Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage
From CruisersWiki
You should provide a map of the of the passage with the route clearly shown. The map should be preferably well annotated and with a scale in nM (nautical miles). Place the map to the right by using:
Description
Route 1
This is the most common route for either 'Round-the-Worlders', or South African yachts en route to the Caribbean or Europe. The sail can be extremely pleasant as the wind will be off the starboard quarter once the trades are encountered.
Route 2
- Cape Town
- Saldanha Bay
- Luderitz
- Walvis Bay
- St Helena - and onwards
The best time for the crossing is in the summer months.
Suggestions
Stock up with supplies very well in Cape Town, or other South African cities, as prices on the islands are high and stocks are limited. The direct route from Cape Town to St Helena Island is approx. 1700 miles, but it keeps you in a rather busy shipping route (Cape Town to New York).
A more northerly departure than Cape Town, with a southerly wind forecast, will keep one away from this shipping lane.
There are three seamounts close to a direct route that one should be aware of. Rough weather the area around the shallowest of these creates turbulent seas. These banks are close to each other, but the one of particular concern is Valdivia Bank with a least depth of 23m (rising out of depths of 5,000m plus). The others are 115m and 163m.
The position of Valdivia Bank is 25deg. 55'. S, 5deg. 30'. E. There are often many fishing factory ships and fleets in the vicinity. St Helena is free from offshore dangers if a reasonable distance is kept to sea. It can be rounded either way, but a northern approach to the anchorage off Jamestown will keep one in the windless lee of the island for the shortest period.
St Helena can often be seen on a clear day from about 70 miles away. There is a delightful medium wave communal radio station (1548kHz) that can be heard about 250 miles from the island.
Winds and Weather:
A central area of high pressure dominates the South Atlantic, and both the wind and current systems circulate in an anti-clockwise direction. The southeast trade winds flow around this high which is generally centered between 20deg. to 28deg. S, and blows with consistency from S.S.E. on the African side to almost east close to the North Brazilian coastline.
In summer the southeast trades are normally encountered a few days sail NW of Cape Town, and are often heralded by a day of light fluffy clouds. Line squalls followed by stronger winds and sometimes heavy rain, are often encountered in mid ocean, and towards the North Eastern Brazilian coastline.
If headed to the Caribbean the Doldrum belt is narrow, with torrential rain, and will be encountered close to the mouth of the Amazon River.
Fog, or sea fog, are very common in the Cape Town area and northwards, in the autumn months with very limited visibility.
Further North, towards the deserts of Namibia, fog often occurs in any season, the worst conditions develop at night, when the overlaying air is cooled, as it encounters the cold Benguela Current.
Inshore, in the summer months, the fog usually clears by noon.
Sea and swell:
Moderate to heavy swell from between SW and NW, depending on wind strength and direction occurs off the Cape area. Very rough and confused seas are common in winter, occurring anything up to 25deg. S, right across the South Atlantic.
Heavy seas are rare north of 25deg. S, but can develop during violent squalls. North of latitude 10deg. S, the sea is slight in summer between SE and SW.
Changes in direction and strength of the SE trades, can cause landing and anchorage problems at the South Atlantic islands.
About 3 days in any summer month "rollers" occur at St Helena, Ascension and Fernando de Noronha islands making landing almost impossible. (From Cape to Caribbean Cruising Notes by Tony Herrick)
Charts
- Source
- Chart Number - Chart Name
- Chart Number - Chart Name
- Source
- Chart Number - Chart Name
Weather
Give local weather conditions or refer to another page (a region or island group) that covers these conditions.
Sources for Weather forecasts: There are a number of sources for weather for this route but two main ones. The first is from the South African Maritime Mobile Net (see times below in Radio Nets). These are voice transmissions and read quite quickly. They originate from South African Weather. Non HAMs can listen but may not communicate with the net controller.
The second source is digital over HF radio transmitted from Cape Naval, just outside Cape Town. You will need a receiver and laptop computer with radio fax software to receive and decode the fax signal. The transmissions are listed in the free PDF download from: [1].
Weather Windows
Give the best time/s of year for this passage and expected weather conditions.
Add any navigation notes such approaches, dangers etc here. If this section does not apply remove it.
Communication
Also see World Cruiser's Nets.
Possible Departure Points
List the possible departure ports. Include their coordinates. It is assumed that corresponding Wiki pages of these ports either exist or will be created.
- Departure Point1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Departure Point1|Departure Point1]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W
- Departure Point2 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Departure Point2|Departure Point2]] (Alternate name Departure Point2) °'N, °'E
- etc.
Route/Suggested Stopovers
List the route and the suggested stopover points (in sequence), including their coordinates, and some description.
- Starting from Departure Point1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Departure Point1|Departure Point1]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W
- xx nM SE to Anchorage Point1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Anchorage Point1|Anchorage Point1]] (Alt name of Anchorage Point1) DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W in the SW side of the island of [[yy]],
- or 21 nM S to the remote island of Island Point1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Island Point1|Island Point1]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W , form here you can go
- xx nM to Stopover Point1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Stopover Point1|Stopover Point1]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W
- etc.
- Finally you arrive at Arrival Port1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Arrival Port1|Arrival Port1]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W
Possible Arrival Points
List the possible arrival ports (in sequence). Include their coordinates.
- Arrival Port1 [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Arrival Port1|Arrival Port1]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W
- Arrival Ports [[Cape Town to Brazil and Caribbean Passage#Arrival Ports|Arrival Ports]] DD°N.m′N/S, DD°M.m′E/W
- etc.
Distance & Duration
Give a distance table if possible.
[[Departure Point1]] | [[Stopover Point1]] | [[Stopover Point2]] | [[Stopover Point3]] | [[Arrival Point 1]] | [[Arrival Point2]] | |
[[Departure Point1]] | x1 d+h | x2 d+h | x3 d+h | x4 d+h | x5 d+h | |
[[Stopover Point1]] | x1 d+h | x6 d+h | x7 d+h | x8 d+h | x9 d+h | |
[[Stopover Point2]] | x2 d+h | x6 d+h | x10 d+h | x11 d+h | x12 d+h | |
[[Stopover Point3]] | x3 d+h | x7 d+h | x10 d+h | x13 d+h | x14 d+h | |
[[Arrival Point 1]] | x4 d+h | x8 d+h | x11 d+h | x13 d+h | x15 d+h | |
[[Arrival Point2]] | x5 d+h | x9 d+h | x12 d+h | x14 d+h | x15 d+h |
Forums
List links to discussion threads on partnering forums. (see link for requirements)
Links
List links external to the wiki such as in Wikipedia & Wikivoyage.
For Wikipedia you can use the Wikipedia template & for the Wikivoyage the Wikivoyage template.
References
- Cape to Caribbean Cruising Notes by Tony Herrick
Comments
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