Canaries to Antigua Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is a summary of our passage from Mogan on the south coast of Gran Canaria to English Harbour in Antigua.  We departed on Friday 10th December and arrived on Thursday 6th January.  27 days at sea.  The completion of the voyage marked our 'closing the loop' on our North Atlantic / European circuit.

Closed Loop!

First the usual plots...

Route and Track

Overview Graph from 16 December to landfall

Speeds ditto (note strong current comes & goes)

Wind Angle ditto (note the three gybes south)

English Harbour Arrival Track

Our route took us SSW to NW of the Cape Verdes, then W to Antigua.  Our track wasn't so simple since we had to zig south several times to avoid predicted windless areas along the route.  We ended as far south as 11 30N.

Performance-wise it was a relatively slow passage.  However we lost only 250nm to a Pacific Seacraft 40 and gained about 400nm on a Tayana 37.  We were all sailing conservatively.  Pretty happy with that.

Here are the vital statistics...

• Distances/Speeds
• Route Distance = 2829nm
• Logged Distance = 2917nm (under-reading due to sargasso weed fouling)
• GPS Distance = 3237nm
• Duration = 27 days 3 hours (651 hours)
• Average boat speed = 4.5kt
• Average ground speed = 5.0kt
• Average VMG = 4.3kt
• Average day's run = 108nm (through the water)
• Best day's run = 130nm (5.4kt)
• Minimum boat speed = 2 kt
• Maximum boat speed = 8 kt (first night in Gran Canaria acceleration zone)
• Weather
• Minimum wind speed = 0 kt
• Average wind speed = 12 knots
• Maximum wind speed = 35kt (first night in Gran Canaria acceleration zone)
• Apparent wind angle range = 80 to 140
• Seas up to 3m
• Swell up to 2.5m
• Mostly sunny with periods of cumulus cloud and rain showers
• Engine
• Total = 42 hours
• Driving = 38 hours
• Charging = 4 hours
• Consumption
• Water = 200 litres (7.5 litres / day)
• Fuel = 50 litres
• Failures
• Damaged one heavy duty Harken block due to operator error
• Stars
• The boat!
• WindPilot Pacific vane gear (steered 90% of passage)
• SailnSea SailingGen hydro generator
• NMEA-2000/SignalK-based instrumentation system (described here)
• PredictWind Offshore app (over Iridium GO!) for obtaining GRIBs
• Icom IC 7300 SSB

We certainly had the expected assistance from current.  Favourable current was very noticeable via the sea state and on our instruments.  We downloaded GRIBs of ocean surface currents from SailDocs and sv Sarana web sites.  These helped us find and stay in favourable current.

Sargasso weed was a hindrance while in water warmer than 27C.  The weed fouled our feathering prop and hydro generator impeller.  The former could be cleared with a brief run of the engine.  The latter by manually lifting the leg and removing the weed.  The weed also deposited critters all over the submerged hull which rapidly developed into 25mm-long 'worms'.  These slowed the boat significantly.  Since arriving we've discovered we weren't alone in having such growths.  The fish here love them, but we're going to have to help them in removing them.

Fouling from Sargasso Weed

We had an SSB sked with several yachts each evening.  They were a daily highlight and propagation was very good indeed.  We spoke with yachts up the River Gambia from mid-Atlantic.  Likewise the Iridium Go! and PredictWind Offshore app GPS Tracking facility kept us in touch with other PW boats - their position and their microblogs.

We were very well fed.  Fresh produce from Mogan lasted 3 weeks plus with very little spoilage.  Fresh meat which we vacuum-packed and refrigerated kept for 2 weeks.  Bread rolls, gingerbread cakes and rum-packed Christmas Cake baked by the Admiral lasted for a shorter time!

Zen Again in English Harbour with the superyachts

Since arriving in English Harbour we've rediscovered the mini supermarket, fresh food market and bakery in or next to the Nelson's Dockyard area.  The mini supermarket sells SIM cards from the carrier Flow.  We bought one month, 40GB cards for about EC240 (approx US$80) each.

We've also been busy starting to clean the hull, doing the laundry, checking the boat and all the other usual post long passage arrival jobs.

Twas a slow passage but a very pleasant one overall.