Passage Planning, The Sailors Obsession

Background about the Passage to Bermuda.

If you’re not already aware, Bermuda (BDA) is in the middle of the Atlantic. Crazy tiny little island all by its lonesome surrounded by ocean that’s 5,000 meters/ 16,400 feet deep, that’s about 3 miles deep!

Passage departing from Newport RI, Moorehead City, NC, and FL are about equidistant to BDA (NC being just slightly shorter). From NC it’s 630 nautical miles, that’s 725 statute miles, which is about the same as Boston to Cincinnati, OH/ Boston to Myrtle Beach, SC/ Boston to just past Quebec (as the crow flies). In planning an off coast passage you double check safety measures and the backups are in working order. The basic list consists of: communications, autopilot, GPS, bilge pump (and secondary bilge pump!), safety (liferaft/ditchbag/EPIRB/fire extinguisher/pfd/jacklines), medical, rigging, steering, sails, hull, electrical, plumbing.

The planning of the passage logistically requires obsession of the marine weather forecast. We use www.PassageWeather.com . We were constantly updating the newest GFS weather model (as opposed to the European model ECMWF) and analyzing low pressure systems moving in conjunction with high pressure systems and how that will affect the wind, waves, and cloud cover.

We thought through water, fuel, food, and propane consumption. And we researched the Gulf Stream where it was how it moves, and what to look for in crossing it. The Gulf Stream is a fast warm ocean current (about 80 degrees!) that starts from FL and curves toward Newfoundland then off to sea. Its 45 nautical miles off the coast of NC and is 60 nautical miles wide where we crossed and adds about 2-3 knot push to the boat. The Gulf Stream moves more like a river and ungulates. You can track the movement by geothermal readings updated by NOAA (http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/newNCOM/NCOM_GulfS… ). Cape Hatteras is about 35 degrees N Latitude.Read more