In September 2025, my partner Doug and I left the UK on our 35 foot Trident Challenger. Our goal was to cross the Atlantic, but the first hurdle (and biggest) was to leave the UK!
Below is quite a black and white overview of the practicalities of the trip, covering preparation, route planning, navigation etc. Any questions, feel free to get in touch!
In the run-up to the trip, we had focused on building experience and confidence in the boat and ourselves. We completed first aid courses, Yachtmaster theory, weather courses, and spent time sailing around the UK to increase both our mileage and experience.
We departed the UK after four months of preparation and maintenance, this included Doug designing and installing a new battery system, solar panels, watermaker, starlink, plus standard maintenance (delegated down to myself as a self appointed engineering apprentice…). As many boat owners will know, the work felt never ending.
Once we had left from the UK, we sailed down to Spain, then continued on to Madeira, the Canary Islands, and finally Cape Verde, which became our jumping-off point for the Atlantic crossing.
In terms of resources we used OpenCPN with a weather-routing plugin, alongside PredictWind, which allowed us to compare models and double-check forecasts. We referenced Jimmy Cornells World Cruising route book as well.
The Atlantic crossing was just over 1,300 nautical miles and several factors influenced our routing. The first was the ITCZ (doldrums), we monitored its position carefully, looking for gaps that would allow us to cross south of the equator without becoming stuck in the doldrums. With limited diesel storage, days of motoring wasn’t an option.
The second factor was the south equatorial current, if we took the rhum route were at risk of being taken to far west and swept towards the caribbean with a long beat to Brazil… Therefore our aim was to get as far south as possible while avoiding the doldrums, then use the west-going current to carry us toward Brazil. Mentally, we planned for a minimum passage time of 14 days and up to 20 days in case we became stuck in the doldrums.
Another resource was NoForeignLand, a free boating app, which hosts a forum for boat owners also crossing the Atlantic, mostly toward the Caribbean ( and bigger than the ARC!). The forum allowed people to share progress, weather updates and offers of help if others had issues. They also hosted a number of useful free webinars from weather to fishing and provisioning. We did find one other boat crossing over to Brazil at the same time as us and we stayed in touch over the crossing.
Back to the trip itself, we had a friend join us in Cape Verde for the crossing, lucky for us when she arrived the weather was looking good! When we set off the doldrums were sitting further east of the Atlantic, with channels of wind which we could head south through.
The sailing was predominantly downwind or on a broad reach. We regularly poled out the genoa and flew the spinnaker when conditions allowed. We were lucky to have excellent weather: consistent 15–20 knots of wind, and only three squalls, peaking at around 30 knots for roughly ten minutes.
Once underway, we quickly fell into a rhythm. We ran three-hour night watches starting around 8 p.m., rotating who took the extra shift. Day-to-day life settled into a steady routine of reading, cooking, and checking Starlink once a day. Doug honed his Portuguese in preparation for our arrival in Brazil.
Technically, the only issue was with the furling gear, which had a small hiccup the day before landfall. An internal component had sheared, slowing the furling process, but it continued to function well enough to get us safely to land!
We arrived in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, in just under 11 days—much faster than we had planned. Looking back, the key to the passage was preparation and a well-maintained boat—both of which need time and patience. We are looking forward to continuing the trip south, let’s see where the winds take us!
Bons ventos!
Emily Mulligan