Evanston: bulge
Evanston: bulge
I’ve been thinking about the bulge of Brazil, as I’m sure you have, too.
The bulge of Brazil is a problem. It extends to 35º East, which is almost the longitude of the Azores in the North Atlantic.
When Carol and I were planning to leave Boston ten years ago, our way was south and east. I considered sailing down the East Coast of the United States, then to the Caribbean and working our way along the coast of South America. But beyond Florida that is all to windward and against strong currents. I had gone the other way in RESURGAM, non-stop from Rio de Janeiro to the British Virgin Islands, and remembered great sailing, with strong wind and current behind us once we made the turn at Cabo Calcanhar. It would not have been much fun going the other way. I measured the distances. More than 3,300 nautical miles from Florida. More than 2,200 from Barbados. More than 1800 from Trinidad.
It has been said that the best way to sail from the east coast of the U.S. to Rio de Janeiro is to head east until you sight the Canary Islands then turn south. That, more or less is what we did, sailing from Boston to the Azores, then mainland Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar, where we finally did turn south for Dakar, Senegal, and then, with the wind behind us, back west to Brazil.
It happens that in the past week I’ve read of two boats, one 56‘ and another 65’, that followed the Brazilian coast from the Caribbean east to Cape Calcanhar. Both powered most of the way, having to put in to take on extra fuel. Both complained of pounding into the 15 to 30 knot winds and adverse 2 to 3 knot current that pushed RESURGAM so quickly in the other direction. Both said it was the worst passage they ever made.
The wind patterns and currents of the world make getting away from the west coast of the United States easy, but getting back hard; while getting away from the east coast is hard, but getting back easy. All relatively.
By this time next year the decision may have been made.
Friday, November 25, 2011