Atlantic (Round the World Routes)

Global, Internationalactivities

There is no other passage that recalibrates your sense of scale quite like a circumnavigation. The classic trade-wind circuit — down to the Canaries, across to the Caribbean on the north-east trades, through the Panama Canal, then west across the Pacific on the south-east trades — is a sequence of wind gifts that has pulled bluewater sailors off their sofas for generations. Each ocean has its own personality: the Atlantic is sociable and well-provisioned, the Pacific is vast and humbling, the Indian Ocean feels ancient and uncrowded. The Roaring Forties are a different conversation entirely. The Southern Ocean route — rounding the three great capes, Leeuwin, Horn, and Good Hope — is the path of the Vendée Globe and Jules Verne Trophy attempts, and it is not a cruising ground so much as an endurance arena. Seas routinely exceed four metres, gybing a mainsail in 45 knots at 0300 is simply Tuesday, and if something breaks, the nearest port may be days away. You go there knowing the risk is structural, not incidental. For most circumnavigators, the practical rhythm is Atlantic crossings in November or December, Pacific in February through April, and Indian Ocean westbound from May onwards to stay ahead of the cyclone windows. Provisioning pinch-points include the Marquesas (expensive, limited) and Cocos Keeling (bring everything). Paperwork accumulates fast — keep digital copies of your zarpe, crew list, and ship's papers in three separate locations. Bareboat charters do not apply here; this is private passage-making, and you will want an experienced offshore crew. Skippers without 1,000-plus offshore miles should sail a full Atlantic first before committing to a circumnavigation timeline.

No photos yet. Be the first — check in or post a public journal entry with photos.

No reviews yet. Be the first to write one!