Atlantic Circle Webinar

Thoughts and Strategies on How to Sail Across the Atlantic Ocean 

Sailing across the Atlantic is challenging and extremely rewarding. With the right planning and good seamanship, it’s also within reach of most sailors. In many ways, the Atlantic is designed for small boat sailors. A pattern of prevailing winds and currents make east and westbound crossings readily attainable.

The Atlantic Ocean has been my place of work for most of the last 40 years. I have made 27 crossings, at least ( I’ve actually lost track) and have four more in the works for the next two years. This is a topic I really understand. 

I can help turn your dream of sailing across the Atlantic into reality.

Our two-part webinar, each 2-3 hours long, will explain every facet of crossing the Atlantic. We will focus on completing an Atlantic Circle. For North American sailors this means starting and ending from the US East Coast. For European sailors, we will look at voyages that begin and end at both the English Channel and Gibraltar.   Topics include:

Session One – 

Part One will detail west to east crossings.  I will discuss when is the best time to depart on different routes, and waypoints along the way.  We will look at what I call, The Azores route, which is completed near or along the 40th parallel.  We will also look at the northern route, which is shorter, and cooler.  We will also examine the direct route from the Caribbean.  We will briefly talk about fitting out specifically for the crossing, although this has been covered extensively in my Seamanship webinars.  We will look closely at weather patterns, historical storm patterns, how and where to get reliable weather information. We will also discuss landfalls in detail.  We will cover the logistics of leaving the boat in Europe and returning home, including what are safe affordable marinas and dealing with the Schengen visa requirements and the VAT tax implications.  As always, we will take questions long into the night.  

Session Two – 

Part two will detail east to west crossings, including the trade wind routes from the Canary Islands as well as the less popular route across the mid and north Atlantic.  We will discuss the challenging passages south from Northern Europe and from the Mediterranean to the staging points in the Canary and Cape Verde islands.  We will talk about downwind and deep reaching strategies and techniques.  We also look closely at landfall in the Caribbean and the best strategies for cruising the islands. Finally, we will look at timing and routes back to the US or for when to head back to Europe.

*The cost for the 2 part webinar is $100. 

For more information or to Sign Up, send us a message to receive your invoice and link to the webinar. 

Pre-Recorded Webinar: Cruising Boat Buyer’s Webinar

We have had many requests to create a Cruising Boat Buyer’s Webinar and at long last we have. We have put together an informative, entertaining webinar that replicates much of our popular in-person workshop. I will talk from the heart and offer honest advice based on a lot of experience. How much experience? I recently redid my resume and counted 58 different kinds of boats that I’ve sailed at least 1000 miles aboard. Total miles are tilting close to 400,000, crazy. The workshop consists of two, 2-hour Zoom sessions. You are going to be very busy! Topics include:

Session One – 

Zeroing in on the right boat -Priorities and the hard questions.

Desirable and undesirable design features.

Desirable and undesirable construction features.

Where to find reliable information.

The process part one: The truth about brokers.

Session Two – 

The process part two: The truth about surveyors.

The process part three: The truth about the big day, sea trials, surveys, contracts

Pre surveying a boat, the key to avoiding big mistakes.

The ugly truth about refits.

How to control costs part one: what’s necessary for happy cruising.

How to control costs part two: what’s not necessary for happy cruising.

The Big Picture

*The cost for the 2 part webinar is $100. 

For more information or to Sign Up, send us a message to receive your invoice and link to the webinar. 

The John Krestchmer Seamanship Series 

These popular webinars from last June are available for purchase. They are informative and entertaining with complete interaction with Tadji and I, and including photos, videos, slides and as always, lots of stories to emphasize the insights.

You will really get to know Quetzal during these webinars as we explain the many upgrades and gear changes over the years.  If you sign-up for all 4, you’ll also receive a 24 page pdf of all the Q&A from the series.