Crossing the Atlantic Solo on SY Alegria

I Just Went

In 2023 I sailed solo from Monaco to the British Virgin Islands. To be honest, that wasn't where I had envisaged stepping ashore again. Fortune favours the brave.

From the Canaries, I pretty much just pointed Alegria west and went. And went we did. Boringly slowly mostly.

No plan. Didn't plot a route. Didn't spend months getting ready. Had a boat, felt like going, so I went.

Only reason it worked out is luck. Alegria had been fully serviced four months earlier. Pure chance, nothing to do with planning a crossing.

No breakdowns the whole way. Nothing failed. Boat just ran. Weather was mostly fine, the odd storm here and there but nothing serious.

Days were mostly the same. Boring as bat shit. Check the instruments, check the horizon, eat (canned tuna, pasta - the usual), sleep when I could, do it again. Dolphins showed up a few times.

35 days later, land. Turned out to be the BVI.

Paid a mate to fly over and sail the boat back to Beaulieu-sur-Mer, near Monaco; good shipyard there. I flew home. Not doing that trip back myself, too much tacking involved. And no social media.

Stuck around the BVI a few months, then flew back to Nice before hurricane season kicked in.

No big lesson here. It just worked out. Could easily have gone the other way.

If you're waiting for the perfect plan, don't bother. Just go. But don't blame me if the shit hits the fan.