Safer to stick near the equator crossing the pacific?

[Wallaby]

Originally Posted by Stewie12

Read World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell.

Yes! https://cornellsailing.com/publicati...uising-routes/

[Chris Cringle]

Listen to what everybody says. Days of no wind, unbelievably hot, occasional short, violent squalls, lightning, east setting current. As you approach the equator you will begin to understand and you will be damned glad when you put it 300 miles behind you.

[Chris Cringle]

And remember what Rudy Choy said, "You don't go to sea to be safe."

[Jim Cate]

head down to just north of the ITCZ then head east just above it until a skinny spot develops then hang a left and cross it

Heading East?? Sure that you did it this way? If heading East, turning left won't get you across the line...

Jim

[Dan Best]

Oops, you're right of course. I should have said WEST. Heading east is just an upwind slog back to the Americas.

[dustman]

Sorry, should have stated heading west from the panama canal.

[boatman61]

I crossed about 300nm W of the Galapagos then stayed between 5* & 10*S..

[captmikem]

When crossing east to west most of the time once the wind dies it has been fire up the engine and head a bit west of south until we would pick up the trades. Once however, crossing a bit diagonally, it was calms and thunderstorms for three days. Pull in a reef, shake out a reef, half a dozen times during the day and four or five times a night, then rolly slat bang in the calm.

Calms and shifty light winds are hard on the boat and crew (unless you are Moitessier).

Crossing the Pacific in the trades is far safer than most of the things one does on or near shore. Not much can happen to you at sea as long as you have food, water and a bit of common sense.

Some folks fear being out of sight of land, buy a bunch of epirbs, safety harnesses, PLBs, and sat phones if that will easy your mind about safety.

M

[Capt. Lace]

Originally Posted by dustman

Thanks for the response. Dangerously slow or just slow?

never seen dangerously slow. just slow. pick your time to go.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by chrisr

equatorial doldrums area tends to be fairly windless...

cheers,

Yep, ain't it great?
Diesel is generally a lot cheaper as well as is cost of living.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Heading East?? Sure that you did it this way? If heading East, turning left won't get you across the line...

Jim

Yes and heading east will be very difficult anyway, with the trades against you. So if you start from Mexico you can go SSW to just north of the doldrums, aiming for a narrow spot if possible. Be careful you don't head too far west before crossing the doldrums, since you don't want to have to beat back southeast to make the Marquesas.

It's weird but when I did this passage the Doldrums were all north of the equator. 3 days of nonstop downpours with a hot engine in a super-humid cabin. I remember the next day crossing the Equator we had the best weather of the cruise - and a nice little ceremony too!

[Gaia]

Originally Posted by dustman

While looking at weather patterns for the last year on windy, I couldn't help but notice that there are way fewer nasty large scale weather events the further north you go towards the equator. Even though it may take longer to get to the Marqueses would it be a safer way of getting there? Are there more squalls up there? The current seems favorable a little higher. Would it be a chiller trip?

No, a bad idea. The trade wind passage from the Galapagos is one of the nicest.

Jim sv Gaia

[Riggerman]

Finally a descent tread with people that seems to know what they are talking about instead of marina experts.

[Bruce hartley]

Originally Posted by dustman

While looking at weather patterns for the last year on windy, I couldn't help but notice that there are way fewer nasty large scale weather events the further north you go towards the equator. Even though it may take longer to get to the Marqueses would it be a safer way of getting there? Are there more squalls up there? The current seems favorable a little higher. Would it be a chiller trip?

For offshore sailing, I find the app predict wind a better solution.

[Bill_Giles]

When the old sailing ships sailed into these light wind areas they called them the horse latitudes. Any horses on board got thirsty and threatened to consume the water up too rapidly as the ship tallied windlessly. So the horses died or were shot and tossed overboard. Of course they floated near the ships which were not going anywhere. So surrounded by a host of dead and decaying horses could not have been pleasant to sight or smell.

So if you are going to sail in the Doldrums don’t take a horse with you unless you have plenty of water. Just sayin’.