{"id":92401,"date":"2016-09-08T14:58:30","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T13:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=92401"},"modified":"2019-04-09T09:31:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T08:31:10","slug":"arc-europe-crossing-the-atlantic-west-to-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/sailing-across-atlantic\/arc-europe-crossing-the-atlantic-west-to-east-92401","title":{"rendered":"ARC Europe: Crossing the Atlantic west to east is a very different experience"},"content":"Mention to a cruiser that you are doing a transatlantic and they will probably picture the traditional tradewind route, Canaries to Caribbean, with the wind on your back and the weather improving with each watch.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s true that this is the most popular route \u2013 260 yachts made the westward crossing on last year\u2019s ARC \u2013 but it is not the only one. An eastward crossing, sailing from the Caribbean to Europe<\/a>, offers a very different experience, which can be either highly enjoyable or almost overwhelmingly challenging.\r\n\r\nFor this year\u2019s ARC Europe the fleet first headed north, from the BVI to Bermuda (or south, from Portsmouth, Virginia), then east to the Azores, before choosing the final stage of their crossing \u2013 an island hop through the Azores and a 850-mile trip to Portugal with the rest of the rally, or splitting away to elsewhere in Europe.\r\n\r\nSome had sailed across on a previous ARC and wanted a sociable return trip, others completing a circumnavigation, or returning home after a World ARC. There were also crews from the US and Canada taking on their first transatlantic and seeking the reassurance of crossing in company.\r\n

Relief in Horta<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn late May the fleet convened in Horta, capital of the Azorean island of Faial, and a traditional meeting point for Atlantic voyagers. Faial is a curiously intense place, a speck in the ocean just 13 miles long, separated by 900 miles of water from Europe and 1,800 from the Caribbean. It's also famous for the accumulated art work on its breakwater, as the video below shows.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/NnnFDB87PWo\r\n\r\nThere is very much a sense that forces bigger than you are in charge here \u2013 from the volcano that looms out of the mist, marking the island\u2019s perch on the collision zone of three tectonic plates, to the squall clouds that roll in over the mountain ridge, bringing torrential downpours.\r\n\r\nHorta is a sailors\u2019 town, but the crews gathering at Peter\u2019s Caf\u00e9 Sport are not those found in mainland yachtie pubs. To have arrived here under sail is to have earned your stripes, and while there are celebrations, there is also a sense of relief at having made landfall.\r\n\r\nWilliam Shaw, owner and skipper of Slipper 1<\/em>, freely admitted that he was emotional and tearful on his first day on land. The family crew experienced 59-knot gusts and 7m swells on the crossing in their Bavaria 41, and were humbled by the experience.\r\n\r\nRead Skip Novak's storm sailing techniques<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe Shaws own Slipper 1<\/em> in a partnership, and after many years cruising in Europe took the yacht to the Caribbean with last year\u2019s ARC. Following a winter touring the islands, they joined the ARC fleet in Tortola, and began the eastward crossing with five on board \u2013 William Shaw, his son Robert and daughter Joanna, and two friends.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_92596\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"ARC ARC Europe: Joanna Shaw at the helm of Slipper 1, which recorded gusts of over 59 knots on the Atlantic crossing[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe first stage, an 850-mile trip from the BVI to Bermuda, which started on 7 May, was relatively uneventful, the only surprise being an acceleration zone in the narrow passage between Tortola and St John islands.\r\n\r\nThe Bermuda to Azores leg, the longest passage at 1,800 miles, started on 17 May. From the outset the fleet had a real mix of wind speeds. They tacked out from Bermuda in a 15-knot north-easterly. After a moderate start, the wind faded and Slipper<\/em> motored through the night before picking up a gentle westerly.\r\n\r\nMost of the fleet experienced a lull and spent several days motoring in the middle of the crossing, and Shaw reports that by 25 May they were alternating between motoring and sailing in reasonable conditions, and were treated to the sight of a sperm whale surfacing 20ft away.\r\n\r\nThe following day, however, the pressure began to build.\r\n\r\n\r\n

Building breeze<\/h2>\r\n\u201cWe started getting increasing wind because of a frontal system coming in. By Friday 27 it was blowing quite hard. And over Saturday, Sunday and Monday it was building all the time.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe ARC Europe fleet receive weather forecasts from the World Cruising Club organisers, with the Atlantic divided into \u2018zones\u2019, each allocated a letter code. \u201cOn Saturday we were told that the weather in \u2018KK\u2019 and \u2018MM\u2019 would be good so we started to come south, and then we got a forecast the next day saying where we were was likely to be the least intense place. So we turned and went straight up onto 071\u00b0.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_92597\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"400\"]\"Reduced Reduced sail mid-Atlantic on board Slipper 1. The crew later ran with bare poles under engine as the sea state increased[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cWe started off with 4-5m of main and a storm jib, but when we found that we were slewing round and getting taken off track, we wound the main in and took the storm jib down and just motored. It was evident as soon as we started that once we got the engine speed right it was the safest thing to do.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe seas were so big that if you had any sail up, it would cause you to more or less broach. Looking behind you \u2013 which is always a mistake \u2013 the seas were towering 25-30ft waves. Fortunately the sea length was quite reasonable, but some of the crests were breaking and the remnants of the crest would break over the back of the boat.\u201d\r\n\r\nBy the early hours of Tuesday morning, wind speeds had built to 50 knots. \u201cI\u2019ve been sailing for 35 years and I\u2019ve never experienced anything like it. It was screaming. I couldn\u2019t believe what I was looking at.\u201d\r\n\r\nJoanna Shaw recalls: \u201cIt felt like a row of terraced houses made of water coming towards you.\u201d With both her father and her brother on board, she says they were keenly aware of the potential devastation to the rest of their family if the worst happened.\r\n

Nobody panicked<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nHowever, the crew stayed calm. \u201cWe talked through all the options and how to keep safe, and nobody panicked,\u201d says William Shaw. \u201cThere were a lot of people quietly looking at one another though. We had the washboards in, the top closed, so we were as ready as we could be if we did get hit and rolled. We didn\u2019t take any risks. Coming on deck you\u2019d be on your harness points, moving around very carefully.\u201d\r\n\r\nShaw felt that they were on the edge of their boat\u2019s capabilities. \u201cThis is a fairly lightweight cruiser and it\u2019s really pushing it for what we did. I know people have done it in this sort of boat before, but if it had been any worse I\u2019m not sure what would have happened.\u201d However, Slipper<\/em> acquitted herself well, tracking down the waves and with no gear failures under pressure.\r\n\r\nThe yacht is fitted with a Whitlock autopilot drive, in which Shaw has complete faith. \u201cWe\u2019ve had it since the boat was new in 2003 and it\u2019s brilliant, just unbelievable. It has a 12V motor, but it\u2019s got really big windings so it\u2019s\u00a0a big proper chunky bit of kit. I\u2019d never have anything else.\u201d The yacht also has a 55hp engine and they had 150lt of diesel in tanks, and another 200 in cans, giving them plenty of fuel to motor when needed.\r\n\r\nShaw adds: \u201cIf the engine note changes I wake up, you\u2019re in tune with it, you have to be.\u201d\r\n\r\nFor other crews, it was gear failure that characterised their crossing.\r\n\r\n\r\n

Help at hand<\/h2>\r\nCliff Crummey joined the ARC Europe to take his Elan Impression 444 AWOL<\/em> to the Mediterranean, having also sailed across with the 2015 ARC. On the westward crossing he had been joined by his wife, eldest son and brother. However, work commitments meant his crew could not do the eastbound trip, so Crummey joined the ARC online crew list and began to search for replacements.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_92598\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"514\"]\"Yacht Yacht AWOL receiving assistance mid-Atlantic[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cI made some good connections and got it down to about six people, all Yachtmasters or really well qualified,\u201d he recalls. \u201cUnfortunately I had numerous people drop out at the last minute. One guy even paid for his flights and then decided that he didn\u2019t want to come.\u201d\r\n\r\nCrummey\u2019s wife jumped on a flight back to the BVI and they completed the first stage together, before his crew search resumed. He interviewed one sailor and, having reassured himself of his experience levels, signed him up. With his new crew\u2019s flight landing just a day before departure, the duo set out having never sailed together previously.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was quite breezy and we knew there was a low coming in that would catch us, so we all went quite south initially, then tacked and came north,\u201d recalls Crummey. \u201cThen overnight on that first night the autopilot decided to pack in.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe difference between perception and reality of experience levels became obvious immediately, as Crummey\u2019s co-crew struggled to hold a course on AWOL<\/em> in the 30-knot winds and 4m seas. Crummey took the wheel for 12 hours to ride out the worst of the conditions.\r\n\r\nCrummey was considering whether to retire, but the thought of heading back alone, into a following low, was equally daunting. \u201cDo you do another 1,000 miles, or go back to Bermuda? It would have been pretty devastating if we had gone back, but I think, if we\u2019d still been on our own, that would have been the only choice.\u201d\r\n\r\nFortunately, he spotted fellow ARC entrant Hejira<\/em> on AIS. \u201cI knew Nick [Mines, owner] anyway, so I contacted him and he very kindly agreed to escort us across.\u201d The two crossed almost the entire way in company, with AWOL<\/em> staying within a couple of miles of their lead boat during the day, and within half a mile after dark.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_92599\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"560\"]\"Nick Nick Mines aboard Hejira, his Southerly 135. Nick sailed within sight of another boat to help them stay on course for over 1000 miles.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cAt night-time to assist us, because my crew found it very difficult to sail at night by the instruments, we put Nick in front of us with his anchor light on and his stern light on \u2013 so he could look and steer. We did that every night, which worked a treat.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe pair adopted a two hours on, two hours off watch pattern, as they hand-steered across the Atlantic in Hejira<\/em>\u2019s wake. Crummey initially slept on deck, then left a fog-horn next to the helm so he could be awakened if help was needed on deck. Fortunately they had predominately light winds for ten days, giving Crummey a chance to retro-fit his previous autopilot, which worked for several days to earn the pair some respite.\r\n\r\nHowever, Mines and Crummey had realised that the same low pressure system that caught Slipper<\/em> was approaching, and decided to motor rapidly towards the Azores. The crew on Hejira<\/em> transferred 100lt of fuel to AWOL<\/em> to allow Crummey to motor without constraint, and both boats arrived safely before the severe winds struck.\r\n\r\nIf ever you were to find yourself relying on another yacht mid-Atlantic, Nick Mines and Hejira<\/em> are exactly the sort of skipper and boat you would want to find. His Southerly 135 has been lovingly modified and prepared for all eventualities, including back-up systems galore with solar panels, wind generator and Watt & Sea hydrogenerators for recharging, and what Mines concedes are \u201cspares of spares\u201d.\r\n\r\nEven though Mines admits that sailing in company with AWOL<\/em> did compromise their crossing, he says he wouldn\u2019t hesitate to do it again. \u201cIt was ten days, the majority of our trip. But they were very grateful and they got here safely, and you wouldn\u2019t want that on your conscience otherwise.\u201d\r\n

Pushing the limits<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nNot every ARC Europe tale was one of woe. Far from it \u2013 for many of the larger yachts it was a trip with plenty of variety, made even more memorable by some exceptionally close encounters with whales.\r\n\r\nTwo Hanse 575s, Ximera<\/em> and Seaside<\/em>, were among the faster boats to enjoy smooth crossings. Will Downing, skipper of Ximera<\/em>, sailed with a crew of six, several of whom had also been recruited through online crew searches, but rather more successfully.\r\n\r\nBoth Downing and his partner, Michelle Weeks, are Yachtmaster instructors, so were able to focus less on the sailing experience levels of the crew they took on and instead ensure the crew would gel in terms of personality. The multi-nationality crew had clearly enjoyed every minute of their Atlantic crossing, including an abundance of freshly prepared meals which Will jokes \u201cbecame a bit like \u2018Come Dine With Me\u2019 at times\u201d.\r\n\r\nTop tips for equipping a blue water cruising galley<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe first yacht home was George Gamble\u2019s Testarossa<\/em>, a Beneteau OC55, which arrived after ten days of sailing, an hour and a half ahead of Seaside<\/em>. The reigning J\/111 world champion has previously completed the ARC in full-on race mode and says that his current Testarossa<\/em> is bought as a pure cruiser, an antidote to the VX One keelboat he races. But the Testarossa<\/em> crew were certainly not taking it easy on the ARC Europe.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe sail her real hard,\u201d admits Gamble. \u201cWe keep the rail down and make the boat sail fast. We won\u2019t reef until we absolutely have to. A lot of boats might reef and flatten the boat out.\u00a0We don\u2019t, we push 24\/7.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_92600\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"400\"]\"George George Gamble examines his broken boom. The damaged section was cut out and the remains were welded together as a temporary fix to enable Testarossa to complete her transatlantic.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThen, they pushed a fraction too hard, and their boom crumpled during a gybe four days into the trip. The crew took the mainsail down and put the boom to one side, sailing under jib alone for the first night. The next day they set up the mainsail with a line from the third reefing point to a spinnaker block, and raised the mainsail until they could sheet it without the boom, sailing with it loose-footed.\r\n\r\nConfident in this arrangement, they continued at a good pace to Horta. \u201cWe went north to get pressure in the next low, caught that and just reached in. We were still doing 9.5-10 knots. When we got in they were sure we had motored a lot because we had crossed so quickly.\u201d\r\n\r\nAlthough Testarossa<\/em> may be a cruising yacht, Gamble sails with more performance-orientated routines than many bluewater cruisers. \u201cWe all take turns and drive for an hour a day, so we all get used to the boat and get a feel for what it\u2019s like.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf it\u2019s a great upwind leg and we\u2019re really going to weather then I\u2019ll drive just for the fun of it, but for just reaching along I\u2019ll let the autopilot work and I\u2019ll trim. We do trim our sails constantly. That makes a huge difference. This boat just absolutely hauls when you get her going.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhile the camaraderie and onshore socials may represent much of the appeal of crossing with the ARC Europe for many boats, the position tracker gives a frisson of competition to Gamble.\r\n\r\n\u201cOh, we do watch the boats around us. We\u2019re a little bit competitive; we can\u2019t help it.\u201d\r\n\r\n16 expert tips on sailing across the Atlantic from the Caribbean to Europe<\/a>","excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mention to a cruiser that you are doing a transatlantic and they will probably picture the traditional tradewind route, Canaries to Caribbean, with the wind on your back and the weather improving with each watch. It\u2019s true that this is the most popular route \u2013 260 yachts made the westward crossing on last year\u2019s ARC \u2013 but it is not the only one. An eastward crossing, sailing from the Caribbean to Europe, offers a very different experience, which can be either highly enjoyable or almost overwhelmingly challenging. For this year\u2019s ARC Europe the fleet first headed north, from the BVI to Bermuda (or south, from Portsmouth, Virginia), then east to the Azores, before choosing the final stage of their crossing \u2013 an island hop through the Azores and a 850-mile trip to Portugal with the rest of the rally, or splitting away to elsewhere in Europe. Some had sailed across on a previous ARC and wanted a sociable return trip, others completing a circumnavigation, or returning home after a World ARC. There were also crews from the US and Canada taking on their first transatlantic and seeking the reassurance of crossing in company. Relief in Horta In late May the fleet convened in Horta, capital of the Azorean island of Faial, and a traditional meeting point for Atlantic voyagers. Faial is a curiously intense place, a speck in the ocean just 13 miles long, separated by 900 miles of water from Europe and 1,800 from the Caribbean. It’s also famous for the accumulated art work on its breakwater, as the video below shows. There is very much a sense that forces bigger than you are in charge here \u2013 from the volcano that looms out of the mist, marking the island\u2019s perch on the collision zone of three tectonic plates, to the squall clouds that roll in over the mountain ridge, bringing torrential downpours. Horta is a sailors\u2019 town, but the crews gathering at Peter\u2019s Caf\u00e9 Sport are not those found in mainland yachtie pubs. To have arrived here under sail is to have earned your stripes, and while there are celebrations, there is also a sense of relief at having made landfall. William Shaw, owner and skipper of Slipper 1, freely admitted that he was emotional and tearful on his first day on land. The family crew experienced 59-knot gusts and 7m swells on the crossing in their Bavaria 41, and were humbled by the experience. Read Skip Novak’s storm sailing techniques The Shaws own Slipper 1 in a partnership, and after many years cruising in Europe took the yacht to the Caribbean with last year\u2019s ARC. Following a winter touring the islands, they joined the ARC fleet in Tortola, and began the eastward crossing with five on board \u2013 William Shaw, his son Robert and daughter Joanna, and two friends. The first stage, an 850-mile trip from the BVI to Bermuda, which started on 7 May, was relatively uneventful, the only surprise being an acceleration zone in the …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1571,"featured_media":92406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1160,972],"tags":[826,994],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92401"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120251,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92401\/revisions\/120251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92401"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=92401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}