Fantasy North Atlantic Loop

[Captain Smollett]

I never really placed visiting the Mediterranean high on my list of priorities, but several months ago, my wife mentioned she'd like to see Greece.  I've been to Italy and France on a 'land-based' trip, and the experience was less than stellar.  With Becky making that comment, and after reading Pat Henry's account of her time in the Greek Islands and Turkey, I decided I needed to reassess.

So, I sketched out a little route that make a big loop of both sides of the North Atlantic.  The idea is to cross to the Azores, head to Greece and maybe Turkey and on the way back out, perhaps visit Catalonian Spain.  I do want to visit Portugal, at least Lisbon. Continuing north, the 'ultimate' destination of the trip would be an extended stay in Ireland.  I'd love to re-visit Sweden, Norway and Denmark, too, but probably would not try that in this particular plan.

The idea is then to return via Iceland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Maine, closing the loop back in the SE US.  It would be an interesting year or so.

It IS a fantasy, but it keeps me warm at night.

[Zen]

It IS a fantasy, but it keeps me warm at night.

Some would say "life" is a fantasy...
or
A journey of ten thousand steps, start with one.

I would say,

Great Adventures start with a fantasy...

like owning a larger boat, say 29-30ft  ;)

[Norm]

If you can find it, a book titled: Atlantic Circle by Kathryn Lasky Knight will be an inspiration and guide.  She and her husband got a Cheoy Lee 30 foot ketch as a wedding gift.  She had never sailed!  Anyway, they did some sailing and had many adventures.  I particularly liked her description of the North Atlantic as the "great diet machine."

Shows to go you that small boats can go places!

[AdriftAtSea]

Norm-

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep a look out for it.

One book that really surprised me was Tania Aebi's Maiden Voyage... reading it was very eye-opening.  Her was a young woman, with very little sailing experience over all, and she was heading out to circumnavigate the world, without what I would call significant preparation for it in many ways.  She taught herself celestial navigation as she went, but learned that plastic sextants warp badly if left out in the sun and are then useless for their intended purpose.  She had engine troubles galore, but very little skill, tools or knowledge to deal with them—and so did without an engine for most of her voyage.  She made some errors that could have been serious, but due to good luck and the kindness of fellow sailors were not.

This is not to belittle or demean her accomplishment... I still think that not awarding her the title of youngest woman to circumnavigate single-handedly, due to having a passenger aboard for 80NM or so, when the passenger didn't assist in sailing the vessel in anyway and the distance, IIRC, was later made up, is a bit ridiculous.

Her boat, a Contessa 26, was more than capable of the journey, and fairly forgiving of the inevitable errors that any new sailor makes.  However, if you were to believe most of the modern sailing press... long voyages, especially transoceanic ones are foolish, and nigh-impossible in anything less than a 40' boat.  However, realistically, the advent of the 40'+ sailboat is a relatively recent phenomenon—and many of the people sailing them are doing so for the status that having such a boat brings them, rather than for the love of sailing.