Helia 44: How long does it take to cross the Atlantic?

[Cheeky Monkey]

Hi guys,
We're about to set off on our Halia 44 - Cheeky Monkey - to cross the Atlantic from Gran Canaria to (hopefully) St. Martin. We're trying to plan for the trip and are a little unclear on how long it will take to cross.

We'd love to hear from anyone who has crossed (or knows someone who crossed) on a Helia to find out how many days it took.

Thanks a lot guys!!

Ryan
Cheeky Monkey (Las Palmas, Gran Canaria)

[paulajayne]

Circa 3000 miles


Average 5 knots then 25 days.


DEPENDS on a lot of factors.

[ZipTie]

1st leg from France to the Canarie Islands took 18 days and covered 1,637 miles

2nd leg from Canarie Islands to St. Martin took 23 days and covered 3,039 miles

[yeloya]

This depends a great deal on what kind of wind you will get and what kind of sail combinations you have for deep down wind sailing.. We did in 17 days (Las Palmas-St Lucia) , could have done better if we hadn't ripped our spinneaker the 3rd day. We also had very light winds for couple of days. My recommendations;
-don't leave early, trade winds are setting later each year. Mid-late Jan is ideal.
-you should definately have a down wind sails whether it be a spinneaker or genneaker. Bring also a second gib that you can rig from the forstay on Helia's. If the wind is DDW and above 15 kts of true, it's very safe and efficient. (main sail will not be hoisted in this case)
-If you want to be fast, be light..the cats are very sensible to weight.


Good luck


Yeloya

[iliohale]

Check out the following blog:

Out Chasing Stars Out Chasing Stars - Sailing Adventures on Our Helia 44

Another Helia 44 that crossed about this time last year. Love your blog by the way.

Gary

[Cheeky Monkey]

Thanks everyone for their responses. It's really appreciated. We're setting off in about an hour, so are super, crazy excited!! 17-25 days it is...though hopefully we'll be able to do it in under 20 so we're at anchor for Christmas!!

Gary - thanks for the recommendation. We know Amy and David well (and they're an awesome couple!). And thanks also for liking our blog!! If we make it to the other side, we'll have an Atlantic Crossing video to upload too

Ryan, Tasha and Crew

[iliohale]

Originally Posted by Cheeky Monkey

Thanks everyone for their responses. It's really appreciated. We're setting off in about an hour, so are super, crazy excited!! 17-25 days it is...though hopefully we'll be able to do it in under 20 so we're at anchor for Christmas!!

Gary - thanks for the recommendation. We know Amy and David well (and they're an awesome couple!). And thanks also for liking our blog!! If we make it to the other side, we'll have an Atlantic Crossing video to upload too

Ryan, Tasha and Crew

Safe travels and enjoy. Hope you have fair winds and clam seas.

Gary

[Cheeky Monkey]

A quick update on our passage:

We took 19.5 days to cross from Las Palmas to Antigua (English Harbor). The tradewinds were sucked up into a storm in the North Atlantic about halfway across, and our speed slowed down accordingly. We ended up running an engine for 4 straight days (at about 1,700 rpm) to keep us moving when the wind completely died. It was a nice rest for everyone, and a chance to crack out the poker set and dark 'n' stories.

Once the wind kicked back in, we had our Parasailor back out and flew the last 1,000 miles. Our fastest speed was 17.8kt while surfing down a wave and we did 220nm in one 24 hour period.

Overall, we were super happy with the crossing and the boat was stellar. Couldn't be happier with our choice to buy a Helia.

Happy sailing
Ryan

[rpmbnsf]

We have been following your youtube vids. Have to say they are awesome! Good to hear your across safe! Feel like I'm cheating knowing how fast you made it seeing as your youtube vids have not caught up to that point yet.

Also good to hear you're happy with your Helia, it's our top choice right now for a purchase in about a years time.

Curious, if you manage to get your auto pilot sorted?