Science Fair Projects: How to Sail a Small Boat from Europe to the Caribbean

Make your imaginary dream come true with a transatlantic sailing trip to the Caribbean Sea.

The best place to depart from Europe and prepare to cross the Atlantic is Gibraltar. When she entered the Mediterranean Sea, she had to convert her ship from the United States into equipment to meet the very different needs of the Mediterranean. For one thing, the 120-volt electrical system compatible with all US ports simply won’t work in the Mediterranean. Virtually all countries have electrical plugs of different sizes and a 220 volt electrical system is necessary. You had to install a transformer to handle this difference when you got to the Mediterranean, but now you have to convert it back to US 120 volt electrical standards. Another important difference is that propane is not available in the Mediterranean and your system had to convert to use butane. Now that it is leaving the Mediterranean, it must be converted back to propane. And mooring astern, which is the rule in most Mediterranean ports, will be different in the US, where ships almost never moor astern. This will require changing your equipment and boarding lines.

He will also exchange his Mediterranean cards for Caribbean cards. Ships arriving in the Mediterranean will want your Mediterranean charts and pilot guides, and you will want their Caribbean gear.

Now that you have your ship ready and provisioned, you need to be careful when you set sail. If you go too early you will have to deal with hurricane season and if you go too late you will have the winter storms in the Atlantic and you will not have favorable winds to navigate. Columbus was right in deciding which route to follow and what time of year to leave. In those days, sailing ships could not go to windward as they do today. Columbus had to have the wind behind him to push his square-rigged ships across the Atlantic. The trade winds are a beautiful thing, but they are not fully developed until December and leaving the Canary Islands is the best option to sail 3,000 to 4,000 miles to the Caribbean.

It leaves Gibraltar at the end of November to sail for six days to Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria. It’s a great port for supplies and you’ll come across over 100 ships preparing to cross. You can also cross from Cape Verde, which is 900 miles south of the Canaries. I do not recommend this route, which is only 2,000 miles wide, 1,000 miles shorter than the crossing from the Canary Islands. However, you have to sail that extra 900 miles south to get there, so you’re not really saving anything. And the supply in Cape Verde is non-existent. Forget it!.

Las Palmas is a wonderful city for provisioning, making friends with an international group of other ocean liners, as well as great restaurants, sightseeing, casinos, old Spanish architecture and wonderful weather. Colón knew what he was doing.

If you have the time and inclination, you could detour from Gibraltar to Madeira on your way to the Canaries and spend some time savoring that wonderful wine. Your choice of islands in the Caribbean for your destination could include St. Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, or even the Virgin Islands. It all depends on where you want to go and what you want to do when you get to the Caribbean. If you want to go to Venezuela, you can choose to cross over to Granada, which is a short hop to South America. If you want to go to the United States, you can choose the Virgin Islands, which are about 400 miles closer to the US than Grenada.

Crosswinds will be very strong astern, so you will need special rigging to sail downwind, including masts, a good autosteer system, and a lot of patience. Be patient for your science fair project too.

Whisker poles are necessary because sailboats don’t sail very well when the wind is dead astern. They usually have to yaw or yaw about 30 or 40 degrees off course to get speed and stability. To aid in this downwind maneuver, whisper posts come out of the mast on the left (port) and right (starboard) sides of the boat to keep the sails out. When the winds are light and the motion of the ocean normally causes the sails to sway back and forth and lose wind, slowing the boat down, the whisper poles will help keep the sails out to catch the wind, stay the course and continue. faster. A manual wind vane is a must for steering.

With the proper rigging and equipment, you can cross the Atlantic on less than a gallon of fuel. Just enough to get out of one port and into another about a month later. Make a science fair display that shows everything you’ve learned here and much more you can find with your own research.

The above is just a little of what you need to know to make an Atlantic crossing. The author of this article has sailed for 40 years, lived ten years full-time as a cruising sailor, and has sailed across the Atlantic.

You can find over 400 cool science fair project ideas at http://www.terimore.com.