How long would it take to sail the Atlantic?

Question

Using sail alone, providing conditions were favourable (I'm only after a rough estimate, eg, three days, a fortnight, a month etc etc). Depart Bristol arrive New York (just for reference).

I'm illustrating a short story for someone and they want to know how long (roughly) such a journey should take for the sake of realim, west England to East Coast US (or vice-versa), most direct route.

Thanks!

Answer 1

There are some dependencies on the size of boat, direction (east west or west east), latitude etc.
Take a couple of common boats - an Irwin 44 and Roberts 44 - the hull speed (max speed which is related to the length of the boat) is between 7.5 and 8 knots
So a good rule of thumb would be about 6 knots for a mid size boat (i am assuming the story is of a modern keelboat with small crew)
Remember that sailboats do not always go in straight lines - they may have to tack into the wind.
I also checked a couple of durations of actual voyages - see links.
It looks like 30-50 days is a reasonable number
A much larger boat might make it in around 20 days from spain to the carribean.
the singlehanded record for the upwind (UK to USA) direction is just short of 10 days

Answer 2

I know you want a short answer, but for the sake of realism, there's a couple of qualifiers:

The shortest IN TIME route form the UK to the USA is south out of England, down to the Azores or even further south, the Trade Winds across the Atlantic to Florida, then up the coast with the Gulf Stream.call it 5,000 miles

the direct route...south of Iceland, etc is against the prevailing westerlies and a 2 knot Gulf Stream current.....3500 miles straight, but closer to 7,000 once you account for 'tacking' ie zig zagging into the wind and being pushed back by the Stream

a 40 foot sailboat will, at max, make 7 knots.......6 is more like it; and in 20,000 miles of cruising boats around here and there I have found it always averages out to 120 miles a day made good

so, via the southern route, 30-40 days, via the northern,45-55

Answer 3

The timing varies on the direction you are going, and size of boat and weather. From England, most go to the Azores and then BVI and Florida.Taking the northern route may be faster but is more dangerous weather wise. It takes about 40 days. Going East there is the Gulf Stream which is much faster . You make about 6 knots in good wind, and do about 100 miles a day. The distance is several thousand miles.
40 to 80 days.

Answer 4

Depends, still. Conditions do not stay favourable, for one, another would be the size of the boat and ice berg condidtions(Hail the Titanic!). How many people, even and how variable their talents are.
I sailed the Puget Sound, on a forty-foot moto sail, using the motor after the boyfriend caught the 42 foot mast under a bridge. It took two days to go from the Harsteen Island to Olympia, three days from Olympia to Tacoma, half a day to Gig Harbor, About three days to Seattle. The motor was huge, but gas was from a can with a hose weighted down by a huge nut ( not the boyfriend), so I doubt I was getting six knots. He couldn't manage the remaining for'sail, so putt putt power was all I had. Conditions were very favourable, only a light rain the last day and a couple of 63 mph gusts of wind. Last gust took the wheel house away. But, I got 'er in there. I'd never navigated anything that size before in my life, but, with a map and a compass, I managed to keep it in good waters and only varied about six degrees off course now and again.

Answer 5

Assuming 10 knots (approx 10 mph) constant with a prevailing favourable wind, this is 240 miles per day, and depending on the start and end points the journey could be around 3500 miles.

This gives approximately 15 days crossing time.