Atlantic Crossing West-> East – Part One

Our time in the Caribbean had come to an end and it was time for us to start the Atlantic Crossing, west to east, back to Europe.

Day 1 – April 30, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 0nm
• Total Distance: 0nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 0 hours
• Approx heading: 000
• Breakfast: –
• Lunch: Spagetti Bolognese (pre-prepared)
• Dinner: Pasta with creamy chicken sauce (pre-prepared)
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:41/22:34
• Water temperature (Celsius): 27

We left Simpson Bay at the 10:30 bridge opening together with Sanuti. We first sailed west around Sint Maarten and passed Anguilla on the west side. It was a chill, sunny day and we focused on getting into the rhythm of the sea. We had very good speed during the day (5,5-6 knots) and were able to sail on a more northerly course than we had expected we would be able to do.

Day 2 – may 1, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 147 nm
• Total Distance: 147 nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 0.8 hours
• Approx heading: 030
• Breakfast: Yoghurt with müsli and bananas
• Lunch: Spagetti Bolognese (pre-prepared)
• Dinner: Pasta with creamy chicken sauce (pre-prepared)
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:36/22:35
• Water temperature (Celsius): 26

The night was calm, we did good speed during the evening. The wind died out a bit in the morning. The GPS on the autopilot behaved a bit strange, so we had to calibrate it. Thomas saw a fish swimming around the windvane. We haven’t been seasick yet, but it has been calm sea state. We still sailing close to Sanuti, but we been having some communication issues with the radio.

Day 3 – may 2, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 124 nm
• Total Distance: 271 nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 0 hours
• Approx heading: 000
• Breakfast: Yoghurt with müsli and bananas
• Lunch: Spagetti Bolognese (pre-prepared)
• Dinner: Pasta with creamy chicken sauce (pre-prepared)
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:31/22:38
• Water temperature (Celsius): 26

We still have very nice sailing conditions, good winds and not so much waves. Sunny and warm weather. We are still sailing close to Sanuti. Tried to catch fish during the day but without any luck. We spent the day in the sun listening to music. We managed to get contact with the radio and downloaded some fresh weather files. Had a lot of current against us the entire day.

Day 4 – may 3, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 132 nm
• Total Distance: 403 nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 0 hours
• Approx heading: 010
• Breakfast: Oatmeal with bananas
• Lunch: Pizza
• Dinner: Spagetti Bolognese (pre-prepared)
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:27/22:40
• Water temperature (Celsius): 26

Still good conditions. During the night a Norweigan container ship called for us on VHF, but it was far away (and we had already passed each other) and we barely heard the call so didn’t answer it, unfortunately. So far we have seen way more ships than on the crossing to the Caribbean. We see at least 2 ships/day. Tried to fish today again, without any luck. Took a swim and read. Quite an uneventful day in general.

Day 5 – may 4, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 123 nm
• Total Distance: 526 nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 0 hours
• Approx heading: 010
• Breakfast: Oatmeal with bananas
• Lunch: Pizza
• Dinner: Spagetti Bolognese(pre-prepared)
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:27/22:40
• Water temperature (Celsius): 26

We had good winds during the night and morning, which died out during the day. We started the engine in the afternoon. We took a swim today as well, since it was very hot and sunny, and also a shower! We have read a bit and given each other a massage (easy to get stiff when not moving so much). Tried to fish, but didn’t catch anything. We ran the watermaker for when we went by engine. We shared a beer and had some nice snacks in the afternoon. We passed a ship quite close by (5 nm) and later in the evening we passed a big tanker that was just drifting out at sea.

Day 6 – may 5, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 104 nm
• Total Distance: 630nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 23,5 hours
• Approx heading: 020
• Breakfast: Newly baked buns withe cheese and marmalade and tea
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: Carbonara
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:21/22:41
• Water temperature (Celsius): 27

No wind and we have used the engine the entire day. Petra saw a fin in the water in the morning, which we think was a shark. It didn’t move like a whale do. We took a swim later anyway, together with Sanuti. It was extremely calm and you could see the sun rays fight there way down to the deep water (7000 meters). It was a very pretty and red sunset. Had some oranges and almonds for snack in the afternoon. Read a lot and downloaded a new Grib-file so we could plan our sail.

Day 7 – may 6, 2021

• Distance last 24 hrs: 105nm
• Total Distance: 735nm
• Engine hours last 24 hrs: 22,5 hours
• Approx heading: 010
• Breakfast: Buns with cheese/marmalade and tea
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: Quickfried tuna with rice, mango salsa and chili mayo.
• Sunrise/Sunset (UTC): 9:15/22:41
• Water temperature (Celsius): 24

After the very calm day yesterday the wind picked up a bit, but not very much. We decided to hoist the spinnaker! We had a really nice afternoon sail with the spinnaker before we took it down. Sanuti caught a fish, a tuna, and were so very kind and shared it with us. Thanks! The fish was very good but we had a not so nice evening. Big swell started coming in and the sails were not able to fill, as there was quite little wind still. We started the engine and noticed that it was vibrating more than it should. We suspected that it was some seaweed that had gotten stuck in the propeller, and we tried to reverse to get it off. It had gotten dark so we couldn’t dive down and look at the propeller. We didn’t dare continue with the engine so we turned it off and decided to drift through the night instead. Sanutis autopilot was not working so they decided to drift with us.

All our blog posts related to Atlantic crossings, West -> East and East -> West, can be found under the link HERE.

Blog post for part two of our Atlantic Crossing from Caribbean to the Azores can be found by clicking HERE.

First part of our Atlantic crossing from Caribbean to the Azores in video format. We speak Swedish in our videos but all have English subtitles.

NEWS UPDATE: We have bought a new boat, a Wasa 530. Read more about it on this page: The Boat – Anne-Mon II.

Our new sailboat is in need of some upgrades and renovations as it has been standing for 10+ years. We will post all the boatwork we do on Anne-Mon II on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/SailingAnneMon.