$8,000.00 // 26 Days
This passage is now fully crewed. Email mia@59-north.com to get on the waiting list.
Join Isbjorn off the coast of Africa for a classic, downwind Trade Wind passage to the Caribbean! This is what you dream about - 'sail south until the butter melts and turn right!' When Mia and my Dad completed this same passage aboard the Saga 43 Kinship in 2013, it was a 20-day passage with 20 knots of wind off the starboard stern quarter the entire time!
This will be a downwind test, with lots of spinnaker sailing and downwind helming practice. There will be tropical squalls to contend with and lots of beautiful, starry nights. At nearly 3,000 nautical miles, it's the longest passage we'll ever make in the Atlantic and a great way to enjoy the true beauty and get disconnected for a LONG time offshore!
You'll join the boat in Las Palmas in the Canary Island (part of Spain), and we'll make landfall in Antigua, where we'll have time to relax, unwind, enjoy some Caribbean cuisine on-island and relive the passage. Easy connections to the USA and Europe from Antigua.
Planned Itinerary
Join Isbjorn in Las Palmas, on the north side of Gran Canaria and the same city where the ARC Rally departs each year. While those guys will be long gone by then, lots of other oceangoing yachts will be here staging for the crossing, as January is usually the best time of year to make the passage since the Trade Winds have had time to develop. In 2013, Mia and Andy's dad Dennis sailed this route in January on Kinship, a Saga 43 - they had 20 knots of breeze on the starboard quarter for 20 days!
You'll get to know Isbjorn and the crew shoreside in Las Palmas. Given the stable weather this time of year, we'll probably set sail pretty quickly and get offshore as soon as we can. With luck, and with out new Watt & Sea hydrogenerator, we may never have to run the engine on this passage!
While the trades are steady, they also bring squalls with them pretty regularly, so we'll get a chance to reef down quite often as the dark clouds move overhead. We'll also have a chance for lots of spinnaker sailing on this 3,000-mile downwind run!
Antigua, where we'll make landfall in Falmouth Harbour on the south shore, is the epicenter of the superyacht scene in the Caribbean, so there will be LOTS of boat watching to be had on arrival! In 2016, three of the enormous and gorgeous J-Class yachts were here at the same time, as was the supermaxi Comanche and several MOD 70 trimarans. The cool thing about Antigua is that it's the base for the yacht captains and crew, and the starting point for many of their charters - so while you've got this huge assortment of cool boats around, you don't have the high-end feeling ashore like you do in St. Barth's. Instead, it's a very laid back place with easygoing people, good food (at good prices), lots of hiking and very cool nature.
Antigua has a big airport on the north of the island, about a 30 minute car ride away, with easy direct connections to the US and Europe. We recommend renting a scooter on arrival and exploring the island! It's the best and most fun way to get around! They have car and scooter rentals right in Falmouth Harbour.
Chris has been working professionally on yachts ever since completing his Yachtmaster in 2009. Having logged more than 165,000 nautical miles since, Chris has sailed and raced all around the world on a variety of yachts from small, modern Cape31s to big classic 50m schooners.
During the 2017-18 Clipper Round The World Race Chris skippered the Chinese entry Qingdao and his team achieved a 3rd overall. After the Clipper Race Chris spent two years in the high latitudes skippering Skip Novak's sailing expedition yacht Pelagic Australis. Chris skippered ICEBEAR in 2022 and is returning in 2023 to skipper FALKEN.