The 6 preparation rules you should follow for sailing across oceans

I accomplished my eighth and most up-to-date Atlantic crossing in February, crusing from Mindelo, Cape Verde, to Barbados aboard our Farr 65 Falken with 10 crew. The two,200-mile passage took just below 11 days — quick, comfy and dreamy, precisely as you hope for a tradewind crossing within the tropics.

I’ve by no means, ever mentioned ocean crusing is boring, however I had extra free time on that journey than in any in current reminiscence. Time to get out the sextant and train some celestial navigation, time to learn, to fly the drone and fiddle taking images; time to do no matter I fancied!

To me, that’s the objective of a well-planned and executed ocean crossing: to have the time to actually take pleasure in it. However with so many issues to consider within the preparation stage, the place do you begin?

What actually issues?

My spouse, Mia, and I hosted a 59° North small group workshop on simply this matter in Annapolis this spring. The group spent the primary morning brainstorming what ‘issues’ offshore versus what doesn’t. The place and the way do you have to focus your vitality?

Our group of eight sailors have been all yacht homeowners with various backgrounds and boats, from crusing an old-school Allied Seawind 32, to constructing a brand new efficiency cruiser Xp 50. But some frequent themes emerged. Every individual’s ‘mission’ was to make secure, comfy ocean cruising passages and have the information and confidence to adapt to conditions as they developed.

In our workshop, what stood out on the ‘issues’ record included each critical and humorous objects. Espresso was excessive on the record, proper behind understanding the climate. Boat situation (ie upkeep), comms and self-steering made it to the ‘issues’ record, whereas some shocking objects like boat design and electronics didn’t.

Maybe an important factor on the ‘issues’ record gained’t be coated on this article because it’s such a giant matter: medical. Protecting the crew wholesome and managing the scenario within the occasion of a medical emergency issues greater than the rest, but invariably most sailors go away these preparations till the final minute. Don’t.

For this text I’ve chosen just a few issues from the ‘issues’ record to do a deeper dive on. Plus we’ll contact on some issues left off the record and why they don’t matter as a lot as you would possibly suppose. Right here I’ve tried to distil a complete weekend’s discussions into only a few key factors that will help you plan and prioritise.

What doesn’t matter

A number of matters that appear to dominate armchair sailor discussions ended up on our ‘doesn’t matter’ record. Take boat design for instance – there are such a lot of various kinds of boats plying the oceans that it’s inconceivable to say what’s ‘greatest’ for passagemaking. I typically confer with my pal Matt Rutherford’s epic Across the Americas voyage, a solo, nonstop passage via the Northwest Passage and round Cape Horn that took him 309 days.

He did it in a Nineteen Seventies 27ft Albin Vega which he refitted by diving across the boatyard skips of Annapolis. No person would argue that’s a great boat for that mission, however he did it anyway. The extra expert and ready the sailor, the much less that boat design issues. So actually it’s information and preparation that really matter.

Article continues under…

A variety of techniques we spend method an excessive amount of time debating didn’t make the record. Who cares what sort of battery system you’ve put in, the fabric within the sails, or what kind of engine the boat has? What issues is much less the selection of kit however the way it’s designed, put in and maintained. Any system match for objective and correctly maintained will serve the mission, so don’t get too slowed down in model selections and technical specs.

Sailors have been crossing oceans for hundreds of years and even a mean boat right this moment is mild years safer and higher performing than what we’ve had for many of human historical past. Overlook the stuff that doesn’t matter and give attention to what does.

excessive on the record of what issues are the boat’s steering and self-steering techniques. Photograph: Tor Johnson

1 Talent

‘The extra , the much less you want,’ is one in all my favorite quotes, attributed to Yvon Choinard, founding father of iconic clothes model Patagonia, himself an avid climber and outdoorsman.

I typically preach that seamanship is each ‘discovered’ and ‘earned’. You don’t must have hundreds of ocean miles below your keel to efficiently cross the Atlantic, however it’s best to have a wide selection of accrued information. You will be probably the most book-smart sailor, however sooner or later you could apply that information in the actual world by going to sea. Likewise, you possibly can have huge quantities of expertise and nonetheless not know methods to be chief.

The extra practised you’re at dealing with a ship below sail, working in tight areas on upkeep and repairs, studying and decoding climate forecasts, understanding radar plots and the myriad different expertise wanted to securely cross an ocean, the simpler it’s going to be once you truly get on the market.

Understanding navigation is likely one of the fundamentals for a bluewater journey. Photograph: 59° North Crusing

2 Climate

If seamanship is all about anticipation, what issues most is knowing and anticipating the climate. With trendy comms, computerised climate fashions, forecasting instruments and mobile-based weather-routing software program, a sailor ought to by no means be ‘caught out’ by a change within the climate. The flexibility to foretell the following 24-48 hours of any given passage gives an enormous benefit relating to positioning your boat relative to climate techniques on the bigger scale, and your sail plan relative to situations on a neighborhood scale.

Perceive the distinction between climate ‘forecasting’ and climate ‘routing’: the previous provides info whereas the latter gives steering. Climate routing, whether or not by a human service ashore or by software program on board, is a vital software, but it surely’s nugatory in case you don’t perceive each its limitations and the big-picture forecast behind it.

Once we train climate, we all the time begin by zooming proper out to what creates wind within the first place (a distinction in atmospheric strain), and what the everyday seasonal climate patterns are within the ocean wherein we’re crusing. As I write this, Falken is a day or two out from making landfall in Horta, Azores. The boat departed Bermuda and has been traversing the highest of the Azores Excessive, the dominant climate function within the North Atlantic which, along side the jet stream aloft, helps to steer the despair monitor as they march from west to east.

Keep south of the low centres and you may count on ‘free’ winds from the westerly quadrant because the lows, spinning counterclockwise, cross to the north. Effectively-developed lows could have related chilly fronts, and people chilly fronts could have distinct patterns as they cross over the boat – rising south-westerly winds, unsettled, squally climate, adopted by a (typically violent) wind shift to the west-northwest and clearing skies. On a given Bermuda-Azores crossing you possibly can count on three or 4 of those lows and related fronts to overhaul you on a typical 10-14 day crossing.

Understanding climate ought to be one of many highest priorities. Photograph: 59° North Crusing

That is the place anticipation is available in. Trendy GRIB fashions have a reasonably excessive diploma of certainty in a 72-hour timeframe, so we are able to predict, at the very least inside 12 hours, when an approaching entrance goes to overhaul us, and may set the boat up accordingly.

Because the entrance approaches, the wind will construct from the south-west. The course from Bermuda to the Azores is east-northeast, so we’d usually be crusing on a run on starboard tack, with the jib poled out to windward and the mainsail off to port.

Nevertheless, have been the wind to shift abruptly to the west-northwest – if we missed anticipating the frontal passage – we’d must gybe via this wind shift, a difficult and harmful manoeuvre in unsettled climate. As a substitute, we are able to gybe nicely forward of the frontal passage and sail on a extra northerly heading on port tack, persevering with to shorten sail because the south-westerly will increase.

When the wind shifts, the one manoeuvre required is to bear away and observe the shift, ultimately coming again onto a run however on port tack because the skies clear and the wind fills in from the north-west because the low strikes off to our north and east. Sure, we might have sailed 60 miles out of our method to the north, however we made a a lot safer and extra comfy sail out of it.

My level is that with trendy climate fashions you’ll all the time know the approaching pattern over a 1-3 day window with a really excessive diploma of certainty, and you should utilize that pattern to make selections. Is the wind lifting or heading us? Is the climate altering in our favour or in opposition to us? Is it easing off, permitting me to shake some reefs, or is it forecast to extend and would possibly I wish to reef down earlier than darkish?

What’s most fascinating to us as offshore sailors is the diploma of certainty within the forecast. I usually use each the GFS mannequin, supplied by NOAA within the USA, and the ECMWF (aka ‘Euro’) mannequin. Folks will argue about which mannequin is ‘higher’, however that’s lacking the purpose. All fashions do some issues higher than others and a few issues worse.

Photograph: 59° North Crusing

What’s helpful in each fashions is how they diverge over time – if each seem kind of the identical after 3-5 days, I can infer a excessive diploma of certainty within the fashions and due to this fact make extra assured routing selections. If, conversely, they diverge considerably within the 1-4 day vary, that tells me there’s a excessive diploma of uncertainty within the fashions and I’d higher make extra conservative routing selections.

I’ll all the time do a ‘handbook’ route by analysing just a few fashions myself and which facet of the rhumb line is favoured to offer me the perfect crusing angles. Bear in mind, in cruising, we’re attempting to optimise for secure, comfy passages, not outright velocity.

Meaning enjoying the wind angles, not essentially getting from A to B as rapidly as attainable. Then I’ll let the pc run a route for me and see if it aligns with my very own assumptions. Often it does and I’m assured. Within the odd instances the pc and I disagree, that tells me I’ve missed one thing in my evaluation and I’ll return to the drafting board, or typically, name within the consultants and truly communicate to a meteorologist.

By doing this sort of climate evaluation in the course of the planning phases of a passage, proper earlier than departure, and normally each day at sea, I can confidently meet the ‘anticipation’ a part of seamanship as a result of I ought to by no means not know what’s over the horizon weather-wise, and have the boat setup accordingly.

Select a lightweight climate downwind sail – and know methods to use it. Photograph: Tor Johnson

3 Sail Plan

Excessive on our ‘what issues’ record was sail stock. You will be the perfect at climate forecasting, however that’s of little assist in case you can’t adapt your sail plan to the altering situations.

I believe seagoing sail stock, for monohull and multihull ocean-going cruising boats alike, ought to seem like this:

Bluewater mainsail: 3 reefs, exterior reef fairleads on the leech, full battens.
All-purpose jib/genoa: ‘reefable’ on a furler, the sail you’ll use 90% of the time.
Second, smaller/flatter upwind jib: when you actually need to level excessive or in case your all-purpose sail fails.
Storm jib/staysail: ideally on a detachable internal forestay.
Gentle climate downwind sail: gennaker, uneven or symmetric kite, your selection. Know methods to rig your downwind sail and methods to sail with it.
Pole for wing-on-wing: trendy boats virtually all have bowsprits as of late for flying uneven kites, however for actual tradewinds voyaging you continue to want to hold a pole for sheeting headsails to windward when operating, particularly because the wind and sea state will get up.

Sail materials issues much less, however sure supplies are positively extra sturdy and forgiving than others.

Keep away from flogging your sails offshore, and take care to maintain them from chafing. Simply have ‘sufficient’ sails to take care of altering situations, with some redundancy in case of failures, make certain they’re in fine condition, and know methods to use them.

Maintain abreast of long- and short-range climate forecasts. Photograph:Tor Johnson

4 Communications

You may’t get good climate info with out good communications on board, and I really feel fairly strongly about what constitutes a ‘good’ comms arrange.

Starlink is ubiquitous now. As a lot as I hate the way in which it’s altering offshore crusing philosophically, it’s laborious to argue in opposition to it for the benefit of entry to larger decision climate information, and for connecting with medical doctors ashore within the occasion of a medical emergency. For 59° North, we’re contemplating putting in Starlink to higher be capable of talk with employees between passages when the boat is in distant harbours the place it’s laborious to entry good wifi or a neighborhood SIM card (Starlink will probably be turned off at sea on our boats, besides in an emergency).

However Starlink isn’t sufficient for emergency comms. It’s an built-in system on the boat, and never one thing you possibly can take with you within the liferaft in an actual worst-case state of affairs. I mentioned the identical factor years in the past about Iridium Go! – that was (and is) an important software for sending emails and downloading climate, and we use them on our boats too, but it surely’s not a substitute for a sturdy and dependable Iridium handset, saved in a water-proof case with a spare battery all the time charged.

Check the cellphone earlier than each passage and be sure you maintain the SIM energetic and the minutes topped up. We’ve had the identical Iridium handset expertise since our first transatlantic again in 2011 – it’s tried and true and gained’t fail you once you want it most.

Hearty meals retains a crew joyful and fuelled up for staying on watch throughout an extended passage. Photograph: Tor Johnson

5 Provisions & Water

This one looks as if a no brainer, however I recall a reasonably silly scenario from an ARC rally I labored on again within the late 2000s that prompts me to say it. One of many boats had misplaced electrical energy and with it, their fridge and freezer (see under on ‘decoupling’ techniques).

They’d deliberate all of their meals round contemporary or frozen meals, taking as a right that they’d have a working fridge in the course of the Atlantic crossing and never packing sufficient dry shops for contingencies. So with every week nonetheless to sail in direction of St Lucia, they despatched a message to Rally Management asking for help with provisions. Not lengthy after a close-by boat rendezvoused and handed over meals to get them dwelling. Evidently this was a significant planning oversight by the crew.

The identical applies to cooking gasoline – would you could have sufficient meals that doesn’t should be cooked to finish a passage within the occasion your propane runs out?

Most boats have watermakers as of late, and with 10-11 crew crusing on Falken we actually couldn’t full our longest passages with out one. We run our watermaker every night time throughout dishwashing after dinner, all the time ending the day with full tanks. If the watermaker fails past restore, we are able to then begin rationing from a full provide. And we stock emergency rations in plastic gallon cans within the bilge.

A well-maintained boat will all the time do higher on the ocean than a brand new however poorly looked-after yacht. Photograph: 59° North Crusing

6 Upkeep

If boat design and techniques selections matter little, then upkeep does. A poorly designed however nicely maintained boat will do significantly better on an ocean passage than a superbly designed however poorly maintained one.

In relation to instruments we observe a easy axiom – in case you want a software as soon as, borrow it; in case you want it twice, purchase it. There’s nothing worse than going through a comparatively simple repair at sea however not having the proper software for the job. Spend loads of time determining what instruments you’ll want; purchase the best high quality you possibly can afford (and deal with them); take a look at them to verify they work for the meant objective; and maintain them organised and inventoried on the boat.

We found, fortunately in port, that Falken required a custom-welded impeller puller to vary the impeller on the engine’s cooling water pump, due to the secondary alternator mount interfering. What ought to be a five-minute job become a 3 day bonanza, however now, via a lot trial and error, we have now the proper software.

Upkeep needs to be prioritised into ‘mission vital’ techniques versus ‘luxurious’ techniques, and you need to be trustworthy about what makes up the 2 lists. Hull, keel, rudder and sails are ‘mission vital’; beauty repairs, many electronics and devices, even the engine in some instances, aren’t.

On the outfitting and starting stage of a voyage, take into consideration what techniques are ‘coupled’ – ie co-dependent to operate – and attempt to uncouple them. A contemporary drawback is that increasingly boats have transformed to lithium batteries which may energy induction hobs and electrical ovens. These are great conveniences and completely enhance the enjoyment of life aboard. Nevertheless, you’ve now coupled your scorching meals with a working electrical system, which itself is already coupled to a working charging system. Ought to the charging or electrical techniques fail, you’ve misplaced the flexibility to make a scorching meal on prime of it.

Make sure that PLBs or different units are appropriately registered and examine Iridium cellphone is energetic and charged. Photograph: Tor Johnson

You would possibly resolve it’s definitely worth the threat, and put extra effort into ensuring {the electrical} and charging techniques are correctly maintained because the stakes are larger. However these selections ought to be made consciously and forward of time.

Suppose additionally about what wants sustaining at sea versus what can wait till after a passage. Any watch system will work as long as it’s adhered to and everybody is ready to get relaxation. However when the crew is working extra time on upkeep objects at sea, the watch schedule breaks down and a vicious cycle of sleep deprivation begins. The much less sleep every watch will get, the extra chance for errors.

There’s a effective line between making small enhancements to the boat at sea and wrecking the watch system. Splicing strops, whipping rope ends, even servicing the odd winch are nice actions on watch on a sunny day.

However this turns into an issue when a non-mission vital merchandise is confused for a vital restore, and an excessive amount of time and vitality is spent at sea attempting to repair it. Marine electronics are a favorite wrongdoer, and one I’m responsible of spending an excessive amount of time fidgeting with.

We get so used to having all the information at our fingertips – wind and boat velocity, digital compass, AWA, XTE, and so forth – that we typically overlook we are able to sail with out them. And networked electronics are notoriously fussy. One unhealthy connection in a NMEA2000 spine can wreak havoc throughout all the community, and you may spend hours tracing wires attempting to get it again on-line when a paper chart and handheld GPS would navigate you throughout any ocean fairly fortunately.

Again on the starting stage we are able to mitigate the danger of dropping a mission vital system by putting in redundancies. Two alternators on the engine for charging, for instance, and even an ‘A’ and ‘B’ N2K spine if devices are vital to your passage. However when you set off, actually suppose laborious about what techniques you’ll take care of whereas on passage, and which may wait till landfall.

The rewards

After that tradewind crossing on Falken, my first mate Manot and I had 10 days to kill in Barbados. The boat, after a radical cleansing, was in tip-top form and past the conventional rig checks and routine upkeep, we didn’t have any points to repair so might take pleasure in island life.

That is how ocean crossing will be – mellow and philosophical at sea, with time for adventures on landfall. Maintain issues easy and make aware selections about the way you match out your boat and execute a voyage to give attention to what actually issues.

Should you loved this….

Yachting World is the world’s main journal for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Each month we have now inspirational adventures and sensible options that will help you realise your crusing desires.

Construct your information with a subscription delivered to your door. See our newest presents and save at the very least 30% off the quilt worth.