Jane Russell - RCC Pilotage Foundation: The Atlantic Crossing Guide

Published by Adlard Coles
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
www.adlardcoles.com

Copyright RCC Pilotage Foundation 1983, 1988,
1992, 1998, 2003, 2010

First published in Great Britain by Adlard Coles 1983
Reprinted with amendments 1984, 1985
Second edition 1988
Revised reprint 1989
Third edition published by Adlard Coles Nautical 1992
Reprinted with amendments 1994
Reprinted 1996
Fourth edition 1998
Fifth edition 2003
Sixth edition 2010

This electronic edition published 2013

ISBN 978-1-4081-1380-6
Epub ISBN: 9781408194454
EPDF ISBN: 9781408194461

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Designed by Suchinda Thompson

Some of the plans included have been based, with permission, on British Admiralty Charts and Publications.

CAUTION

Whilst the RCC Pilotage Foundation, the author and the Publisher have used reasonable endeavours to ensure the accuracy of the content of this book, it contains selected information and thus is not definitive. It does not contain all known information on the subject in hand and should not be relied on alone for navigational use; it should only be used in conjunction with official hydrographic data. This is particularly relevant to the plans, which should not be used for navigation.

The RCC Pilotage Foundation, the author and the Publisher believe that the information that they have included is a useful aid to prudent navigation. But the safety of a vessel depends ultimately on the judgement of the skipper, who should assess all information, published or unpublished.

The information provided in this book may be out of date and may be changed or updated without notice. The RCC Pilotage Foundation cannot accept any liability for any error, omission or failure to update such information.

To the extent permitted by law, the RCC Pilotage Foundation, the author and the Publishers do not accept liability for any loss, and/or damage howsoever caused that may arise from reliance on information contained in these pages.

Additional information

Additional or updated information for this book can be found on the Publications page on the RCC Pilotage Foundation website www.rccpf.org.uk

This site also includes a considerable amount of pilotage information which may be of interest to readers of this book.

Cover illustrations:
Heading up the Caribbean island chain to a landfall at St Lucia. Photo: Mike Robinson
A typical San Blas village, Western Caribbean. Photo: Richard Woods
The dinghy dock at New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas. Photo: Richard Woods
A Greenland iceberg. Photo: Mark Hillmann

Page ii: An anchorage in the San Blas group of islands, Panama, Western Caribbean. Photo: Richard Woods

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Much has changed in the sailing world since this book was first published in 1983. Boats tend to be larger and rigs and gear have become easier to handle, GPS has simplified ocean navigation and communication is much simpler. However, the ocean itself is unchanging and skippers still remain as responsible for vessel and crew as ever before. Weather may be unkind, equipment may fail and a glorious daytime trade wind sail may be followed by challenging conditions that night.

This book is a guide to help crews to prepare their boats and themselves so that their later memories of the crossing are all good ones. Preparation is the key, along with an understanding of the need for self sufficiency.

As sailing horizons have extended in the past decade, so the Atlantic Crossing Guide now builds on its original core details about the Atlantic Circuit and adds in links to the numerous cruising areas where sailors may leave or join the traditional circuit. The scope of the book may be readily seen on the plan on pages x/xi. As a circumnavigator, Jane Russell has had ample experience and contacts to draw on whilst updating every aspect of this book. Preparing the book has been a major project and the Pilotage Foundation is grateful to Jane for all her research and preparation and to Janet Murphy and her team at Adlard Coles Nautical for the presentation of this work.

The Pilotage Foundation welcomes feedback text or photographs, e-mail or hard copy from those sailing these waters. Where appropriate, updated material will be published on our website which also gives details of all our other publications, many of which are available for free download.

Martin Walker
Hon Director
RCC Pilotage Foundation

In 1976 an American member of the Royal Cruising Club, Dr Fred Ellis, indicated that he wished to make a gift to the Club in memory of his father, the late Robert E. Ellis, of his friends Peter Pye and John Ives and as a mark of esteem for Roger Pinckney. An independent charity known as the RCC Pilotage Foundation was formed and Dr Ellis added his house to his already generous gift of money to form the Foundations permanent endowment. The Foundations charitable objective is to advance the education of the public in the science and practice of navigation which is at present achieved through the writing and updating of pilot books covering many different parts of the world.

The Foundation is extremely grateful and privileged to have been given the copyrights to books written by a number of distinguished authors and yachtsmen including the late Adlard Coles, Robin Brandon and Malcolm Robson. In return the Foundation has willingly accepted the task of keeping the original books up to date and many yachtsmen and women have helped (and are helping) the Foundation fulfill this commitment. In addition to the titles donated to the Foundation, several new books have been created and developed under the auspices of the Foundation. The Foundation works in close collaboration with three publishers Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson, Adlard Coles Nautical and On Board Publications and in addition publishes in its own name short run guides and pilot books for areas where limited demand does not justify large print runs. Several of the Foundations books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian and German.

The Foundation runs its own website at www.rccpf.org.uk which not only lists all the publications but also contains free downloadable pilotage information.

The overall management of the Foundation is entrusted to Trustees appointed by the Royal Cruising Club, with day to day operations being controlled by the Director. All these appointments are unpaid. In line with its charitable status, the Foundation distributes no profits, which are used to finance new books and developments and to subsidise those covering areas of low demand.

The trade wind route across the Atlantic was my first long ocean passage. Although I subsequently continued on across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, my memories of how it felt to be in that first phase of adventure remain strong. When I set off from Penarth with my husband, the longest passage either of us had been at sea was 48 hours. We were in our late 20s and sailing on a tight budget, determined to cast off before the norms of land life held us in their grip. Not entirely unexpectedly, I spent 8 days being seasick as we crossed Biscay, so we were eternally grateful to our two good sailing friends, Dominic Preston and Verity Spence, who came with us to Spain and helped us to get over that first hurdle. We had studied every possible book and magazine article, including the