Go on a cruise to the Azores. This is indeed an incongruous proposal in these times of confinement. Is it the fever that makes me lose my mind? Not at all, for the moment my health is excellent. And you, by the way, how are you doing? Actually, this is a very serious proposition. I'll explain it to you right away.
The blog Les Tutos de la Croisière is a tool to train you, to progress in sailing, to make your friends and family want to sail with you.
In partnership with Bateaux.com, we are now going to leave the port and carry out a "real cruise" to link Brest (Brittany) to Horta (Azores). During this journey that will bring us together, we will offer free training to learn how to prepare and carry out a crossing on a sailing boat.
Such a crossing takes about 10 days for a distance of 1200 nautical miles. But before leaving, you have to choose your boat, equip and provision it and choose your weather. These are all stages that we're going to prepare together, collaboratively.
Youtube Live videos to interact
In 3 preparatory interactive video sessions, we will launch together a virtual sailboat on the ocean. Then we will follow its progress on the map according to the real weather conditions. Each day of this crossing, we will review the progress of this sailboat in order to live it "really". This will be the opportunity for a daily video logbook until its arrival.
Here's the program:
Live #1: Definition of the sailboat adapted to our program
- Starts: Sunday, April 5, 2020 - 6:00 p.m
- Duration: about 1 hour
We're going to see how we can draw up precise specifications according to the crew, our physical capacities, but also financial ones to define the boat that can take us to the Azores
This interactive video (you will be able to react and ask questions) will conclude with a survey in order to collectively define the sailboat corresponding to our desires. We will select one for the demonstration based on your comments, but nothing will prevent you from choosing another one on your side!
Live #2 : How to equip and provision a sailboat for a 15-day cruise?
- Starts: Thursday, April 9, 2020 - 6:00 p.m
- Duration: about 1 hour
A crossing cannot be improvised. We will prepare and equip the boat according to the safety and comfort requirements that we will have defined together. Then we will carry out a complete refuelling.
Live #3 : Managing the weather for a big cruise
- Starts: Sunday, April 12, 2020 - 6:00 p.m
- Duration: about 1 hour
The boat is ready to leave, we have to study the weather, and do a rough routing to choose the best start date. This will be an opportunity to present the tools at our disposal.
Daily Vacation: Daily logbook with training on maritime events
- Start: every day from 15 April 2020 (depending on the departure date of the yacht) - 6 p.m
- Duration: 5 to 10 minutes per day
Virtual tracking of the yacht according to the wind conditions encountered with real weather conditions. Thus we will follow the progress of the boat every day on a nautical chart. For each situation encountered, we will develop explanations on offshore navigation techniques (sailing at night, water management, technical incidents, crossing the cargo rail, etc.)
How to join the training?
It's free! All you have to do is to connect to YouTube on the Cruise Tutos channel.
If you miss Live or don't want to miss anything, there's nothing stopping you from watching all the episodes on the YouTube channel.
See you soon, and take care!
