Cruising - winds/waves conditions

[Perfect Ride]

Welcome to the forum! What fun you have in store.

Originally Posted by KayB

what, on average will we find the sea state to be island to island, during the non-hurricane season, December to May in the Caribbean? What would be general sea state be in the Mediterranean in the summer.

The simple answer is that the sea state will vary considerably. As you may know the period of the wave train is very important. A short, five second period six foot sea can be much worse than a 14 second period 10 foot sea.

Time your crossings for comfort or adventure if you are looking for a challenge. When the winds are light we like to be at anchor, in the water diving, snorkeling, and relaxing. We have chosen to remove some of our low wind capability to allow higher winds on our code zero, asymetrical spinnaker and parasailor. This in turn means we motor sail in lower wind, or just choose to wait for bigger winds.

We have been doing about 10,000nm a year for the last 4+ years: two seasons in the Med and two in the Carib. Prior to this 44' cat I solo'd several seasons in the Carib on a 56' ketch. Live aboards tend to wait for the wave and wind windows that support their comfort levels. With products like windly and predictwind pro there are quality forecasts available in both regions. Congratulations on your new adventure, once done with the Med and Carib, head on down to the South Pacific. It is nice here too.

[Nelsons]

I was sailing both Med and Caribbean while Med was my area for 5 years. Prediction is not better or worse than everywhere but there are a lot of local effects. However we had to fight with 18-20 ft waves as well as flat waters. Don’t ignore the climate change causing stronger winds in the Med too. It’s a smaller ocean but it might get rough.