Route Planning for a Micro-transat Voyage

Abstract

Many design decisions for an autonomous crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean require an understanding of both the time that the vessel will need to be self-sufficient and the environmental conditions expected. Potential trans-Atlantic routes were evaluated to determine both the design conditions and selecting a route that has a relatively high probability of success. Factors included: prevailing winds, currents, ice, gales, calms, sea state, sunlight, starting date, boat characteristics and ship traffic. Two methods were used; an evaluation of numerous potential routes for initial planning to determine expected times and narrow the potential field of routes and an off-the-shelf sailing yacht route optimization program for routing immediately prior to or during the crossing. The long-term method used climatological data from Pilot Charts. A Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) was used to predict the boat’s performance. Calcualted passage times included the shortest, longest and most-likely. A northern and two southern routes with similar risk were identified.