Your First Atlantic Crossing

This is a book of practical experiences gained from Atlantic crossings with advise based upon authentic decisions, experiences, pleasures and pains. Intended for novices, unsure whether they will live up to life offshore, to experts, interested in how others handled ocean conditions and with what success, and, to dreamers, who one day might make the big leap. Here are insights into the social as well as nautical reality of fitting out, the comfort of highly detailed plans, the norm of impulsive decisions, the inside story of life with a crew, coping with unexpected gales and calms, the real meaning of GPS, the live-or-die decisions to keep watches or not, close encounters with dolphins, whales and unlit fishing boats, the dreadful pulse of rhythmic rolling and the ports of call from Spain to Tobago via the Atlantic islands and west Africa.