Passage Key West to St Thomas VI

[fourgeau]

Any recommendation for a routing (non Stop) from South Florida to St Thomas in April?

[XTR]

Everything I've ever seen anyone write says sail east to 65 and turn south, and everything also says it is a tough sail.

From south Fla look leave from somewhere near Ft. Lauderdale. Wait for a good weather window and head out across the stream and through the Bahamas and into the Atlantic. Do what ever it takes to get east to 65 before you turn South.

Have you got a boat that can handle a couple of weeks of blue water? Can you?

[easygoing]

Most boats make the passage from Miami to the Virgins at the end of the hurricane season in November and December. The Pilot Charts show us that the northern limit of the Northeast Trades is roughly on the same latitude as Miami at that time of year. Since the object is to avoid going east into the boisterous head winds likely to be encountered south of that latitude, knowledgeable sailors head east from Miami, through the Bahamas, and then due east, or even a shade north of east, into the Atlantic. The idea is to make nearly all of your easting north of the trade wind belt in the area of relative calm called the Horse Latitudes.

The trick is to enter the trade wind belt when you're north - or slightly west of north - of St. Thomas. That way the trades become your ally as you reach southward across them on the home stretch to the islands.

For detailed info go to: Tor Pinney's Homeport Type in Florida to Caribbean.

Good Luck; Hope this helps.