Passage plan Med > Canaries

[Gudjbahl]

I am doing a delivery on a sailboat from Palma de Mallorca to St. Martin. My skipper has give me some "homework". This is to come up with a passage plan for the first leg to The Canaries. Is there anything that I should be aware of, particularly as regard to Gibraltar. Are there currents at the change of tide etc. and what consideration should be give to timing if this is the case. Any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Richard.

[JeanneP]

download WX Tide 32, for worldwide tides and currents. It's free, and will be a big help to you.

http://www.wxtide32.com/

[Jack Tyler]

Richard, exiting the Med can be a challenge. The prevailing winds tend to either be E or W, while there's an ongoing W'ly (inbound) tidal flow due to evaporation of Med waters. So...if exiting and wanting a fair (E'ly) wind, you are guaranteed to have a 'wind over tide' condition during the flood portion of the tidal cycle. We'll face this passage one Fall soon, and so I'd look for fair winds that don't promise to be strong for the portion of the passage near Gib and the immediate S coast of Spain.

Second, lots of shipping there. As I recall, there are designated small-vessel zones approaching/exiting Gib where you should be just as in many other parts of Europe's Atlantic Coast; moreover, when W of the designated small vessel zone, you'll still need to think about heavy traffic as you take up your rhumb line.

Jack