Advice for first time crossing an ocean

[jackdale]

Install an AIS transponder if you do not have one. Each crew member should have a personal AIS.

For water plan on at least 8-10 liters per person per day. Learn how to take Navy showers.

Canned meats, canned vegetables, pasta with prepared canned sauce.

Extra fuel.

For weather. Download grib files and weatherfax using Saildocs (Requesting grib files from Saildocs (2010-07-08)). I use SailGribWR a sa grib reader.

Bring along a sextant and the necessary publications. Passages can be really boring,; the sextant will keep your mentally active and put you in touch with nature. (Read Sextant by Davud Barrie - great book).

[Snore]

Originally Posted by Mantas

Thank you everyone for advice.



Regarding Iridium Go, I already ordered one from Predictwind and was thinking of using their offshore weather app, but will check out other tools/apps that you recommended. First need to install Iridium and learn how to use it.



Weather routing service sounds like a good idea too, I would like to have second opinion on whether as non of us have any experience in meteorology of any kind.



Wine only from proper glass - understood!



Provisioning and cooking, this one is important, 4 men cooking on board its going to be big challenge. Any trick on how to store food to last long? we have a fridge and separate freezer, but somehow we should be prepared to loose them both or in general electricity on board. Dried/canned food for this scenario? regarding water we have water maker, but planing to take bottled water for emergency, how much would you take per person?



EPIRB - we have one, why do you need more?

Although the higher the antenna the better the coverage, I get by on deliveries using the cheap $100 antenna on the helm Bimini and the iWatchSat program to determine when the satellite is overhead.

Download that all now to understand how the coverage works. Likewise use the offshore apps you will use NOW. It is always better to learn new programs before you leave vs 200nm from no where.

As others said get and use an AIS transponder. I like the ones with Wi-Fi and built in alarm as it allows you to turn off the MFD. Then the watch keepers eyeballs, their iPhone or android phone connected to the AIS and backed up by the alarm. Are used to monitor for collisions.

And yes an EPIRB and a life raft, just in case it all goes “udders up”.

I do not run individual EPIRBs as everyone in the cockpit is REQUIRED to clip in at night or when the seas are up.

[Stewie12]

The wind will be from behind you all the way to Barbados. Booze is expensive in the Caribbean so take up the cabin sole and lay down as much wine as you can. Beer too. Food too is not cheap so varnish as many tins as you can take and label them. Tinned butter lasts for a long time. Canaries potatoes last for ages. Take a few jerry cans of water on deck and put a little bleach in them. At a guess I would allow for minimum 2 ltrs of bottled water per person per 24 hours for 3 weeks.

[Stewie12]

I should have added buy one of Donald Streets books. His charts for the Caribbean are good too.

https://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Sailing.../dp/0393031683

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Snore

I do not run individual EPIRBs as everyone in the cockpit is REQUIRED to clip in at night or when the seas are up.

PLBs (individual EPIRBs) really make no sense. They communicate with an RCC thousands of miles away. The personal AIS shows up on your screen.

You might use a PLB in your liferaft ditch bag, they are smaller.

[barnakiel]

Take a gps along.


Sail West, generally.


Take enough potable water to last the passage +50% reserve.


Take books to read or games to play.


Other things are pretty irrelevant.


Sailing from Tenerife pick out a moment when you can make plenty of Westing immediatelly. Avoid going South unless this is the only viable track given the pending forecast.


Beware the wx on landing. At times your landing coincides with arrival of an Easterly wave and then you get gusts, showers and squalls that make the last 200 or 100 miles only remotely pleasant.


On the first half you are generally bothered by plenty of x swell, which is nasty but there is nothing one can do (except holding tight). This x swell tends to be less pronounced or absent past 1500 miles point.


barnakiel

[meirriba]

Read the attached
https://marineforecaster.com/common-...-results-tell/

[A la carte]

The biggest challenge for me is fatigue. Rest whenever you can and encourage your crew to do the same. It seems to take a good three days for me to get into my routine.

I agree with earlier advice to reef early and use a weather router (especially since you have no meteorology experience). I would suggest self-educating yourself on weather; it will prove helpful and increase the fun. A good wx router gives you another person who knows you're out there and they can often provide optimized waypoints for a faster crossing (Winds and currents). They have better forecast tools/models than you do when offshore.

I also often use an experienced friend onshore for regular contact and help with trouble shooting, arranging for parts shipment before arrival, and arrival coordination should you need to change plans.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by wingssail

I never wanted to spend the money on satellite communications so I used SSB and Pactor modem and had gribs, email, and saildocs all around the world.

Yes.

We do coastal up to 6 days, always using SSB Pactor with Sailmail to get GRIBS. Saildocs give text summary. Preferred Sailmail compared to fighting congestion on the ham bands. But check with others about HF propagation lately on the transatlantic route if you decide to go HF only.

I also have Iridium GO and can make a voice call to anyone anytime in an emergency. I think this is a very nice if not just comforting feature. Not expensive with a used phone, minimum monthly subscription to use for up to 10 minutes per month. In an emergency, you can use it longer, just pay later.

[captmikem]

This is one of the easiest, nicest crossings on this earth. There is little to no bad wx other than you might get a little something leaving the Canaries, little traffic, and great sailing. You could do this in just about any sound boat and have a great trip. Of numerous times I have made this crossing, only one stands out as being difficult, and that was because the wind was light the first half.

As far as weather routing, head SSW towards Cape Verde until you pick up the trades, then lay St Lucia. The later in the year, the better wind you have.

You will be in the trades, nice sailing, I have often carried a chute from the Canaries to Barbados, usually 4 or 5 gybes and you are there. Someone said “Reef Early”, you are downwind in the trades! Unless you carry the sail required for the conditions you will be rolling and underpowered and uncomfortable. Your choice.

On thing you may wish to have is a ham/ssb. You don’t have to talk, the cruising nets for this trip are rather interesting to listen to, and you can hear what the other boats crossing are experiencing for wind etc.

Sailing is relaxing, it is nice to be relatively out of touch with the world for a while. Slow down the influx of constant communication and enjoy the sea, you ship, and your companions.

My only other comment is relax and enjoy the trip, it is easier than you think, you don’t need half a dozen Epirbs and ditch bags, or festoon yourself with ‘safety’ gear.

Have a good trip,

M

[MJH]

MANTAS: regarding water we have water maker, but planing to take bottled water for emergency, how much would you take per person?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fresh water is essential! Contemplate what will happen to crew moral without fresh water. What (when) if the watermaker breaks, will you have the parts and knowledge to fix it?

My boat does not have a watermaker but 2x100 gallon s.s. tanks. On our roundtrip to Hawaii we isolated the tanks, only drawing from one, in case of contamination or leak. We also carried 200 1/2 liter bottles of water (26.5 gals.) There were no showers taken during the voyage.

As we pulled into Hawaii after 22.5 days (becalmed 3 times enroute) the crew of four found the one tank empty...100 gallons for four men working in pairs on a 4-on/4-off schedule with strict fresh water management. Our use was close to the generally recommended rule of one gallon per day per man.

On the return 21.5 trip (longer distance) to Washington we had a different 4-crew complement working in pairs on 6-on/6-off schedule, were a bit more relaxed, and got into the second tank.

We never had to use the bottled water. It took the next couple years at home to use it all up...but I'm glad we had it.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[malcolmlj]

Get new laid eggs as late as possible, prefferably the morning you sail. DO NOT wash them.
Turn then end for end each morning, and they will last (in our case for 4 weeks on our trans-atlantic Lanzarote to Antigua)
Read everything about the crossing you can lay your hands on.
Partridge Box in the UK supply pre-prepared meals that need no refridgeration. Wish they had been available when we crossed, although we had a fabulous cook called Phyllis who was subsequently sadly murdered by Somali Pirates.
Finally make a list of daily menus for a week, then multiply by four/five for the trip. We stocked for six weeks!!.To much !

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by Mantas

Thank you everyone for advice.

Regarding Iridium Go, I already ordered one from Predictwind and was thinking of using their offshore weather app, but will check out other tools/apps that you recommended. First need to install Iridium and learn how to use it.

Weather routing service sounds like a good idea too, I would like to have second opinion on whether as non of us have any experience in meteorology of any kind.

Wine only from proper glass - understood!

Provisioning and cooking, this one is important, 4 men cooking on board its going to be big challenge. Any trick on how to store food to last long? we have a fridge and separate freezer, but somehow we should be prepared to loose them both or in general electricity on board. Dried/canned food for this scenario? regarding water we have water maker, but planing to take bottled water for emergency, how much would you take per person?

EPIRB - we have one, why do you need more?

Just drink beer in cans - not like the Cone Heads (consuming mass quantities is not a good idea while under sail). As for four guys making food, i'd go with frozen pizzas - pretty hard to mess those up

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by MJH

MANTAS: regarding water we have water maker, but planing to take bottled water for emergency, how much would you take per person?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fresh water is essential! Contemplate what will happen to crew moral without fresh water. What (when) if the watermaker breaks, will you have the parts and knowledge to fix it?

My boat does not have a watermaker but 2x100 gallon s.s. tanks. On our roundtrip to Hawaii we isolated the tanks, only drawing from one, in case of contamination or leak. We also carried 200 1/2 liter bottles of water (26.5 gals.) There were no showers taken during the voyage.

As we pulled into Hawaii after 22.5 days (becalmed 3 times enroute) the crew of four found the one tank empty...100 gallons for four men working in pairs on a 4-on/4-off schedule with strict fresh water management. Our use was close to the generally recommended rule of one gallon per day per man.

On the return 21.5 trip (longer distance) to Washington we had a different 4-crew complement working in pairs on 6-on/6-off schedule, were a bit more relaxed, and got into the second tank.

We never had to use the bottled water. It took the next couple years at home to use it all up...but I'm glad we had it.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

You have to know if the water in your tanks is acceptable for drinking. I would not have it otherwise but seems like some do. We put a carbon filter in front of the pump so every faucet on boat is drinkable and tastes great, since we only fill from known good sources or watermaker.

If you don't do that, then you have a problem needing to store drinking water separately. For 4 crew transatlantic, that is a lot of water to carry and inconvenient to access. Tanks on deck are hazard and look lousy. Temporary tanks below are in the way. Plastic waste of disposable bottles since most places outside US don't recycle them, is bad for environment.



No showers for 22 days? Glad I was not part of that crew. With a watermaker there is no need for such draconian measures w.r.t. water usage. A shower done with less than 2 gallons per person. Clothes can be washed in salt water, but should have a fresh water last rinse.

Conserve water sensibly, and then run the watermaker as often as it takes to keep tanks full, or nearly so. No worries. If it fails, then you cut back usage.

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by Mantas

Hello fellow Cruisers,

Please help new cruisers with your advice on first ocean crossing. We are planing to cross Atlantic (Tenerife to St.Lucia) late November or beginning of December this year. Crew: 4 guys. Sailing experience: regattas (Baltic Sea) and various boat charters in Med, Canaries, French Polynesia, but no ocean crossing experience. Boat: Nautitech 47 catamaran, 2008 in good condition, new standing rigging 2020, full set of sails, electronics, safety, etc. COVID19: yes we are aware of the situation.

Thank you all for advice on how we should prepare for this challenge.

Welcome with all your stories on how you did it and what went good or wrong and what would you do differently next time.

Apart from the other good recommendations, highly recommend you join the ARC - it is exactly at your route and they will help you to qualify from the equipment, core training etc.
Also a great fun!