So you’ve decided you’re going to do it. Your beautiful multihull has been pottering up and down your local coast for the past three seasons. Sure, you’ve had a great time, but wasn’t your boat designed, dreamed about and bought because you wanted to go further afield? The little builder’s plate on the hull reminds you every day: Design Category A - Trans-ocean! So now the kids have grown up and you’ve got sufficient hindsight in your professional life to take a little time off. You have to go. Whether from East to West to enjoy the winter sun in the West Indies, or from West to East to make the most of the charms available to you on the old continent, at its best in the summer, the plan is the same. For best results, unless you are a complete masochist or totally reckless, it is imperative to respect the seasons: leave in November for the New World, mid-May if heading for Europe. Within the timeframe, geographical wandering is proportional to your available time. If you are heading West, the big jump can reasonably be undertaken from the Canaries, but also the Cape Verde Islands or Senegal can have their advantages. For one thing, a visit there means you can set off later in the season and from further south, and for another, you have more chance of picking up the famous tradewinds. Hoist the kite when you’re at the latitude of the Cape Verdes, and drop it again as you pass between St.Lucia and Martinique! Coming in the opposite direction, the route is almost imposed upon you. The Azores are an unmissable cruising crossroads, where Mediterranean fans go one way and those bound for the Europe’s Atlantic coast head the other. So the closer you get to departure day, the more fundamental questions there will be bouncing around in your head. Will the family cope with the distance and the time? Would I be better to go single-handed, and have them join me by air when I get there? Would it be better to ask one or two sailing friends to come along and share the watches and their experience, particularly if the going gets tough? Or what about joining a rally, to reassure everybody? In short, you no longer know where you are, or what to do. It’s time to weigh up all the pros and cons of the different options.
A Transat is often a lifelong dream: following the sun across the Atlantic…
With the family
If you feel that you missed out on your children growing up, if your relationship with your partner isn’t what it once was, a Transat is a quick way of catching up! Twelve, fifteen, twenty days at the slow rhythm of the swell and the wind, with nothing to do other than share the experience. Of course there will be some stressful moments, but they will be quickly forgotten among all the happy moments: a sunset, a conversation, an enjoyable piece of music, a close game of cards or a watch change…
Talking of watches, don’t hesitate to get the children involved. The youngest can take the easiest watch, say 0900-1100 for example. If you sleep, it will be with one eye open of course, but it gives them responsibility, and might allow you to get a little rest.
Pluses:
An experience which brings the family closer together
A magical apprenticeship for the children You can organize the watches so everyone gets enough sleep
Minuses:
Relationships need to be healthy before setting off, otherwise there’s a risk of implosion!
With very young children on board, the watches seem to come round more quickly, and tiredness with them
Schoolwork can be difficult with younger children
Single-handed:
Aristotle reckoned there are three kinds of people. Well I reckon there are two kinds of single-handers. The willing, and those doing it out of necessity. The former will have been dreaming of it all their lives, following the great single-handed races, and wanting, in their own way, to enjoy this magical experience at least once in their lives… Also in this category we find those pragmatists who have regrettably transformed their adventure of a lifetime into…divorce! And then on the West to East route, the weather conditions are not always so favorable, and here you find the largest number of the “un-willing”. Your catamaran, so often full of friends from near and far, is suddenly empty! Fortunately you know your boat like the back of your hand. It is perfectly reliable and well-equipped. Autopilot, AIS, radar, Iridium phone, weather routing from ashore, EPIRB and PLB are all tools which reassure you as much as those at home. A little more preparation in advance, anticipation of the route, and it’ll be a pleasure to arrive at your destination!
Pluses:
Living the lifestyle of the great single-handed sailors we dream about
No crew to manage or family arguments
The simplicity of the concept
Minuses:
Proper watch-keeping means broken sleep, and therefore more fatigue
Doesn’t an adventure such as crossing an ocean deserve to be shared?
More preparation and equipment required
With friends
What if you really don’t want all the weight on your shoulders of an ultimate solo adventure? Your family complains that the watches come round too often? Don’t panic. When you’ve got a beautiful multihull like yours, there will always be lots of volunteers wanting to join you en route to your dream destination. The list of potential candidates is long: sailing friends, work colleagues, childhood friends, your kids’ friends, your brothers, sisters, parents… One thing to avoid though, is taking on someone you hardly know, or worse, don’t know at all, or someone with whom you don’t already have a perfectly harmonious relationship. I’ve lost count of the number of horror stories I’ve heard where crew have been hired on the dock or via a crewing agency, and have ended up locking themselves in their cabin, sometimes after less than 48 hours at sea. The confined space of a boat can heighten even the smallest of tensions.
Pluses:
Sharing the enjoyment of a Transat with several of those closest to you
With more crew, the watches are shorter and the unpleasant jobs can be shared.
Minuses:
With crew from varying backgrounds, it can be harder to maintain the right atmosphere
Avoiding chancers, the inexperienced and the carefree is not always easy at first glance
On a rally
Here’s an option which has been quietly experiencing exceptional growth in recent years. As evidence of this, the most famous among them, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) has at least 250 entrants. Their organization is very professional, and by its very nature, sailing as part of a fleet is reassuring for even the most anxious. Even better, as the numbers increase, the departures are from different ports, the routes have different options, and there are more destinations. As there are many different rally organizers, the choice is truly vast! A reassuring environment, where the only issue can be that there has to be a fixed departure date, which can expose you to weather conditions which might not always be the most favorable.
Pluses:
Reassuring presence of many participants
Professional organization, structure and assistance
A bit of performance rivalry with the other participants
Minuses:
Entry costs can be high, and the equipment requirements can be onerous
250 boats in a single bay can totally alter the place
You can’t choose your departure date, which means that you can’t choose your weather
