping channels and it is invaluable for tracking squalls. Make sure your GPS functions correctly and have a spare handheld just in case. ALWAYS have paper charts in case all electronics fail and log the trip in your ship’s log. We used our iPads for navigation and plotted ourselves every 6 hours on the paper chart. We particularly liked the BoatBeacon App on the iPad that functions as an AIS Marine navigation system, tracking shipping traffic on the Cheaspeake Bay.

6. Boat Provisioning

Make sure that the crew is properly fed. It is good for morale and makes for a happy environment on board. Make up an informal menu for the approximate number of days on passage and add 20% plus some emergency food items like canned tuna, chicken, corned beef, and beans or whatever you prefer, we like protein. In dire situations, if all goes wrong on board, one can easily eat these items cold and from the can if need be. Also stock up on some protein bars. Make an inventory of food aleady on board and add ingredients on the menu to shop for.

I usually purchase the dry goods on the menu first and stow. The day before we leave, I get the perishable items. This makes for a less overwhelming task. Organize galley lockers or pantry with food items to be used on the passage in easily reachable places to minimize looking for ingredients all over the boat. I usually buy tomatoes, avocado, pineapple, mangoes and bananas as green as possible to ripen over time. Potatoes and onions get stowed in a dark dry place. Oranges, lemons, apples, cabbage, carrots, squash etc. last a long time and mostly does not need refrigeration, so I get a fair amount of it instead of things like lettuce.

We like eggs for breakfast so I buy fresh eggs for a few days and eggbeaters to make scrambled egg or omelets. I usually plan simple, easy to prepare meals for our passages, especially for the first few days out. I pre-prepare at least three simple but satisfying meals ( chicken curry , meatloaf, shepards pie, pasta Bolognese, etc.) and freeze it for bad weather days. I always have a few steaks in the freezer for a nice day when we can BBQ off the back of the boat and of course when we catch fish, we like to make sashimi or grill the fish straight away. If conditions are good, I will bake bread every 3-4 days. We tend to snack during night watches, so I bake cookies before we leave and have some candy bars stowed away. Check out the Boatgalley.com provisioning tips .

Feel free to contact me for comprehensive provisioning planning.

7. Fishing Gear

8. Watch Keeping

Our watch keeping system is simple. We ALWAYS have someone on watch but since we rely on the autopilot to steer the boat, we only have to watch for ships, obstructions, make log entries and check our sails occasionally. We do not rotate our watches because our bodies adjust better to watches if we do the same ones every night.

When it is only the two of us, we do three hours on and three hours off but we make it shorter with more crew so that we get some decent rest in between watches. During the day it’s sort of a loose system with one or the other or both on watch while we tend to our chores like cooking, navigation etc. Stephen usually makes the rounds on deck inspecting for chafe and other areas of concern during the day. In particularly bad weather, we will do 1-hour watches if the autopilot labors too hard and we are required to hand steer. Stephen’s method of using an egg timer seems to work really well for night time watches.

He sets the timer for 14 minutes at which time he gets up, checks for lights and generally makes sure that everything is as it should be for about 3 minutes and goes back to reading or taking a nap. It helps break up the time and after a night or two, your body gets used to the routine.

9. Water Management On Board

10. Marine Fuel And Batteries

We had our tanks cleaned out and fuel polished this season after we detected some nasty critters and water in the fuel filters. This can become a real issue so make sure that your fuel is as clean as possible. Fill fuel tanks and manage this resource. Figure out what distance you can motor (we do under a gallon per hour per engine and we run only one engine at a time) and make sure that you conserve enough fuel to motor into a harbor or motor yourself out of a sticky situation. Running the tanks dry will lead to having to bleed the fuel system, not a difficult thing to do but very unpleasant at sea. We usually have emergency fuel in jerry cans in case we motor more than expected and we run out. Make sure that you carry spare impellers, fan belts and fuel filters and know how to change them, usually a fairly simple procedure. It is advisable that you do an engine course to understand the basics about your engine. Manage your charging system diligently. We use approximately 15- 20 amps per hour with the autopilot, fridge / freezer, lights and other stuff. We usually keep our batteries maintained by charging 2 hours per day (by generator as it uses less fuel) and have solar panels that will give us a further 60-80 amps per day, unless overcast. That seems to keep us going pretty well but we are always very careful not to waste this resource.

Here’s more info on power management on modern cruising catamarans .

Check out our photo slideshow .

Read the Trip Report from the crew onboard catamaran Zuri on our offshore ocean passage.

Estelle Cockcroft

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Offshore Sailing: 200 Essential Passagemaking Tips

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Offshore Sailing: 200 Essential Passagemaking Tips Hardcover – November 26, 2001

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Print length 256 pages
Language English
Publisher International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Publication date November 26, 2001
Dimensions 7.4 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
ISBN-10 0071374248
ISBN-13 978-0071374248
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Experiencing diesel engine surge-and-die syndrome (SAD)? Tip 132 tells you why it's happening and what to do about it.
Worried that your bilge pump might not provide adequate pumping power in rough seas? Tip 8 shows you a simple way to measure its true pumping capacity.
Want to make companionway dropboards lockable from inside and outside? See tip 71.
Batteries charging too slowly or not at all? Tip 111 tells you how to locate and stop hidden power drains.

About the Author

Dan Spurr was the editor of Practical Sailor newsletter for twelve years. A former senior editor for Cruising World , he is the author of Heart of Glass: Fiberglass Boats and the Men Who Made Them, Spurr's Boatbook: Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat, and Yacht Style, among other books. Dan Spurr was for 12 years the editor of Practical Sailor newsletter, the “Consumer Reports” of sailing and one of the most respected boating publications, noted among other things for its new and used boat reviews, which have been published in book form as Practical Boat Buying. He is a former senior editor of Cruising World magazine and author of two highly regarded IM boating books as well as two critically acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction. He bought and refurbished his first fiberglass sailboat (a Pearson Vanguard) in the 1960s, and has since renovated three other boats including his current C & C 41. He is now the editor of Professional Boatbuilder magazine. AUTHOR HOMETOWN: Bozeman, Montana

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1st edition (November 26, 2001)
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ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0071374248
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Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.4 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
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How the Key Bridge Collapsed in Baltimore: Maps and Photos

By Weiyi Cai , Agnes Chang , Lauren Leatherby , Lazaro Gamio , Leanne Abraham and Scott Reinhard

On Tuesday, a major bridge in Baltimore collapsed into the water seconds after it was struck by a cargo ship, sending vehicles on the bridge into the river below. The ship lost power and issued a mayday call shortly before it hit the bridge.

A video shows the cargo ship striking the bridge and the resulting collapse of the bridge.

The ship, a 948-foot-long cargo vessel called Dali, was about a half hour into its journey toward Colombo, Sri Lanka, when it hit a main pillar of the bridge. All crew members are safe, according to the ship’s owners.

Follow our live coverage .

A mayday call from the ship gave officials enough time to stop traffic at both ends of the bridge. The waters where the bridge collapsed are about 50 feet deep. By Tuesday morning, six construction workers who had been fixing potholes on the bridge remained missing as divers and other emergency workers on boats and helicopters continued to search for them. Two others had been rescued, and one was in the hospital.

Francis Scott

Patapsco River

The ship left the Port

of Baltimore around

1 a.m. on Tuesday.

Where impact occurred

Direction of the ship

The ship hit the

bridge at 1:28 a.m.

The ship hit the bridge at 1:28 a.m.

Where impact

Source: Spire Global

The New York Times; satellite image by Google Earth

The lights of the ship flickered on and off as it lost power in the minutes before the ship changed bearing and hit the bridge.

Ship approached from

the Port of Baltimore

Road repair crews

Ship changed heading

as it neared pillar

Ship hit pillar

Southern and central spans

of bridge began to collapse within

seconds of impact

Northern span began to

collapse seconds later

Within 30 seconds of impact,

the central part of bridge had

entirely collapsed.

Source: StreamTime Live via YouTube

Timestamps are from StreamTime Live video.

The New York Times

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was opened in 1977 and carried more than 12.4 million vehicles last year. The bridge was one of the three major ways to cross the Patapsco River and formed part of Baltimore’s beltway.

The Port of Baltimore is a major trade hub that handled a record amount of foreign cargo last year. It is an especially important destination — the nation’s largest by volume last year — for deliveries of cars and light trucks.

Ship impact

To Chesapeake Bay

Sources: Maryland Port Administration, OpenStreetMap, MarineTraffic

Note: Ship positions are as of 2:46 p.m. Eastern time.

Overall, Baltimore was the 17th biggest port in the United States in 2021, ranked by total tons, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The bridge collapse brought marine traffic there to a standstill, with seven cargo or tanker ships stranded in the harbor as of Tuesday afternoon.

Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency for Maryland and said that his office was in close communication with Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary. The White House issued a statement saying that President Biden had been briefed on the collapse.

A photo shows the cargo ship with the collapsed bridge.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

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Eight passengers stranded on African island after Norwegian cruise ship left without them

A dream cruise vacation has turned into a nightmare for eight passengers left stranded on the African island of São Tomé and Príncipe after their ship left without them because they were late to return from a private tour.

The tourists — six from the U.S. and two from Australia — were aboard the Norwegian Dawn, a Norwegian cruise line ship , which departed from Cape Town, South Africa, on March 20 for a 21-day voyage up the coast of Africa set to end in Barcelona, Spain, on April 10.

But on Wednesday, the group of eight tourists was late to return to the ship by more than an hour for the all-aboard time of 3 p.m. from a private excursion on the island, which was not organized by the cruise line.

Jay and Jill Campbell of South Carolina were part of the group that was left behind.

They said that their tour’s operator notified the cruise captain that they were going to be late to rejoin the ship and that the local Coast Guard tried to get them on the vessel but that they weren’t allowed to board.

As a result, the couple and the rest of the group have been stranded for days on the island off Nigeria, grappling with language, currency issues and complicated travel to catch up with the ship.

“The lovely people of São Tomé were very gracious, very hospitable. They had reached out as much as they could to help us find hotels,” Jay Campbell said on NBC's "TODAY" show Tuesday morning.

“We were able to get to a tour agency there to arrange flights to the next port of call. ... Very difficult process — you’re dealing with multiple languages, language barriers, you’re dealing with different currencies ... finding someone that even has dollars ... trying to get an agent to understand where we need to get to.

"It’s one of those ‘You can’t get there from here,’" he added.

A Norwegian spokesperson called the incident a “very unfortunate situation” and said, “Guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time.”

The cruise line said that after the guests failed to return, their passports were delivered to local port agents, in line with protocol. The company said it was working with local authorities to understand “the requirements and visas needed for the guests to reboard the ship at the next available port of call.”

On Monday, the guests had made arrangements to rejoin the ship in Banjul, Gambia, but the ship was unable to safely dock there because of “adverse weather conditions” and “tidal restrictions,” Norwegian said. The guests were then contacted and provided with information to rejoin the ship at Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday.

Jill Campbell said they traveled through seven countries in 48 hours to arrive in Senegal on Monday night.

But the couple was reconsidering whether they even wanted to return to the cruise.

"We are considering whether or not we are going to board the ship. It is in dock here in Senegal," she said. "We believe there was a basic duty of care that they had forgotten about, so it does concern us."

"After what we witnessed, we truly believe that although there’s a set of rules or policies that the ship may have followed, they followed those rules too rigidly. I believe that they really forgot that they are people working in the hospitality industry and really the safety and well-being of the customers should be their first priority," she added.

Ultimately, the eight passengers did rejoin the cruise before 8:30 a.m. ET Tuesday in Dakar, Senegal, Norwegian told NBC News in an e-mail Tuesday evening, after this story originally published.

Norwegian said the passengers were responsible for making their own travel arrangements to rejoin the ship.

"Despite the series of unfortunate events outside of our control, we will be reimbursing these eight guests for their travel costs from Banjur, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal," a cruise line spokesperson said in a statement. "We remain in communication with the guests and are providing additional information as it becomes available."

A silver lining of the catastrophe was that the Campbells were able to connect with another Norwegian Dawn passenger — Julia Lenkoff, 80 — who was also left on the island, but for a medical reason.

Lenkoff was on a different day tour Wednesday. She had "medically disembarked" from the cruise to seek local treatment on that day, Norwegian said.

Norwegian said that its care team tried to call Lenkoff several times and was unable to reach her and that it worked with its port agent in São Tomé and Príncipe for updates on her health.

The Campbells met Lenkoff and were able to put her in contact with her family in California, who flew her home — a move Lenkoff's daughter said "saved her life."

"She's a world traveler. She travels all the time. So this was going to be one of her bucket list trips, because she's been to 120 countries so far, and she wanted to get to 130," her daughter, Lana Lenkoff Geis, said in an interview that aired Tuesday on "TODAY."

Norwegian said Lenkoff was escorted on a flight to Lisbon, Portugal, then put in the care of airport staff members to continue her journey back to the U.S., where she has safely returned.

Breaking News Reporter

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Pacific Passage Planning

By Alvah Simon
Updated: July 29, 2019

The definitions and delineations of a sea versus an ocean are complex, contested and best left to the learned geographers to debate. From a sailor’s point of view, excluding landlocked bodies of water, the rest of the brine is a contiguous path to glorious global adventure. Having said that, we do have our favorites. While the dreadful grind of the ice pack in the Far North and the towering graybeards of the Southern Ocean have their devotees, most sailing fantasies turn toward the seductive strum of the ukulele, the swaying palms and the white-sand beaches of the exotic South Pacific .

Ferdinand Magellan may have been a bit optimistic when he named a body of water that encompasses nearly one-third of Earth Mar Pacifico (peaceful ocean), for, like all oceans, it depends. The very size of the Pacific presents unique challenges, but so too do its strong currents, powerful storms, hazardous coral outcrops and remote low-lying islands.

Voyage Planning for Sailing the South Pacific

A successful Pacific passage will rely on meticulous planning , based on current information tempered with flexibility, because, by nature, cruising has it vagaries. But before one gets into the minutia of details, they should first step back and consider the bigger picture of sailing across the Pacific.

Is the vessel truly stem-to-stern, keel-to-masthead ready? Remember, a day’s work at the dock is worth a week’s under way. Is the dream and determination shared equally, or will the plan unravel with the first gale? Does a westward passage commit one to a circumnavigation, or are there strategic exit points? Does the voyage rely on a financial structure subject to change? Are you most comfortable as part of a rally, with a “buddy boat” or as a lone wolf?

Next is the paper chase. Gone are the whimsical days of letting the winds blow you where they may. The modern cruiser must be prepared in advance to face a host of legal requirements. First, ensure that every crewmember’s passport is as current as possible. Many countries will not issue visas to passports within six months of expiry. Next, list every country that you may wish to stop in and those in peripheral waters. Check the visa requirements carefully because the devil is in the details, especially if you have a multinational crew. Many countries require no visas if your stay is relatively short, or issue visas upon arrival. But some, such as Australia, will hit you with a hefty fine for showing up without one. Albeit increasingly expensive, cruising permits are normally obtainable upon arrival, but check the cruising websites and forums for current and accurate information. Make very high-resolution photocopies of your passports and ship’s papers. Bureaucrats love the pomp and splendor of shiny paper, and your precious original boat documents can stay safely on the vessel. If departing directly from U.S. waters, be aware that U.S. Customs does not normally issue a zarpe, or outbound clearance papers, yet these are required for entry into nearly any other nation. Download CBP Form 1300 and insist on a government stamp, any stamp. Be sure to have clear doctors’ prescriptions for every drug in the ship’s medical kit. What might be an over-the-counter medication in one country can be highly prohibited in another. Increasingly, foreign marinas demand third-party liability insurance. If you hope to further insure for damage and loss, check carefully the caveats relating to seasons and areas. If you plan to rent cars for touring, it is best to obtain an international driver’s license before departure.

Familiarize yourself with the basic elements that will shape your course and schedule — the direction and timing of the prevailing winds, significant currents, cyclone seasons, the positioning of the intertropical convergence zone and the South Pacific convergence zone. Ascertain if the year of passage has been deemed an El Niño or La Niña year because these phenomena can affect the above.

West Coast sailors may depart from as far north as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, near Seattle, or dally south to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, while awaiting the passage season. For European and East Coast sailors, the Pacific launching point is obviously the Panama Canal. The details of a canal transit are complex enough to warrant an article of their own, but relevant here is do not assume a quick passage, because during peak periods there can be several weeks of delay. Also, build in time to enjoy both the San Blas Islands, on the Atlantic side, and the Las Perlas Islands, on the Pacific side.

Pacific Sailing Routes

Although the official window for departures from Panama extends from February all the way to June, the trade winds tend to stabilize and strengthen as the year progresses. However, an early exit has many advantages. Leaving it until June allows only six months to transit up to 9,000 nautical miles before being forced to exit the cyclone belt at the western edge of the Pacific. This truncates the time to linger in favorite anchorages or tend to inevitable breakdowns and delays. Leaving as early as late January might technically put one out into the Pacific during the official cyclone season, but the statistical chances of a storm developing this far to the east are slim.

There are countless permutations of a westward passage, but the path dubbed the “Milk Run” is the most popular. Regardless of one’s plan for the western Pacific, this route passes by or through the Galápagos Islands , the Marquesas, Tuamotus and Society Islands (Tahiti).

The initial stage presents a challenge because the winds can be light and the currents contrary in the Gulf of Panama. It’s advisable to head slightly east of south when heading out of the Gulf; the western promontory is aptly named Punta Mala (Bad Point) due to its penchant for confused currents and squally weather.

Once well clear of the Gulf of Panama, fashion a southwestward course with a pronounced southern belly toward the Galápagos group. I once sailed a direct course for the Marquesas Islands that passed over the northern edge of the Galápagos. I paid for this foolishness by spinning in lazy circles for five excruciatingly long days. Given the early time of the year, I would have been better served by passing several degrees south of the island group. Because the intertropical convergence zone (better known as the doldrums) is widest in the eastern Pacific, it is best crossed at the least oblique angle reasonable.

On another Pacific passage, I chose to head south for Bahia de Caraquez in Ecuador. Not only was the cruise down the Ecuadorian coast fascinating, the passage to the Galápagos from Salinas provided steadier winds than had we departed directly from the canal.

The cost and conditions of a stay in the Galápagos are forever changing. As an admittedly stubborn form of protest, I sailed right by them on two different occasions. On the third, my wife, Diana, put her sea boots down and demanded we stop. Even with a limited stay and restricted access, we were treated to one of Earth’s most unique and fascinating natural habitats.

The 3,000-mile passage from the Galápagos to the Marquesas will probably be the longest of your sailing career. If you can focus on the journey instead of the destination, it might also be the most memorable. Many modern sailors tend to fill the Pacific void with a frenetic schedule of radio nets, emails and obsessive navigational updates. Others soak up the rare opportunity to commune deeply with nature, and experience a rare solitude and reaffirming self-reliance, which I believe to be the core virtues of bluewater sailing.

Counterintuitive to the landlubber but axiomatic to any old salt is that the rhumb line is often not the quickest route to a desired destination. Favorable winds mean speed, and the extra distance in search of them is usually well rewarded. When transiting from the Galápagos to the Marquesas, by first heading south-southwest down to 3 to 4 degrees south latitude, one should reach the upper limits of the southeast trade winds, albeit possibly sporadic at this point. But as you proceed west-southwest toward 6 degrees south latitude and 100 degrees west longitude, they should increase in both strength and consistency. As you straighten course toward your chosen port of entry in the Marquesas, you should begin experiencing your best noon-to-noon runs because you will still have a southerly component in the trades. This puts you on a broad reach, a point of sail most boats excel in. The farther west one heads, the more easterly the trades become until you are eventually running dead downwind. This tends to be a touch slower, with exacerbated rolling. Be sure to carry light-wind sails for the early portions of this journey, and equipment and sails suitable for downwind situations. That fortunate discrepancy you will notice between your speed on the log (i.e., through the water) versus the GPS speed (over the bottom) is compliments of the South Equatorial Current, which fortifies with the steadier trades.

There is only one shoal area along the route, which is well-charted (8 degrees 5 minutes N and 139 degrees 35 minutes W), and the islands are high and easily sighted from afar. Entrances to the main ports are open and well-marked, thus safely approached, a blessing for a fatigued crew. What the Marquesas Islands might lack in terms of white-sand beaches and aqua lagoons is more than made up for with a geography so dramatic as to be somewhat foreboding — towering rock spires, dense jungle and precipitous waterfalls. These islands have been protected from rampant development by a crushing remoteness and therefore arguably remain the cultural heart of Polynesia.

Passages between the islands are mostly clear and well-charted, but potentially windy. The anchorages tend to be open roadsteads, so anti-roll tactics and equipment come in handy. Yachts can clear in at Hiva Oa, Ua Pou or Nuku Hiva. Those first stopping in Fatu Hiva have met with mixed results, ranging from spot fines to official clearance. Yachts are no longer required to rush to Tahiti to extend their initial 30-day visa. Thus, with 90 days in pocket, you can divide your time between the Marquesas, Tuamotus and Societies more evenly than in years past.

Encompassing an area larger than Western Europe, the Tuamotus are the longest chain of atolls in the world. Historically, they were known as the “dangerous archipelago,” and rightfully so due to a baffling maze of poorly charted reefs, low-lying islands and diabolically unpredictable currents. Even with the best of modern navigational equipment and weather forecasting, they demand the mariner’s absolute vigilance regarding watchkeeping, entry and exit from atoll passes, and anchoring techniques.

Those in a hurry to reach Tahiti tend to pass through the wider channels at the northern end of the chain, perhaps visiting Ahe, Manihi and the main center of Rangiroa. Others, with more time, make landfall far to the south and make their way up the chain via Makemo and the beautiful Fakarava Lagoon, enjoying a better angle off the wind on the short sail to Tahiti.

The Society Islands are divided into two groups: the Windwards, including Tahiti and Moorea, and the Leewards, with Huahine, Raiatea, Taha’a and, perhaps the most beautiful of them all, Bora Bora. They are all lush, high and ringed by azure seas. If early in the season, all are worth visiting. If time is short, be sure to at least attend the amazing group-dance competitions held in the buzzing capital of Papeete, celebrating Bastille Day on July 14.

North or South?

In Tahiti, the Milk Run divides into myriad possibilities. There is the northern route, for those planning to cross through the Torres Strait or into the Northern Hemisphere for the coming cyclone season, and the southern route, for those dropping south of the danger into New Zealand.

Although the majority of the South Pacific islands would remain unexplored, Tahiti is the earliest cutout for those needing to return to North America because its easterly location allows for a viable starboard tack through the southeast and northeast trades to Hawaii. The long but logical route from there is wheeling over the top of the North Pacific summer high and back south into U.S. West Coast waters.

While the land mass of the Cook Islands is a mere 100 square miles, its economic exclusion zone covers nearly 700,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean. One can only hope to draw a thin line through this scattered nation. For those on the southern route, the four- to five-day passage to Aitutaki or Rarotonga offers a predictable beam-to-broad reach right on the rhumb line.

En route to Niue lies one of two opportunities to experience the eeriness of anchoring in the middle of a featureless ocean (the other being the Minerva Reefs between Tonga and New Zealand). Beveridge Reef is a sunken atoll with not a skerrick of land awash at low tide, yet it offers anchorable depths within.

Niue is a raised coral atoll and geographically rare in the South Pacific. As anchoring depths are prohibitive, deep moorings are available. Keep in mind that it is an open roadstead vulnerable to dangerous swells. If the wind even hints at going west, as it occasionally does, get out immediately.

To break up the 1,200-nautical-mile haul to American Samoa from the Society Islands, the northern fleet usually takes a break in the remote and uninhabited atoll of Suwarrow, also known as Suvorov. The pass is challenging, as is the anchoring. But those who dare will be treated to one of the wildest places left on this planet.

From this point west, both the northern and southern fleet enter into the South Pacific convergence zone, a dangling arm of the intertropical convergence zone that extends from the Solomon Islands in an east-southeast direction. The South Pacific convergence zone drifts with some seasonal predictability (more to the north from December to May and the south from June to November), but is also influenced by larger weather anomalies. It tends to shift to the northeast in El Niño years and southwest in the La Niña phase. Generally, it is an area of enhanced convection resulting in a frustrating mix of cloud cover, line squalls and calms.

The list of interesting stops from here west includes Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Nevertheless, those planning to sail directly through Torres Strait into the Indian Ocean cannot afford to dally. They should be through the Torres by late August or early September in order to cross the entire Indian Ocean into South Africa before the cyclone season begins sometime in late November. A popular alternative is to pass south to a good cyclone hole on the Australian coast, such as Cairns or Port Douglas, and backtrack up to the Torres Strait at the beginning of the next safe season.

Keep in mind that an east-to-west circumnavigation does not demand a route through the Torres. I once circumnavigated by passing north of Papua New Guinea, avoiding the Southern Hemisphere cyclone season, taking in Palau, the Philippines, and Borneo before dropping back into the Southern Hemisphere for the Indian Ocean passage to southern Africa. Any destination north of 10 degrees south latitude will keep you out of harm’s way, albeit without the steady assist of those lovely trade winds.

Those on the southern route can linger through Tonga or Fiji until well into November and still safely make New Zealand shores before any tropical depressions threaten. Most cruisers heading for New Zealand do not venture as far west as Vanuatu or New Caledonia on the assumption that they can easily fetch them on their way north the following season.

Unanimous acclaim for the beauty of the northern Tongan groups of Niua, Vava‘u and Ha‘apai makes some time here mandatory, which harks back to my original advice to head out of Panama as early as safely possible. The southern contingent usually drifts south toward Nuku‘alofa, the capital, until it likes the long-range forecast for the passage to New Zealand. Many plan to hole up in Minerva Reef, getting a head start on the 1,100 miles to New Zealand, and depart there with the absolute latest weather predictions.

The reputation of this leg has more bark than bite, but it cannot be denied that tropical weather events drifting down from the Coral Sea and cold fronts coming up from the Southern Ocean have dramatic potential. One can expect winds from nearly every direction, starting with southeast trades on departure and potentially deep lows with strong southwesterlies shifting to northwesterlies when approaching New Zealand. Thus, the usual advice is to fall off the southeast trades and make some westing in anticipation of that southwest-to-northwest change. Not to be a contrarian, but I have made this passage more than a half-dozen times and believe it is better to hold to the east as far as wind and waves allow because if that southwest change does not occur, you might find yourself on the wrong side of North Cape, New Zealand, with contrary winds and confused currents. Although Norfolk Island is not a fully protected anchorage, many vessels that find themselves west of the rhumb line with foul forecasts to the south will shelter here until conditions improve.

It’s possible, albeit tedious, to return to North America from New Zealand. Vessels head out to the east from as far south as Tauranga hoping to catch the northerly limits of the westerlies until they fetch the longitude of the Austral Islands, then turn north for Tahiti. From there, they follow the route as previously described. From the outset of their voyage, some have planned to sell their yacht in New Zealand or Australia rather than carry on with a circumnavigation or a very lengthy sail back to the United States, especially if they are East Coast residents. Import duties, brokerage costs and currency exchange rates must be factored into this strategy. Is it heresy to suggest that another option is to ship the vessel back home? The initial estimates might seem staggering, but once compared to the escalating marina and maintenance costs, and the many windward months and miles home, the horror subsides.

Whatever your plan from here, through a combination of wind and will, you have done it. You, your crew and your splendid craft have spanned the mightiest body of water on Earth. You have immersed yourself in millions of square miles of salty solitude and self-reliance. You have absorbed the exotic cultures of Central Americans, Polynesians, Micronesians and Melanesians. And now, as only a seasoned mariner can, you truly understand why they call it the Big Blue.

Contributing editor, Alvah Simon, and his wife, Diana, are presently sailing New Zealand waters on their cutter Roger Henry, with occasional voyages to the South Pacific islands.

South Pacific At A Glance

Dry Season: May-October
Wet Season: November-April
Cyclone Season: November-April. Active
Cyclone Area: south of 10° S; west of 140° W
Distance: Panama to Australia — 8,000 nautical miles
Cultural Areas: Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia/New Zealand

References:

World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell
noonsite.com (Virtually everything you will need to know on a current basis will be found on this comprehensive website.)
Atlas of Pilot Charts — South Pacific, DMA/NOAA
The Pacific Crossing Guide by Kitty Van Hagen
Charlie’s Charts of Polynesia by Charles and Margo Wood
Landfalls of Paradise by Earl Hinz and Jim Howard
South Pacific Cruising by David Thatcher
South Pacific Anchorag es by Warwick Clay
Rocket Guide to Vanuatu & New Caledonia
Solomon Island Cruising Guide by Dirk Sieling
New Zealand Coastal Cruising Handbook by Royal Akarana Yacht Club
Lonely Planet South Pacific Travel Guide

Selected SSB/Ham WX Nets:

Southbound Evening Net: 6516 kHz at 0100 UTC
Panama Pacific Net: 8143 kHz at 1400 UTC
Pacific Maritime Mobile: 21.412 MHz at
2100-2400 UTC
Pacific Magellan: 8173 kHz at 1730 UTC
Pacific Seafarers: 14300 kHz at 0300 UTC
Namba/Sheila Net: 8101 kHz at UTC plus 11 hours
Gulf Harbor Radio: 8116 kHz at 0715 local New Zealand time
(There is a host of smaller and temporary VHF and SSB nets throughout the Pacific.)
More: Destinations , How To , offshore , Pacific , passage making
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Watch CBS News

Second temporary passage clears way for additional small vessels past Key Bridge collapse site in Baltimore

By Jessica Albert , Mike Hellgren , Christian Olaniran , Rohan Mattu , Adam Thompson

Updated on: April 2, 2024 / 11:16 PM EDT / CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- A second temporary passage was cleared Tuesday for commercial and essential ships in the Patapsco River following the collapse of the Key Bridge.

The 14-foot channel along the south of the disaster site will allow marine vessels access to the Port of Baltimore. An 11-foot channel, 264-feet wide, opened on Monday on the northeast side.

A fuel barge and scrap barge already made their way through that passageway.

"I'm thankful that only a week after the collapse, we have pathways and channels so commercial traffic can now move through," Moore said.

The Tugboat Crystal Coast, pushing a fuel barge, was the first vessel to move through the original alternate channel on Monday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. It was headed to Dover Air Force Base with jet fuel.

Larger ships still can't pass

Governor Moore said larger ships need at least 35 feet of depth and a path at least 700-feet wide to move through to the Port of Baltimore. When clear, the depth of the river where the Dali crashed into the bridge is 50 feet.

"We are still a long way from getting the size and commercial back to where it was before the collapse," Moore said.

"Today was an important milestone in the process of beginning to pull the wreckage out, beginning to open channels. We know we still have work to do," he added.

A deeper third channel is in the works that would provide 25 feet of depth.

"I anticipate smaller draft commercial vessels, maybe some small tugs in the next few days," U.S. Coast Guard Captain David O'Connell said. "That's that 13 to 14 foot draft, but unfortunately, that's not a lot of vessels. But it certainly is a start on our way to phase three, which will hopefully get us to 20 to 25 foot draft and that would be a lot more commercial vessels."

Dangerous work

Moore said untangling the mangled mess of debris remains dangerous.

"We're talking about a situation where a portion of the bridge beneath the water has been described by Unified Command as 'chaotic wreckage,'" Moore said. "Every time someone goes into the water, they are taking a risk. Every time we move a piece of the structure, the situation could become even more dangerous. We have to move fast but we cannot be careless."

Debris removal continues

The Unified Response team is continuing the difficult job of cutting away pieces of what remains of the Key Bridge, which collapsed when it was struck by the cargo ship Dali last week.

The salvage teams are working in a phased approach to opening the main channel, according to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott's office.

The current 2,000-yard safety zone around the Francis Scott Key Bridge remains in effect and is intended to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment. No vessel or person will be permitted to enter the safety zone without obtaining permission from the COTP or a designated representative, the mayor's office said.

A survey is also underway to determine how hard the ground is around the Dali to help come up with a strategy for removal.

Who is working at the bridge disaster site?

The Unified Command is comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland Department of the Environment, Maryland Transportation Authority, Maryland State Police, and business consultant Witt O'Brien's, which is representing Synergy Marine, the Singapore company that managed the striking ship.

The governor's office tells WJZ the cleanup effort at the wreckage site of the Key Bridge will be a "round-the-clock" effort until the Port of Baltimore is back open.

Moore said the priorities are recovering the four remaining victims, clearing the channel to open vessel traffic for the port, and supporting to those impacted by the disaster.

State and federal organizations are already working to provide economic assistance to individuals and small businesses that have been impacted by the collapse.

Tradepoint Atlantic takes cargo to assist Port of Baltimore

Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point is taking redirected cargo to assist the Port of Baltimore until the channels are cleared for all vessels.

Its marine terminal is accepting previously scheduled arrivals, while also providing additional capacity for redirected cargo.

Tradepoint Atlantic officials say they are "committed to accepting redirected cargo to help maintain the supply chain and re-establish commercial activity."

A five-acre facility has also been cleared at TPA to store and process recovered bridge material.

CSX to redirect cargo to NY as Port of Baltimore remains closed

CSX added a new freight route to transport cargo to New York while the Port of Baltimore remains closed to larger ships.

"CSX is taking proactive steps to help mitigate freight shipment disruptions in the transportation industry by launching a dedicated service solution between Baltimore and New York, in response to the devastating March 26 incident in which a cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge leading to its collapse," the train company said.

The routes will be implemented next week to help with managing the traffic flow that would typically transit through the Port of Baltimore and transport freight between New York and Baltimore.

"While the timeline for resuming freight operations at the Port of Baltimore remains uncertain, we are in constant communication with our customers, providing timely updates on the status of their shipments," CSX said. "CSX is fully dedicated to meeting our customers' transportation needs during this challenging period."

Aid sought for impacted workers

Eight people , part of a construction crew filling potholes, were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Two were rescued, two bodies have been recovered, and four remain missing and are presumed dead.

"My focus is on making sure these families are getting the comfort and the closure that they need, making sure that our first responders are getting the supports that they need, making sure that we can get these channels open and making sure that we can get this Key Bridge rebuilt," Moore said.

Maryland lawmakers are working on emergency legislation for income replacement to assist thousands of Port of Baltimore workers impacted by the disruption.

President Biden to visit Baltimore

President Joe Biden is set to visit Baltimore on Friday, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The announcement follows Biden's vow last week to visit Baltimore following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The president also said he believes the federal government should pay for the bridge reconstruction.

If you find debris, call the hotline at 410-205-6625 .

Jessica Albert joined the WJZ family in September 2021. She has been a huge fan of WJZ for years and is excited to be a part of the team.

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Port of Baltimore workers closer to relief after act passes through Senate

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Seattle City Council President Nelson celebrates passage of new labor contracts

Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson (Position 9) released the following statement regarding newly approved labor agreements covering around 7,000 City of Seattle workers. Legislation authorizing the agreements was unanimously approved by Council on Tuesday and signed by Mayor Bruce Harrell this morning.

“Our city doesn’t work without city workers. From 911 dispatchers to park maintenance crews and everyone in between, they are behind crucial services that many take for granted. Public service is a noble profession. I am glad that, today, this Council has an opportunity to say thank you and ensure our city workforce is getting the cost-of-living increases they deserve,” said Council President Nelson .

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COMMENTS

A Key Approach to Passagemaking
Apr 13, 2021. Moderation and respect are a big part of successful and enjoyable passagemaking. How you approach offshore sailing is key to the success of each passage. In addition, some of the most valuable, even crucial attitudes and skills may not be either learned or valued in everyday life on shore and may even fly in the face of talents ...
Passage Making
1. We check the weather: Weather is the single most important aspect of passage making. We learned this lesson the hard way. It can, literally, make or break your trip. If you plan on doing a passage that is 24 hours or longer - it becomes even more critical that you find an adequate "weather window", or a few days of decent seas and ...
Weather Routing: Comfortable Passagemaking
Weather Routing: Comfortable Passagemaking. Andy Schell. Apr 6, 2021. Fair winds and moderate seas make for great passagemaking. A weather forecast—like an old-school dead-reckoning plot—will decrease in certainty with the passage of time. Over the past five years of arranging offshore charters aboard our Swan 48, Isbjørn, and our Swan 59 ...
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Collecting Tsunami Debris in the North Pacific. In my view, there are just two rules to successful passage making: one, keep the boat going in the right direction; two, stay on board. On my way to Alaska in 2012, I broke the second rule when I fell off the boat reaching for an object in the water. I was collecting debris from the middle of the ...
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Fast Passage 39. Very few stock production boats are up to the rigors of an around-the-world race. Even fewer actually have completed such a feat. When Francis Stokes finished the 27,000-mile inaugural BOC Challenge in 1983 he was one of only 10 finishers in a race that saw 16 competitors at the starting line aboard everything from high-tech ...
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World Cruising Routes. World Cruising Routes is the go-to guidebook for long-distance navigators, cruisers, and sailors. It contains over 1,000 routes to destinations all over the globe rich with essential weather information, waypoints, and advice for safe passage making. "Some routes start as a dream and end as a nightmare.".
Passage Planning
Passage Planning. The notion of ditching the job and house, buying a boat and sailing away to the tropics, across an ocean, or even around the world, is a fantasy that lurks in the mind of every sailor. Some actually follow their dreams and find a suitable boat and prepare it for serious sailing.
Ultimate Passagemaking Sailboat
Instead of a lot of small cabins common to ex-charter boats, they propose 2 very nice cabins and a smaller 3rd cabin forward. Seems like a good idea. For passage making there are great bunks for 4 people, but the 5th would need to climb over the 4th in my picture above. Both the 2 luxurious cabins have separate showers - nice! Hylas 49
Tips on Gaining Experience Passagemaking
Boats gathering in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and in Mindelo in the Cape Verdes often seek help for their passage to St. Lucia. There are 11 different ARC events on both sides of the Atlantic and even one, the WorldARC, that circumnavigates. Crew usually jump on for a leg, and if all goes well may be asked to stay on.
Planning an Offshore Passage
Planning an Offshore Passage. When planning a long offshore passage or a season of passages, look at the big picture first and make sure the plan includes multiple options. By Behan Gifford. March 16, 2022. Totem motors across a glassy Bay of Bengal. Even the best-planned routes are subject to weather changes. Behan Gifford.
Singlehanded passage making, Best Practices
A great complement to the other discussions. I'll have a go: 1. When deciding to embark on any single handed passage, even a short one, keep well in mind the inherent challenges in maintaining a proper lookout at the same time as one manages all other aspects of the voyage, including navigation and pilotage, and yet sees to the organic requirements of the single crew resource's body, including ...
Passagemaking and Sleep
Every boat will have its own list, but common items include the following. Make sure bilge pumps work and the strainers are free of debris (and hair — the big culprit on boats). Test the EPIRB. Check the contents of the ditch bag. Make sure the life raft and ditch bag are accessible. Check the oil in the engine and the transmission fluid.
Top Ten Tips for Ocean Passage Making
Our key planning activities are outlined below. 1. Plan Your Passage. We study the prevailing weather patterns for the region for the time of year we plan to make the passage. Based on that information we pick an approximate date to set off. About two weeks out, we start watching the weather.
The Passagemaker New Boats Preview 2020-21
Forward of the beach club, the 58E's stand-up engine room provides 360-degree access and is equipped with twin 1,150-hp Caterpillar C18 Acert engines. The yacht is capable of top speeds of 26 to 27 knots, and cruising speeds of 21 to 22 knots. Efficiently, she cruises at 9 to 10 knots.
Trawlers and ocean going motor yachts designed for passage making
ALL SELENE YACHTS. From our Selene 38 Voyager Aft-cabin luxury pocket-yacht to our Selene 128 super Expedition Yacht, Selene Yachts has the boat which will be perfect for your sailing plans…. Sailing in the fast lane with our Artemis line, enjoying family coastal cruising on a Selene Voyager or contemplating a circumnavigation with one of our ...
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How to Plan a Passage
On another occasion, we were waiting in the San Blas Islands for the fortified trades to die so we could make the passage to Florida. At the first sign of a let-up, in early April, a flotilla of impatient yachts set sail north. I asked an elderly Kuna man what he thought. He said, quite sagely, "Coming one more storm from the north, then go."
Offshore Sailing: 200 Essential Passagemaking Tips
I've been a boater all of my life, a sailor for the last 20 years, boat owner for 15 years, racer for the last 7 years and I'm ready to take my boat off shore to do the Newport to Bermuda race. For a costal racer there is a tremendious amount of boat preperation and this book has been my most helpful resource, lot's of great thought staters and ...
6 Pocket Cruisers Ready to Hit the Road
Here are six capable cruisers you can strap down and take with you virtually anywhere. RANGER TUGS/CUTWATER BOATS. Lisa Favors. Founded in 1958, Ranger Tugs was purchased by designer David Livingston and his son, John, in the late 1990s. Today, the company offers a variety of 23- to 41-foot models: Yamaha outboard with planing hull, diesel ...
How the Key Bridge Collapsed in Baltimore: Maps and Photos
March 26, 2024. On Tuesday, a major bridge in Baltimore collapsed into the water seconds after it was struck by a cargo ship, sending vehicles on the bridge into the river below. The ship lost ...
Eight passengers stranded on African island after Norwegian cruise ship
By Marlene Lenthang. A dream cruise vacation has turned into a nightmare for eight passengers left stranded on the African island of São Tomé and Príncipe after their ship left without them ...
Sailing Across the Pacific, Routes & Tips
The weather patterns of the Pacific dictate the common crossing routes. Map by Shannon Cain Tumino. The 3,000-mile passage from the Galápagos to the Marquesas will probably be the longest of your sailing career. If you can focus on the journey instead of the destination, it might also be the most memorable.
Stranded cruise passengers in Africa race to rejoin their ship
Eight cruise passengers left behind in São Tomé and Príncipe have been trying to catch up with their Norwegian Cruise Line ship as it makes its way up Africa's coast.
The Top Catamarans of 2020
Oct 8, 2020. Powercats continue to gain traction in the cruising-boat market offering owners more space, greater privacy and better fuel efficiency and seakeeping ability than monohulls of similar length. Here is a sample of some of the best cats (and tris) on the market today. NAUTITECH 47 POWER. Nautitech 47 Power.
Second temporary passage clears way for additional small vessels past
BALTIMORE -- A second temporary passage was cleared Tuesday for commercial and essential ships in the Patapsco River following the collapse of the Key Bridge. The 14-foot channel along the south ...
Seattle City Council President Nelson celebrates passage of new labor
Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson (Position 9) released the following statement regarding newly approved labor agreements covering around 7,000 City of Seattle workers. Legislation authorizing the agreements was unanimously approved by Council on Tuesday and signed by Mayor Bruce Harrell this morning. "Our city doesn't work without city workers. From 911 dispatchers to park...