Trip Report Halifax to Antigua. October/November 2020

[Knot Safety]

Too Long won’t read summary: Three crazy Canadians sailed from Halifax to Antigua in 18 days. This is the summary for those who are looking for trip info in the future.


Good day all. Writing this posting to help those researching for future trips from Canada to the Caribbean. We struggled to find much information on it and hope this will help others who come after us.

We sailed north from Antigua to Halifax in May. This is about the trip south. The trip report north is located here:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...da-234691.html

On the trip north we followed the US coast line up, staying well off shore. We got smashed by big weather and decided to be smart this time and hire a weather router. We engaged Chris Parker with Marine Weather Communications for the trip south for forecasting and routing. Quite happy with his work and the detail he provided for us. The forecasts were all bang on and accurate and gave us appropriate routing for the conditions. Pricing was good and we would definitely use him again. Two thumbs up.

Our schedule is wide open so we were researching where to go to leave Canada for the winter. We were debating going to the Mediterranean but after asking on this forum and seeking input from others we decided on going back to the Caribbean. We had wanted to head south by bouncing down the US east coast but the border closure meant we were not allowed entry into the US. Their loss but it sure would have made the trip nicer to break it into smaller pieces. Oh well, this just meant it would be a long offshore slog

Our trip north was just the two of us and we found it too much of a grind. We put a note on here looking for crew and had many responses. Overwhelming numbers actually and much better candidates than expected. We were thinking of getting two crew but ultimately decided that just one would be sufficient. We were just about to select one, when a family member with zero sailing experience indicated he would like to go. We agreed to take him as we figured it would be good to take someone we know to have less risk of personality clash. He immediately flew to Halifax to start his pre departure quarantine .

One routing consideration was to grabbing the northerly trades to the Azores and then coming back. A longer trip, but we thought it would be easier sailing. In speaking with Chris he was quite confident that we could get south without too much hardship by just going straight south instead of all the way to the Azores and back. We told him that it was in his hands to pick the best departure and he just needed to give us a three day heads up to do final prep and we would be good to go.

We left it at that, thinking we had a number of weeks of waiting. Hurricane Epsilion was hung up off Bermuda and there was another one building further south. We thought there was a lot of time and then we got a note from Chris that there was a weather window to go but it would mean being at exactly the right spots at the right time. We were game to go. Departure was three days away. We scrambled to do last minute provisioning and say good byes to friends.

We left Halifax at daybreak the morning of October 18. Flat calm. Not a wind ripple. Chris’ first target had us headed more than three hundred miles SW of Halifax to go for a spot for the Gulf Stream crossing. We ended up being just over a hundred miles east of Cape Cod. Winds were light or variable so we motored nearly the entire way. Chris was adamant that we had to be entering the Gulf Stream by a certain time and out the other side by a certain time to avoid being caught in it during a coming storm. We met both targets by just a few hours to spare.

From the initial forecast, we had understood they getting too and across the Gulf Stream would be the hardest part and then afterwards would be easier. Big mistake on our part. Every few days we received new routing and weather updates from Chris. Thanks Inreach satellite texting!

Shortly after crossing the Stream, Chris said That we had to be south of a certain latitude by a certain date to avoid another storm. Oh yah, and the winds were from the south. We started off trying to sail close hauled off of the SE but there was no way we were going to make the deadline. Our catamaran does not sail up wind worth a darn. Close Hauled/close reach, it is useless. About the best we can do is 50 degrees but if the waves are short and choppy at all we start to slam. When that happens and the bow starts pitching up and down, all progress stops and the closest One can do is about 70 degrees. Not a good angle for trying to make southerly distance against a southerly wind. More motoring it was.

We motor sailed south and go to the next latitude Chris had for us. Whew. We were safe. But now there was no wind. More motoring continued until we were south of Bermuda

We passed Bermuda about 30 miles West. Bermuda radio called us up to check our intentions. We could see the lights but did not stop as we did not to do any quarantine time, etc. Plus, we just wanted to go south.

After Bermuda the winds continued out of the south. So we sailed slowly ESE. Not big distance south each day, but we ended up going all the way to nearly 60w before the weather changed. Chris texted to say that there would be no wind and we should motor south for the next day. Which we did.

More wind from the south so now we angled slowly southwest, waiting for a favourable weather window to go due south. Finally one was forecast and if we could be south of 24 latitude by Tuesday we would be in the trades for the final push to Antigua. Yeehaw, this is what we were waiting for. Motored through the night again as it was flat calm, getting to 24 at daybreak. Winds started to build and we had a fantastic sail to Antigua, finally arriving here this morning.

A few points
Total motoring days. Eight full days plus little bits here and there. 550 litres of diesel burned. Way more motoring than we would have ever thought possible for this trip. Good thing we brought lots of diesel!
The last four days were the only real enjoyable sailing days. All the rest were upwind bash days and not fun. Or were motoring

Total trip time. 18 days. But we did a massive S curve of the Atlantic to follow the weather routing. We made it safely so it was worth it but with better weather the trip length may have been shortened. Total trip length was about 3500 km.

We normally average 150-200 miles a day. This trip with all the upwind, we were right close to 100. Lowest total day was 70

Unique events - crossing East of the mouth of the Anegada passage, we had two potential collision scenarios with freighters. In the space of less than two hours. At the wee hours of the morning. Based on AIS, both were less than 100 meters closest point of approach. It is because of events like this that I mandate someone is truly on “watch” at all times. No sleeping, no doing other things, your job is on watch. Nothing happened with these events as in both cases the freighters gave way after a short radio talk, but I often wonder how close it is for those who sleep during the night and continue to sail. Not a risk I am willing to take and to me this is why we brought on crew - so we could allow easier watch schedules to ensure someone was always up.

Schedules for watches for this trip were four on, eight off. Worked well for us, and a schedule will keep going forward.

Crew - made our lives way easier. Would definitely do this again.

Problems - one engine alternator was putting out a real weak charge. It worked but would not charge batteries very much. Started a day or so out of Halifax. Time to replace the alternator now that we have arrived in Antigua. Any suggestions? Or just go with the standard yanmar for 3JH5E.

The navigation lights (red/green) died on day two. We don’t normally use them when offshore, unless close to other vessels, so not a big deal. Non repairable at sea. Something in the light housing itself failed.

Radar - stopped working. Right in a real squally night. I was pretty sure it just needed a reset, but to do so meant shutting off all electronics and turning back on. Something I was reluctant to do but given that we had no nav lights, radar become more crucial as we approached landfall. Finally, about fifty miles out from Antigua I did a full shut down and reboot and all came back up just fine. I was most worried about the autopilot not coming back. Had spare chartplotters via iPad and wind angle and direction could be eyeballed. But handsteering for hundreds of km was not to be messed with. That’s why I waited so late and was so happy the autopilot came back on.

Learnings. No big ones. If it wasn’t covid times I would do the Bermuda stop just to break the trip up a bit. It’s not too long of a trip but it would have been good to have a bit of a break

Fishing wise - landed five dorado. Had four other big fish bust off and take all my gear from my 200lb test handlines. Never even saw the fish, just hit, smash and gone. I have lost so much gear in the last year to big fish. Probably in the range of twenty or more lures. I think I’m going to start running 500lb gaijan halibut line and tie it to a stern cleat and drag the big fish until they are dead. In fairness though they are probably too big for me to use on the boat so I don’t need them, it’s just frustrating with all the lost gear

So we are now in Antigua. Waiting to clear customs. We started the process this morning and it will be resolved tomorrow. Just some issues around quarantines and whether or not sea time counts. Positive it will work out the way it should.

All in all, a good trip. Who would have thought that we would have sailed the length of the North American continent. Twice. In the last six months. These are weird times

If we do it again we will definitely hop up the US coast. Although it’s unlikely we will sail back to Canada again, we will never say never.

[maine50]

Thanks for the trip post, Where did you check in at Antiqua- Falmouth or Jolly Harbor?

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

A few points
Total motoring days: Eight full days plus little bits here and there. 550 litres of diesel burned. Way more motoring than we would have ever thought possible for this trip. Good thing we brought lots of diesel!
The last four days were the only real enjoyable sailing days. All the rest were upwind bash days and not fun. Or were motoring.

Total trip time. 18 days. But we did a massive S curve of the Atlantic to follow the weather routing. We made it safely so it was worth it but with better weather the trip length may have been shortened. Total trip length was about 3500 km.

Sorry Knot,

But 18 days and 8 full days of motoring sounds dreadful.

I've done that trip about 10-12 times and the longest we ever motored (that I can recall) was maybe a day, maybe two.

Hopefully, the next time you do the trip you'll get to SAIL....!

LittleWing77

[Knot Safety]

I ageee little wing. Didn’t say I was thrilled about it. Would
Have preferred to sail, but was most happy to just be getting south - by whatever means.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

I ageee little wing. Didn’t say I was thrilled about it. Would have preferred to sail, but was most happy to just be getting south - by whatever means.

I hear ya!

(And now you're South - and I'M *NOT*.)

Bwah-ha-ha!

Although we've had a spate of warm weather in Toronto this past weekend, by Thursday, it'll be back to the norm -2C... also the date that is the very last opportunity to haul (and the day the boat will be coming out of the water for the Winter... boo-hoooo)

Happy Sun and Fun!
Hope you have a gorgeous "Winter" ,
Warmly,
LittleWing77

[Knot Safety]

In Jolly Harbour right now and it is surprising the decline. Shocking actually. There are eight bots at anchor out front - of which three are the same boats in the same spots that were here when we left, so might be local boats. In the marina, besides the dream yacht charter boats, there are five boats in slips. When we left in April, the marina and anchorage was full.

This lack of people has translated to businesses shutting down. Most (but not all) of the businesses in the mall are closed. Not doors closed, but shut down and gone and now empty space. At least two of the restaurants are closed and gone.

I expected some declines due to lack of tourism. Did not expect to see this much and one is left to wonder how those that remain will make it.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

In Jolly Harbour right now and it is surprising the decline. Shocking actually. There are eight bots at anchor out front - of which three are the same boats in the same spots that were here when we left, so might be local boats. In the marina, besides the dream yacht charter boats, there are five boats in slips. When we left in April, the marina and anchorage was full.

This lack of people has translated to businesses shutting down. Most (but not all) of the businesses in the mall are closed. Not doors closed, but shut down and gone and now empty space. At least two of the restaurants are closed and gone.

I expected some declines due to lack of tourism. Did not expect to see this much and one is left to wonder how those that remain will make it.

Do they have quarantine requirements? Are arrivals forced to quarantine in a hotel?

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

In Jolly Harbour right now and it is surprising the decline. Shocking actually. There are eight bots at anchor out front - of which three are the same boats in the same spots that were here when we left, so might be local boats. In the marina, besides the dream yacht charter boats, there are five boats in slips. When we left in April, the marina and anchorage was full.

This lack of people has translated to businesses shutting down. Most (but not all) of the businesses in the mall are closed. Not doors closed, but shut down and gone and now empty space. At least two of the restaurants are closed and gone.

I expected some declines due to lack of tourism. Did not expect to see this much and one is left to wonder how those that remain will make it.

Do they have quarantine requirements? Are arrivals forced to quarantine in a hotel?

[Knot Safety]

It’s a mixed bag of quarantine requirements. I’m not sure that I would get it right to describe it, but some people must quarantine and others are free to come and to.

[hpeer]

Thanks foe the report and especially the Jolly Harbor bit. We sailed up the end of June, Dominica to North Carolina. We had considered Canada as I am a dual citizen but NC left us the option to sit out the winter in a relatively mild climate.

We are hoping to return to the Caribbean in 2021, Covid willing.

We were last in Jolly in February and have heard of folks passing through. I had no idea it was hit that hard.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

In Jolly Harbour right now and it is surprising the decline. Shocking actually. There are eight bots at anchor out front - of which three are the same boats in the same spots that were here when we left, so might be local boats. In the marina, besides the dream yacht charter boats, there are five boats in slips. When we left in April, the marina and anchorage was full.

This lack of people has translated to businesses shutting down. Most (but not all) of the businesses in the mall are closed. Not doors closed, but shut down and gone and now empty space. At least two of the restaurants are closed and gone.

I expected some declines due to lack of tourism. Did not expect to see this much and one is left to wonder how those that remain will make it.

Wow.

Thanks for the update, though, Knot.

It's good for all of us to know how it is in real time.

Warmly,
LittleWing77