La Rochelle to Florida Delivery - Winter....

[mfortinberry]

Looking for advice/guidance on a delivery I need to do Feb/Mar from La Rochelle to Florida. Don't want to wait till the following November to move the new boat to US, and not sure April/May in Biscay is any better than Feb/Mar.

Plan to take a long route, La Rochelle to Canaries, Canaries to Southern Bahamas and then across up to FL. Get down to the northern side of the trades and ride at the best angle practical across. If, for safety/comfort/speed, we wind up further south, it is not the end of the world, just a few days longer to come back north.

Vessel is a new Lagoon 46. 5 crew all with ocean experience, but have not made this specific trip.

Challenge, of course, is that this is not a good time of year to get across the Bay of Biscay.... (I know - obvious).

Delivery captains do it all the time however and of course patience for a weather window will be foundational. 3-4 days needed to make Finisterre, then swing south.

While a LOT has been written about the challenges of Biscay and the need to be patient for the windows, there is not a lot of information on everything after that. (maybe nobody makes it alive to tell the story?)

Seriously though, it appears, from Pilot Charts, that after the Spanish cape, the winds from there to Caribbean are not terrible in Feb/Mar. The percentage of downwind/reaching vs upwind angles is a bit lower than November/December, but still in the 65-80% range and gets better constantly as you head south.

I am hopeful that someone has had to cross this late in the season and can provide some insight into their experience.