Many sailors dream of crossing oceans on their own boat. I am one of them! When we bought Mira it was for, among other reasons (see Why Antares?), its suitability for long ocean passages…that is, if someday we wanted to venture out. That day came in April 2019.
We’d been aboard Mira for a year and a half and had enjoyed two wonderful seasons cruising the Caribbean chain. This was preceded by two decades of bareboat chartering throughout the islands. It was time for something new. As seasoned travelers, Pam and I concluded our next adventure would be to return to Europe by sailing Mira across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The journey from Tortola in the BVIs to Lagos on the south coast of Portugal would be approximately 24 days, 3,500 nautical miles.
This was a big decision for us. Was the crew ready? Was the boat ready? Long offshore passages were not new for us, but this would be our longest and most challenging. Previously, our first passage aboard Mira was 10 days/ 1,650 nm from Fortaleza, Brazil to Grenada as we moved the boat from its factory in Argentina to the Caribbean. Participating in last years ARC Caribbean 1500 rally (from Portsmouth, Virginia to Antigua; 12 days, 1,745 nm) really helped us “up our game”, and put Mira and crew through her first really tough passage. While still building “miles under the keel”, my recipe for our successful passages has always included two important ingredients: 1) seek advice from a professional weather router, and 2) have at least one crew member aboard with more ocean sailing experience than myself.
From our time in Argentina we knew several accomplished ocean sailors, and I was excited when Diego accepted my invitation to join as crew for the three legs. I would learn much from him, and he would also bring along Javier, another Argentine sailor. We also engaged the services of Chris Parker’s Marine Weather Center for weather routing advice. Chris’ sage weather wisdom and conservative approach has served us well in the past.
So the Atlantic crossing would be divided into three separate legs:
- Leg 1 – Tortola to Bermuda (5-6 days, 850 miles)
- Leg 2 – Bermuda to the Azores (11-13 days, 1,800 miles)
- Leg 3 – Azores to Portugal (6-7 days, 1,000 miles)
Pam opted out of the first two legs, but was a huge help in preparing the boat, provisioning, and pre-cooking dinners for the passage. She would fly home for some girl time and join me in the Azores for the final leg to Portugal.
Below is a summary and my daily diary of Leg 1 – Tortola to Bermuda
- Depart Nanny Cay, Tortola April 21, 2019 12:30pm
- Arrive St. Georges, Bermuda April 27, 2019 12:00pm
- Total distance 843 nautical miles
- Total time 142 hours (5.9 days)
- Average speed 6.0kn
- Max speed 12.3kn
- Max wind speed
Glenn
21 Apr Sunday – Departure
Left Nanny Cay at 12:30pm and headed west around the southern side of Tortola and then north around the west end of Jost Van Dyke.
Nice 15-20kn ENE winds as we set main sail and genoa
Agreed with Diego on 3hr watches and dinner daily at 5pm
Seas were 2-3m from the East but pretty choppy which made for lots of roll
First night had Pam’s pasta Alfredo and salad
Not a very restful first night due to sea state
22 Apr Monday – Hot.
Continued same sailing conditions in the morning. Winds eased in the afternoon. Started starboard engine @ 2200 rpm.
23 Apr Tuesday
Temperature coming down
No winds. Motoring both engines at 7kn. Caught a nice 5ft wahoo on pink lure and filleted. Enjoyed it on the grill for dinner. Froze the rest. Lots of fish left for meals.
24 Apr Wednesday
Passed large tanker heading south in the night. Closest point was 2 miles.
Still motoring both engines at about 7kn in very clear skies, gentle rolling seas, deep blue ocean
Saw first grey dolphins of the trip
Beautiful, low humidity day. Longing for return of sailing
ETA likely Saturday morning
Running both engines at 2200 rpm doing 7.3kn. Will need to use some fuel reserves at this rate.
25 Apr Thursday
Calm night. Glassy calm seas. Moon reflection is beautiful. Morning still very calm. 1-2kn from west. Rate of speed will have us at St George’s at midnight Friday so we reduced speed to 5kn with one engine at 2200 rpm. Added 10 gal of jerrycan fuel to each tank. Noticed continuous drip/leak in port side stuffing gland under motor. Will need to fix this in Bermuda.
26 Apr Friday
More motoring, alternating engines for 12hrs each. Caught up to becalmed sv Salana who left 1 day before us from Nanny Cay. Crossed shipping lanes with large cargo and tankers heading to Europe. Contacted the manufacturer about port side drip from stuffing gland. Offered steps to fix leak which we’ll try in Bermuda. Winds supposed to finally arrive this evening, from the south and build to 20kn by the time we arrive Sat mid morning. Leftovers for dinner. Sea temp now dropped to 72 from 79 in BVIs.
27 Apr Saturday
Winds finally arrived around 2am and built to the expected 20kn from the south. Night skies under sail were special! Half moon, bright stars, shooting stars, and gentle rolling motion. Just amazing. 7am watch. Land ho! About 20miles from Bermuda. Winds same, waves from behind building. Sailing under full Genoa. Arrived at customs dock at 12:00 Bermuda time.
Mira catamaran blog 
Great report again Glen, the adventure continues OS!
LikeLike