Gulf stream

[ian w]

I have always crossed the Gulf Stream in June,July or August If you can wait a day or two an almost flat calm arrives
My question is do these calm days exist in March and April
I need it pretty calm since my Seabrace stabilisers have finally died
Ian W
53my

 

[Pascal]

We cross multiple times a year although on bigger boats. From November thru April, it all comes down to cold fronts which which will trigger a few days of northerly winds which will cause rough conditions. Typically you ll have 3 or 4 days of N to NE winds during which crossing is pretty much impossible followed by a 2 To 3 days window with decent conditions. Then the next front arrives and the cycle repeats it self.

Note that there is a huge difference between crossing out of west palm vs crossing out of Miami or even Key Largo. The windows are much shorter further north and sometimes don’t exist at all. Part of the reason is that further north you will get more swells from the NE and usually stronger winds.

This is very obvious when you look at the wave forecast on https://www.passageweather.com/maps/florida/mappage.htm

If you scroll thru the slides (bottom for the waves) you will see how in the next few days rougher water pushed down from the north into the stream. Passage weather doesn’t have the fancy graphics of others like Windy but the simplicity really highlights the trend. Personally once I see the second shade of blue showing 1 - 2 meters wave I think twice about crossing. It not the 4 or 5 footers that bothers me but the 7 footer you ll get every once in a while.

I ve been using passage weather for 10 or 12 years now and every time I ve pushed it my crossing with 1-2 meters I ve regretted it. I remember once thinking that because the wind was ENE, about 075, the 15 kts wouldn’t be that bad. Approaching the edge of the stream about 5 nm off cape Florida I could see the waves changing in the distance. Gave it a shot and turned around.

Btw the same goes for the NE Channel between Chub and Nassau. That can be as bad as the stream except that it’s less predictable.