The Plan: With a good window of weather, set off from La Rochelle on 20th November as a small crew of 4. After crossing the Bay of Biscay, head southwards for a brief stop in Madeira. Moor up in quiet harbours of Funchal or explore one of the many beautiful uninhabited islands. Next port is 300 nautical miles away so a few days sailing before coming into Las Palmas for final provisioning before the main passage and where I come on board to sail across the Atlantic ocean to Martinique.

After a short delay, the countdown begins at last for our first crossing! In the spirit of Slow Tourismo, we endeavour to rely entirely on the trade winds to travel the 4000 nautical miles in 25 to 30 days. ST factor = 10 out of 10,  at least one-way. The return journey will unfortunately be a high carbon-footprint Air Caraibe flight – we do have jobs to get back to after all!

Apart from the adventure and nautical experience, we look forward to:

• Digital detox – no internet surfing, no email. Reading lots of books.
• Time  – Passing. Very. Slowly. Time is irrelevant somehow. Primary focus is on the  journey and surviving, come day or night.
• Beauty and wonder at the grandiosity of elements –  totally tacky but you do feel so humble in a boat on the ocean
• Power of natural energy – relying on wind, the moving expanse of water, reading and responding to weather

What’s the right boat for an atlantic crossing? You can read more on the speedy trimaran in a separate post. For now its off to pack our gear and double-check those lists! Slight panic as the days race by.

Inhale. Exhale. Slow down. Only 10 days to go.