Across the Atlantic

Darius Goodwin recounts how he ticked one of the top items on his bucket list when he sailed across the Atlantic on a 90-foot yacht. Being thousands of miles away from land leaves an impact.

Darius Goodwin celebrating crossing the halfway point.

Most sailors will tell you that crossing the Atlantic is one trip that is definitely on their wish list. So when I received an e-mail from a good friend of mine, who is the captain of a 90-foot Swan, offering me the opportunity to be part of the crew while the boat was being delivered to Antigua, it didn’t take much persuading to get me to accept.

The opportunity was definitely too good to pass up. Not only would I get to cross the Atlantic, but I would also do it on a beautiful yacht, at a very good time of the year and with a fantastic crew. My reply, in fact, was very short and sweet. “Where and when do I meet you?”

The one downside, if I have to look for one, is that I could not start the trip from Malta. Instead, I flew to the Canary Islands and joined boat and crew there. The conditions, not to put too fine a point on it, were fantastic. We had a change of two crews, ample food provisioning and we were ready to depart immediately.

We had no mobile coverage while sailing, so the sense of being cut off from the rest of the world was a very strange and a scary feeling

As it turned out, however, the weather was not on our side. We ended up delaying until the front either passed us or let up for a while. In the end, we couldn’t wait much longer so we left on the tail end of the bad weather. What this meant was that the first two to three days were going to be a little rough, until we reached the real Atlantic swell.

Finally, we got a lucky break. The weather turned to our favour, and the winds shot us across the first half of the Atlantic in five days. The speeds and sailing conditions could not have been better; we were reaching a constant 15 to 16 knots and even touching the low 20 knots several times. The further we left Europe behind us, the warmer it became, and suddenly, we found ourselves sailing in shorts and T-shirts, with the sun shining, the wind in our faces and the waves coming in from behind us.

Suddenly, I understood exactly why this trip is often referred to as ‘Champagne sailing’. Before we reached halfway through our trip, the wind eased and gave us time to carry out some maintenance, some much-needed washing and also to fit in some fishing. We did manage to catch a couple of lovely tunas. Up till that point, the fishing was not going well, simply because we were going too fast! Needless to say, that day, freshly-prepared sushi was served for lunch and dinner.

From that point onwards, things only got better. The wind remained steady for the next few days, and died completely on one particular day, allowing us time to carry out some crew fitness sessions and a mid-Atlantic swim – needless to say, the experience is pretty unforgettable.

And then, of course, there was the infamous “halfway party”. Seasoned sailors will know what I’m talking about, a traditional event that is organised for the ceremonial crossing of the halfway point. It’s great fun, with everyone dressing up to a particular theme – and of course, the costume has to be created from stuff that is on board, so there’s quite a bit of creativity involved!

We decided to make the proceedings a tad more interesting by putting the names of popular characters and pop culture items in a sorting hat and then leaving it up to chance.

As soon as everyone discovered their characters, it was a mad scramble to secure the necessary items to put together the costumes – we had everything from Poseidon to the main character from Despicable Me, a fishing lure, 1980s rock stars and even a bar of chocolate! I can’t tell you much about the party except that... it rocked.

By now, the daily routine was in full swing, with each crew member used to carrying out their daily chores. Normally, the mornings are taken up by these chores, which vary from cleaning the area below deck to washing the boat, carrying out general maintenance and repairs, checking the systems and, of course, the actual sailing.

One small confession: this was not my first time delivering a boat. I have done countless deliveries in the Mediterranean and was worried that, due to the length of the Atlantic crossing, boredom would be an issue. This was definitely not the case. The days flew by; the whole crew really clicked and I remember endless conversations about weird and wonderful subjects. The fact that my mates turned out to be such a great bunch made all the difference!

If I had to pinpoint one downside to the whole trip, this was only that I missed my family. Obviously, we had no mobile coverage while sailing, so the sense of being cut off from the rest of the world was a very strange and a scary feeling. We did have sporadic internet access, so the occasional e-mail broke it up. And there was also the satellite phone in case of real necessity. But being thousands of miles away from land leaves an impact. Sometimes, at night, I’d just keep wondering whether everyone back home was all right.

Being so far away and cut off from the rest of the world is a strange feeling, one we rarely get to experience. It gives you time to ponder and get back to the grassroots.

About two-thirds of the way across, the wind picked up again and guided us into Antigua under spinnaker, with the boat seeing 20 knots. We arrived just over 11 days after departing and decided that, rather than going straight into harbour, we would anchor in one of Antigua’s beautiful bays to prepare the boat for her arrival in the marina. The sails were lowered and the anchor was dropped and for the first time in 11 days, the whole crew could sleep at night.

We woke up in the morning to a picture perfect landscape. The day started with a morning swim and then it was all hands on deck to get the boat into shape.

Eventually, the captain suggested a cocktail at a nearby beach resort... definitely a stylish way to celebrate our arrival in Antigua, with pina coladas and rum punch all around, while listening to the sound of the traditional Caribbean steel drums.

The next morning, we headed for Falmouth Harbour, where the yacht was to be based for the season. I spent a few more days on board enjoying the local culture, which, of course, included the local rum, before it was time to fly back out to Malta, leaving the yacht and her permanent crew to what we hoped would be a great season.

Leaving the yacht was actually a wrench, but I was really excited to see my family again. I had truly missed them during my time away. However, in exchange I got the trip of a lifetime.

Now I only have one question that needs an answer. What’s the next thing to be ticked off my bucket list?